Spencer's Food Adventures

Tag: sandwich

  • 2025 Restaurant Closures

    2025 was a tough year for the Portland food scene. Lots of high profile closures and hopeful re-openings of numerous favorite restaurants, sandwich shops, food carts, bakeries, bars and breweries. Here’s to hoping that 2026 brings new locations for those who are looking to move, and something new and exciting for those that are closing…

  • Sugarpine Drive-In

    Along the banks of the Sandy river in Troutdale is the greatest little old drive-in restaurant you could ever hope for. Started in 2018, this place has quickly become an Oregonian favorite and a must for any trips out to the Gorge. They specialize in seasonal, thoughtful, scratch-made menus utilizing local produce as well as…

  • Lardo Chefwich

    Lardo, the venerable and iconic Portland sandwich restaurant helmed by Rick Gencarelli has a monthly special, the “chefwich” where he invites a local chef to craft a special sandwich that sells for the month and part of the proceeds go to a charity of the chef’s choosing. I’m not sure when exactly this started, but…

  • Better Half

    One of my favorite neighborhood sandwich shops, Better Half is closing this week so I decided to make a long overdue post about them. Hopefully they find a new place so that this post isn’t a swan song. Let me set the table: I moved in 2019 from Grant Park to Irvington. In my old…

  • Bark City BBQ

    Bark City BBQ serves up some of the finest BBQ in Portland. Texas inspired smoked meats, southern inspired sides, Bark City used tradition as inspiration to move the cuisine forward. They have some of the best meats, sides, and increasingly sandwiches in town. They operate out of the Heist food cart pod in SE PDX…

  • Pasture PDX

    Pasture PDX is a sandwich shop and whole animal butchery that opened up on Alberta in 2022. Right out of the gate they were making some of the best sandwiches in town. As the sandwich scene in Portland continues to grow and evolve, Pasture remains steady in making some of the most delicious sandwiches in…

  • Sorbu Paninoteca

    Sorbu Paninoteca is an exemplar of why I love the Portland food scene so dearly. A tiny food truck that specializes in Tuscan cuisine with a menu that changes weekly reflecting seasonal bounty while also making their own bread in house (or, truck). Sandwiches, risottos, pastas, salads, vegetables. All of it delicious and unique. I…

  • Grinders from Dimo’s

    This is my second post about Dimo’s Apizza, which is fast becoming a Portland favorite for it’s New Haven style pizzas, salads, handmade pastas & seasonal vegetables. You can find that post on the homepage from late last year. Then I was waxing poetic about a pasta special (lumache) as well as their Brussels Sprouts,…

  • Walter French’s

    As the Portland food scene continues to grow, both as a food tourism destination and as a local scene, one exciting trend has been the proliferation of excellent new sandwich spots, whether restaurants or food carts. New spots like Dimo’s, Piccone’s, Sandy-O’s, Lottie and Zula’s have joined along with venerable establishments like Lardo and Devil’s…

  • Breakfast Sandwich Roundup

    This post is a roundup of my favorite breakfast sandwiches in Portland, OR. Breakfast sandwiches are the best of both worlds. First up is the Belmont Breakfast sandwich from Tabor Bread. Fried egg, Olympia Provisions breakfast sausage, white cheddar, house-made chimichurri, garlic aioli, Mama Lil’s peppers, pickled red onions and Gorge greens on a freshly…