Meat Bread Cheese photo by jonathan shields
Portland’s sandwich culture is booming. Along with the recession comes the desire to feed oneself for only $5 – just look at the popularity of the food cart business. And since Portland is a “food town” it makes sense that even though we don’t have much money to spend, we want good food. Besides the more we save on $5 meals, the more we can splurge on the various wine dinners offered throughout town. So we set out to learn more about the sandwich business, find out who’s running it and why they choose to spend their time creating simpler delicacies.
Our first stop was Meat Bread Cheese (http://www.meatcheesebread.com/) located on SE Stark near 14th. While this location is not far from Crack Head Park, the neighborhood has come a long way in the past few years and it’s no longer scary. In fact, John Stewart, the proprietor of MBC, has not had a lick of trouble in the last two years since he opened. John has been in the kitchen for fourteen years and always wanted his own restaurant. He felt that there were not enough good, cheap food options and his goal was to bring fine dining to the sandwich. One of the more popular sandwiches is the “Park Kitchen” and yes, it’s named after the restaurant. The sandwich mixes flank steak, pickled onions, blue cheese aioli and greens on a ten-grain ciabatta bun. John used to work at Park Kitchen and at the end of the night the staff would dine on what was left over which usually included a salad that they would incorporate into a sandwich. Another popular item is the Breakfast Burrito, which is served all day (until 7PM) for those who enjoy breakfast in the afternoon.
From there we moved on to popular “deli style” restaurant, Kenny and Zukes (http://www.kennyandzukes.com/), and got to know pastrami dude, Ken Gordon. Ken is a New Yorker, which is obvious, but with that attitude comes some pretty delicious meat. He calls his pastrami “meat crack” and started selling it at the Hillsdale Farmers Market while he was running Ken’s Place, in the space that would eventually become Sel Gris. The pastrami was so popular at the farmer’s market that they would sell out within twenty minutes of being open. Ken parleyed the farmer’s market success into Kenny & Zukes, which ended up having an ideal location at the base of the Ace Hotel near SW12th and Burnside – they benefit from Pearl proximity without Pearl rents prices. But the real story of Kenny & Zukes is the pastrami. Their meat comes from the Cascade Farms Natural Beef Co-op, it then goes down to Carlton to be brined according to the Kenny & Zukes recipe and technique for five days, and then it’s delivered back up to the restaurant in Portland. From there, they smoke it for ten hours over oak on site. 2,000 lbs. per week on average sold can’t be wrong.
Of course, we couldn’t write about sandwiches without mentioning the old standby and favorite of Menu Guide staffers, which is the deli at City Market on NW 21st Avenue. The operation is the former Viande Meats and Sausage crew minus owner Benjamin Dyer. It’s now call Chop Butchery & Charcuterie (http://chopbutchery.com/) and is owned by Eric Finley and Paula Markus who have manned the counter for years. They are extremely friendly and knowledgeable and will help you plan dinner or just fix you a sandwich. Both have been cooking their entire careers and are thrilled to now be running their own show. Their meat is locally sourced and almost everything behind the counter is made on site. They are best known for their housemade sausage, charcuterie and pâté – however their sandwiches rock with generous portions of freshly sliced meat. Our favorite is the Italian.
Now. Go. Eat.
