Best of Melting Pot Portland

Written by Chas Bowie, Amy J. Ruiz, Ezra Ace Caraeff, Courtney
Ferguson, Alison Hallett, Marjorie Skinner, Erik Henriksen, Matt Davis,
Scott Moore, Christine S. Blystone, Lance Chess, and Will
Gardner

BOSNIAN PITA
The lovely Ziba gets up super early each
morning to bake her fresh filo pitas stuffed with meat, cheese, and
spinach, for your delectation. For $6 you can have eggplant and paprika
relish with cucumber salad on the side, not to mention a fascinating
conversation with the proprietress. “I can’t speak good enough English
to work anywhere else,” she says, but it’s probably a good thing—after
all, Portland should never be deprived of pitas this delicious! MD

Ziba’s Pitas, SW 9th & Alder

Best Secret falafel joint
Why no one knows about the Hush
Hush Café, I have no idea. People will line up for hours
outside Nicholas’ to get their falafel and hummus fix—yet even though
their food is just as good, the Hush Hush is never quite as busy as it
should be. Do yourself a favor, and check this place out—the service is
fast, the falafel is crispy and flavorful, the chicken shawarma has
been known to induce powerful cravings at strange times, and the
Palestinian owner is the friendliest man on the planet. AH

Hush Hush Café, 433 SW 4th

Best Example of embracing diversity
Northeast Portland’s
Pacific Supermarket is the lovechild of a Red Apple Grocery and
an Asian superstore like Uwajimaya—there are bags of dried anchovies
near the canned bubble tea, green papaya and taro root in the produce
department, and shelf after shelf of translucent noodles. But what sets
this place apart is what you’ll find in the aisle mysteriously marked
“Hair Spray, Shampoo, Dental”: A mini tienda, stocked with all the
essentials of Latino cooking, from masa flour to preserved peppers, and
packaged delights like “Arcoiris,” a marshmallow cookie with a package
entirely in Spanish. Props to Pacific Supermarket, for bridging
cultures! AJR

Pacific Supermarket, 6750 NE Broadway

Best One-stop pinata shop
The day will come when you need a
piñata. Maybe it’ll be next week; maybe it will be when your
illegitimate Oaxacan son decides to look you up for his 13th birthday.
And when that day comes, god help you if you try to score a good piñata
at some warehouse party store. Piñatas are folk art, and they’re
supposed to be full of character, humor, and charm. And to get that,
you’re going to need to drive to Boom-Boom’s Balloons,
where you’ll find fantastically skewed SpongeBobs, hand-mached
Spider-Men, and terrific My Little Pony starbursts, complete with pink
and purple streamers. They even have a bucket full of piñata sticks for
sale (sawed-off broom handles, wrapped in colored crepe paper) that are
way more fun than swinging a Swiffer around. What about brightly
colored rope for sale, right by the pinatas, so you don’t even have to
go digging for a spool of twine to hang the thing with? Hey—we’re not
calling it the best one-stop pinata shop for nothing. CB

Boom-Boom‘s Balloons, 2739 N Lombard

Best presentation of pita and hummus
Habibi serves its hummus off plates in the shape of huge brass leaves, while
your pita bread is kept warm on top of a ceramic Morticia Adams head,
with a candle inside. If you order the rice pudding, it comes in a
cocktail glass only slightly smaller than Mount St. Helens. All of
these are nice touches reminding you not to take life too seriously,
while you polish off another stuffed vine leaf and settle back to watch
the people walking by. The lamb shawarma is also uncommonly good.
MD

Habibi, 1012 SW Morrison

Best place to make your house 100 percent awesome
Nestled in
the Russian area of SE Foster, EuroClassic Furniture has some
amazing stuff. Sure, they’ve got couches and tables galore, but it’s
the accessories that make this place great—they’ve got a bubbling
fountain featuring playful dolphins, statues of Betty Boop and the
Blues Brothers, and even a lamp made to look like a naked fairy
(perfect for the bedside table of a lonely Tolkien fan!). What’s more,
EuroClassic has some gorgeous landscape paintings, including one that
features both a waterfall and a volcano. Once I grow up and get
a real house, I’m furnishing every room with stuff from EuroClassic.
I’m starting with my favorite piece: an elegant, curvy, classy
headboard that has a built-in mirror. I’ll send you a
housewarming invite, ladies. EH

