Bunk Sandwiches (Portland, OR)

Bunk Sandwiches was on the top of my to-do list for Portland. Raves from my friends, Mario Batali's declaration that Tommy Habetz is one of the world's top contemporary chefs (Tommy worked under Batali and Bobby Flay before opening Bunk), appearing in New York Times, and many more. Anyway, I made Wandering Chopsticks drive me there with high expectations.

We waited about 20 minutes in line in the rain. It looks like at other times the lines can be much longer. The music store next door even had a sign up stating that you can't stand in front of the music store for Bunk.

We ordered the much lauded Pork Belly Cubano with ham, swiss, mustard, and pickles ($8)

I like the toasted crunchy bread, the silky ham, and of course the juicy, tender pork belly is what distinguishes this Cubano from the others.

Initially we got the chicken sandwich but WC didn't want it after she realized it was a chicken salad sandwich so we changed our order to the Meatball Parmigiano Hero ($8)

This was another good sandwich, the meatballs are moist and the melted cheese on tomato sauce warms you right up on this rainy day. The toasted bread is not as crunchy as the one used in the Cubano but still has a nice crunch upon biting.

Skip the mint infused tea, I could barely taste the mint.

We enjoyed our two sandwiches here and they definitely make a fine lunch when the wait isn't too long. After all the hype, though, we felt a bit disappointed. Are these sandwiches worthy of one of the world's top contemporary chefs? They're very good, but I'm not sure about that, or if they're worth a special trip to Portland. After all, we have The Godmother in LA ...

Bunk Sandwiches
621 SE Morrison St
Portland, OR 97214
(503) 477-9515
www.bunksandwiches.com