Bunk Sandwiches: Combing Blackboard for Sandwich Glory

Time was tight. The plane landed in Portland at 2:20, and Bunk Sandwiches closes at 3. It was my only chance to try Bunk all week, and according to Matt Milletto, this was required eating. After taking the light rail and a bus, I arrived at Bunk at 3:15. Thankfully co-owner Nick Wood and his staff were nice enough to stick around and feed me. It led to one of my best sandwich experiences.

Wood was Tommy Habetz’s sous chef at Meriwether’s in Northwest Portland. Last fall, given the dire economy, the two chefs decided to partner on a casual, market-driven sandwich shop that changes their blackboard menu on a daily basis.

Pork belly banh mi ($8) was exceptionally good, topped with traditional Vietnamese accompaniments like daikon, carrot, jalapeños and cilantro. Every sandwich comes with house-made potato chips and is pairable with sides like tangy apple cabbage slaw ($4).

A sandwich as good as Bunk’s banh mi deserves a close-up. Note the caramelized pork sheets and white streaks of melt-in-your-mouth hog fat. With jalapeño spice, vinegary vegetables and soft bread, this made for great eating.

Owners’ friends contribute fresh-baked desserts, including Audra Lane’s thick blueberry pie wedges. Lori Clinton baked similarly enticing Mandarin poppy seed cupcakes.

Milletto was nice enough to make a Bunk sandwich run during the first round of the United States Barista Championship.

Bunk’s roast beef sandwich with cheddar, caramelized onion and spicy horseradish sauce on a Kaiser roll was chewy, but had big flavors.

Bunk’s Italian sandwich was excellent, with an array of cured meats, hot roasted peppers and Provolone picante. This is the kind of sandwich we could use in Los Angeles, up there with Italian sandwiches from my New Jersey youth.

On March 4, it took a lot of restraint not to order a second sandwich, but with Le Pigeon on the near horizon, I resisted. Thankfully, that patience was rewarded the following day.