EuroClassic Furniture, 6602 SE Foster

Best place for avocado smoothies
Hot damn, I love an avocado
smoothie on a hot summer day, especially the ones from My Canh.
This yummy Vietnamese restaurant in the heart of the Hollywood District
has especially good pho, bean curd dishes, and affordable combination
dinners (in fact you’d be hard pressed to spend more than $8 on
dinner). Don’t be fooled by the strip mall setting, because My Canh is
simply delicious. Ah, I’m drooling right now over the thought of a
decadent avocado concoction. CF

My Canh, 1801 NE 39th

Best ethiopian dinner, for cheapskates
Few things beat the
wonders of splitting a delicious Ethiopian feast with the one you love.
But the romance dies a quick death when the check comes and you try to
split that as well. Thank the lord for Dalo’s Kitchen which is
not only one of Portland’s best spots for tasty injera and mounds of
favorable options, but it’s also very kind to the wallet. A massive
vegetarian platter for two, a pair of amazing Harar beers, and a nice
tip will set you back less than $20. A wonderful meal and the heart of
your date—what else can you ask for? You cheap bastard. EAC

Dalo’s Kitchen, 4134 N Vancouver

Best schnitzelwich
Nestled among the food carts on SW 5th,
Czech immigrants Karel and Monika Vitek of Tábor make the best bloody schnitzelwich you’ll ever eat. Breaded pork or
chicken with horseradish and lettuce in a ciabatta set alight by a
tangy paprika paste—now that’s a working lunch. The Viteks are a
friendly pair too, enjoying a good political discussion while they
serve up whichever other Czech, Hungarian, or Polish delicacy takes
your fancy, usually with a Joni Mitchell CD blaring. It’s all
remarkably convivial for a food cart. MD

Tábor (Czech food cart), 433 SW 5th

Best place to buy barpy!
I don’t know what the hell Barpy! is,
but he looks delicious (and slightly insane). Taste of Europe has got Barpy! by the bucket, a ton of scrumptious cheeses and
sausages, European candy and chocolates, and a full lunch counter. You
can enjoy one of the many vegetarian sandwiches (mmm, eggplant) and a
cup of espresso on the market’s charming sidewalk patio. But don’t
forget the Barpy!—he’d be very, very angry if you forgot him.
CF

Taste of Europe, 1739 SE Hawthorne

Best ethiopian market/cafÉ/combo
Wahid
Market is a combination corner grocery and café that stands on the
unassuming corner of NE 27th and Alberta. They have a front window
corner sectioned off in the market for dining and have an abbreviated
no-nonsense menu; each combo priced around $5 a serving. The veggie
combo is dynamite and features an outstanding spicy red lentil dish.
Even better, the friendly proprietress checked on me at appropriate
intervals and even offered me seconds! The combination of sunny
disposition, cheerful ambience, super affordable prices and great food
make Wahid Market hard to beat for an exceedingly pleasant casual lunch
spot. LC

Wahid Market, 2738 NE Alberta

Best sugarcoated garbanzo
While browsing through the little
Lebanese market, International Food Supply, I found many
excellent treasures—yogurt soda, hookahs, banana-flavored tobacco,
black currant juice—but nothing comes close to being as awesome as the
large package of multi-colored, sugarcoated garbanzo beans I found
settled between packs of banana chips and Jordan almonds. They look
like mini brains, taste like your favorite breakfast cereal from your
childhood, and are overall a fantastic delight. CSB

International Food Supply, 8005 SE Stark

Best Balkan comfort food
In a word: goulash. Hearty,
belly-warming beef stew served over your choice of noodles, rice, or
mashed potatoes. The two brothers that own Two Brothers are
ethnic Serbs dishing up Balkan street food that’s perfect for a rainy
summer’s day. In addition to goulash, hit the bright red restaurant for
their chevapi, seasoned sausages served in the yummy house pita
bread. AH

Two Brothers, 829 SE 39th

Best Parking lot (for light petting)
When Stanley and I were
going on our first date two years ago, I suggested we go to
Koreana because it was in between Portland (where I lived) and
Beaverton (where he lived). That night, we both got loads of great
kimchee, some spicy soup, and afterward, some play in my front seat.
Since he’s not speaking to me anymore, I had to go alone this time. I
had the same piquant broth with spot-on sticky rice and endless
kimchee. I also got hit on by the barmaid there who, while pouring my
Korean bottled beer seductively into my glass, remarked that I was
“quite handsome.” Could I have gotten some afternoon delight from her
in my Oldsmobile then and there? Perhaps. But, out of respect for
Stanley, I passed. Despite our differences, that parking lot will
always be sacred. WG

Koreana Restaurant, 9955 SW Beaverton-Hillsdale Hwy (in Diamond
Park strip mall), Beaverton

Best place to get pad thai for $3.50
Lily Market is
housed in a cute orange building surrounded by lush green plants—it’s
like a tropical oasis… an oasis complete with tasty Asian food. Their
small deli serves up green papaya salad, fried rice, steamed buns,
spring rolls, and a giant $3.50 pad thai. And after you’ve crammed that
delicious $1.35 sticky bun down your gullet, there are plenty of
kickass Thai DVDs like Ong-bak for $8.95, fresh produce, and a
great collection of teapots and bowls to browse through. CF

Lily Market, 11001 NE Halsey

Best DIY SOUP
Hot Pot City is steamy little gem of a
Taiwanese restaurant, tucked into a business park in Southwest. In
front of each seat at the L-shaped bar is a small well where a pot of
broth can be inserted. You pick what kind of broth you want—veggie, hot
and sour, pickled cabbage—then choose your ingredients from a buffet of
fresh ingredients including meats, tofu, veggies, and several types of
noodles. Your broth boils away while you load it up with as many
ingredients as you can, cooking it all yourself so it’s just the way
you like it. AH

Hot Pot City, 1975 SW 1st

Best excuse for being closed on sundays and mondays
“To
prepare more schnitzels.” That’s what the folks at Otto and Anita’s
European Cuisine claim, and I believe them. Their weinerschnitzel
sandwich comes with a perfectly golden, crispy schnitzel on a poppy
seed bun that spills over with spicy mustard, grilled onions, and
sauerkraut. But even better than that was their phenomenal sauerkraut
soup, which was seriously among the two or three best soups I’ve ever
had in my life. You know how some potato chips are so addictive that
you can’t quit eating them, full as you might be? This salty sauerkraut
soup had the same effect, with a lick-your-bowl finish that will
definitely have me driving back down to Multnomah Village to experience
again. Plus, the place has that kitschy chalet vibe, with awesome “old
country” murals all over the place and Kiwanis Club meetings there
regularly. F’schnitzel my nitzel. CB

Otto and Anita’s European Cuisine, 3025 SW Canby

Best One-stop shopping
Uwajimaya is no secret for anyone who
loves cooking. Fabulous, well-priced produce, an entire aisle of ramen,
incredible seafood, fresh pig intestines, plus dishes, knives, Hello
Kitty schwag, Shiseido cosmetics, ninja shoes—the Japanese
super-grocery store truly has everything. But they say you shouldn’t
shop on an empty stomach, and you won’t want to when you discover
Hakatamon, the fantastic adjacent Japanese restaurant. The menu,
which includes a huge variety of udon, sushi, and tempura, among other
staples, is augmented by a seasonal menu, where the kitchen’s creative
streak really comes into play. MS

Uwajimaya & Hakatamon, 10500 SW Beaverton-Hillsdale Hwy,
Beaverton

Best (And biggest) Large Wafers
One of my favorite places in
Portland proper, the Anoush Deli is truly an international
market. With no fewer than five types of capers in a space half the
size of Dante’s, Anoush proffers a sizeable assortment of Russian pop
CDs (only place in the city), Ukrainian beer, Armenian bread, Greek
olives, and most certainly the largest wafers (24″ x 12″) in the
Willamette Valley. I visited initially for their pickled okra, but now
return for their deli items (10 of which are vegetarian). Featuring
gyros and falafel (and even Cajun tater tots), the best bet is a pita
filled with exquisite dolmas, drenched in their house sauce. WG

Anoush Deli, 1710 NE 122nd

Best place to fight romanian vampires
Acting on a “hot
tip,” we traveled to the Johnson Creek Boulevard area off of I-205—we’d
heard that the spot was a “hotbed for Romanians.” Turns out that was a
LIE. But that’s okay, since the only thing I’ve ever heard about
Romanians is that they’re vampires. But whether bloodsucking
Romanians terrorize the Johnson Creek area or not, it would behoove you
to stop at the Johnson Creek Fred Meyer to pick up some garlic…
just in case. EH

Fred Meyer’s Vampire Killing Supplies and Groceries, SE 82nd
& Johnson Creek Blvd.

Best mexican meat market
This paper has often sung the praises
of Don Poncho’s taqueria on Alberta, so I’ll save my breath, and just
remind you to go. But if you’re wondering where their sweet carnitas
comes from, take a walk next door to Don Poncho’s Market where,
along with an expansive selection of piñatas and candles, you’ll find a
truly impressive meat case featuring all the best ingredients for your
next home-made Mexican meal: chorizo, puerco adobado (marinated pork),
puerco al pastor, chicken fajitas, and the aforementioned
carnitas. Pick up a pound or two, cook it up, and impress the crap out
of your friends with your true-life south-of-the-border style. WSH

Don Poncho Market, 2000 NE Alberta

Best place to purchase kewpie mayonnaise
You’ve driven by it a
billion times, and while its diminutive storefront may keep you
driving—stop, look, and marvel at Anza’s Asian Grocery. A quick
step inside shows that your initial assessment was way off, as it’s
three times the size you imagined—a mini-Uwajimaya, if you will,
crammed tight with a bounty of Asian food and wares. Are you a sushi
lover? Pick up your fresh yellow fin tuna, octopus, and tuna belly here
(along with all the sushi-making supplies, including knives!). Scan
their aisles of chips, fascinating candies, cookbooks, martial arts
uniforms, fresh produce, and of course, the crown jewel of Asian
culture, Kewpie mayonnaise. Actually, I’ve never tried the stuff, but
with a name like that, it’s got to be AWESOME. WSH

Anza, 736 NE MLK (across from Convention Center)

Best ukrainian snacks near the new max line
When I lived in
Kiev as a student, my stipend stretched pretty far. Movies cost about
$2, CDs were $5 new, and Latvian-bottled Red Bull was cheaper than
water. Even more cut rate was my favorite kiosk snack (10 cents each),
the pirozhki—fried pockets filled with mushrooms, cabbage, or meat.
This downtown branch of the local Java Man chain serves
Ukrainian food:borshch, pelmeni (bite-size and ravioli-esque),
golubtsi (cabbage rolls), and vareniki (larger ravioli).
They have pirozhki as well and, though they cost more than a dime,
they’re as satisfying as the ones in Ukraine. The comfortable interior
of the café is a fine spot to dodge the interminable construction
outside. (Let’s snap it up, guys!) WG

Java Man Café, 518 SW Taylor

Best Place to get your spicy crispy squid fix
The Om
Seafood complex consists of two buildings. One is a live seafood
market whose many tanks offer everything from market-rate king-sized
lobsters to otherworldly geoducks. This serves the neighboring
restaurant well—its menu is aplomb with the swimming fare from next
door. The sauteed crispy squid with hot pepper is excellent—not chewy
and yet spicy enough for a Hong Kong stunt man. The seafood chow fun is
loaded with tender fresh scallops, shrimp, fish, and squid. Be sure to
check out the daily specials on the board as they often feature
seasonal items not listed on the menu. Om’s motto is “Seafood
excellence is our main key goal”—I believed it after two bites. LC

Om Seafood, 7632 SE Powell

Best place to break out of your candy rut
If you’ve ever stood
in the candy aisle of Plaid Pantry for seven minutes or longer, eyes
glazed over as you try to select the perfect brand of candy to satisfy
your fickle sweet tooth, you know that this is true: The world needs
more candy. (And not that disgusting fake hot dog and booger-shaped
crap they sell at Walgreens.) Fear not: Asian market An Dong has
an incredible selection of sweet treats, including mouth-puckering
lemony ginger twists, Hi-Chew candies from Japan (AKA those amazing
gummy candies they give you at the end of your meal at Biwa), and White
Rabbit, which, unfortunately, does not taste like heroin. CB

An Dong, 5441 SE Powell

Best place to say “Hello Kitty”
While many have given up on
the Lloyd Center Mall as a place to find inexpensive and interesting
gifts, there is one hidden gem I use on a frequent basis. It’s called
Morning Glory—a store designed to make your average Japanese
schoolgirl go ba-zonkers. All your favorite adorable products are
there—from pencils to stickers to backpacks to watches to slippers— all
adorned with bafflingly cute Japanese characters. However, all
Mercury employees are banned from shopping there… because
that’s where I’ll be purchasing all your holiday presents! WSH

Morning Glory, Lloyd Center Mall, bottom level, just outside of
Ross Dress for Less

Best Orange Curry that’s Really Orange
Gandhi’s has
dispensed with some of the subtler aspects of authentic Indian curry
(complexity of flavor, for example… and, er…. the obvious presence
of vegetables) to serve up a brightly colored dish that packs a punch,
rather like the kind you might find in Britain, on a night out
drinking. For $6 (with that missing veg on the side and a piece of naan
bread), it’s not understated, and it’s not gauche. But by god, it’s
ORANGE. And that’s good enough for me. MD

Gandhi’s, 827 SW 2nd

Best place to feel as if you are in india even though you are
not, in fact, in indIA
India is an amazing nation with one big
problem: It is too far away. Traveling to India takes
months, and—as far as I can tell—the only way to get there is to
stow away on a steamer ship, ride a camel for two weeks, and bribe
Pakistan’s 80 million al-Qaeda agents to let you cross the
India/Pakistan border. But instead of all that work, just head down to
SE Hawthorne, where India 4-U is the next best thing! The
delicious, freshly made vegetarian take-out is the real draw, but while
you’re waiting for your food, peruse the rest of the store: There are
spices, Bollywood DVDs, books, jewelry, clothes, cooking supplies, CDs,
hair care products, and a whole lotta incense. Plus, everyone there is
super friendly. Plus, you don’t have to stow away in a steamer ship to
get there. EH

India 4-U, 3341 SE Hawthorne

Best Out-Of-Place clown statue
Housed in a Frank Gehry (albeit
on quaaludes)-inspired building, Sam Jin is packed to the gills
with goods. Antique Korean chests line the walls, tea sets and
housewares fill the aisles, and humidifiers and Korean music cassettes
(few CDs) occupy the rest. There’s a room off to one side, though,
designated as the “antique room.” Authentic Korean masks adorn the
walls, more Korean chests take up more space, and ornate Buddha statues
inhabit the floor. Among them stood a lone clown statue. Perhaps he’s
from northern Asia? WG

Sam Jin Asian Imports, 9955 SW Beaverton-Hillsdale Hwy (in
Diamond Park strip mall)

Best Place to guzzle tarragon-infused soda
Looking like an
early-’90s outlet mall, this international (read: Russian) grocery not
only features tarragon soda (like 7-Up with a hint of Pine-Sol—trust
me, it’s worth the jog), but also handmade Russian pelmeni, Russian
cakes, Russian chocolate, and compote as far as the eyes can see. Their
selection of candy— complete with Kinder Eggs—is deliciously extensive.
WG

Imperial Euro Market, SE Powell & 110th

Place to buy christian-themed portland postcardS
The building
bearing the words “Russian Books” (in Russian) initially filled
me with great anticipation. I had a wad of $2 bills to blow on a
Mayakovsky first edition or, at least, old copies of Russian
Vogue. No such luck. The space—as big as the kitchen in my
studio apartment—was all about Jesus. Every book, leaflet, and
periodical involved Christ (and not in a funny way). Fortunately, I
found this postcard (with Psalm 8:10 soaring above the Portland
skyline). Hallelujah, the day is saved! WG

Russian Bookstore, 6146 SE 111th

Best Makers of vietnamese-style tofu
Bui Natural Tofu shakes up the tofu realm by making creative versions of the stuff about
six feet from where you buy it. That’s some fresh tofu. One type
has chopped scallion, glass noodles, and mushrooms embedded right in
it. Forget the noodles—they’re inside! Both this version and the
classic plain style can be purchased fresh or fried, whichever you
prefer. Other styles that come pre-fried include lemongrass and hot
chili, or a dichotomy stuffed with marinated round pork and the same
ingredients that are in the mushroom version. Their deli has tons of
other goodies too, including fresh soymilk and yummy sesame
seed-speckled Vietnamese doughnuts. LC

Bui Natural Tofu, 520 NE 76th

Best Beaverton Korean hole in the wall
Almost
literally a hole in the wall, the tiny Du-Kuh-Bee restaurant has
no signage in English, and in fact, hardly any signage at all. Wedged
between a Korean beauty parlor and another restaurant that advertises
Korean BBQ in neon, it could easily be mistaken for the back door of
either neighbor. Once inside, you’ll find both Korean and Chinese
specialties, with an emphasis on pork, beef, and calamari. They too
offer BBQ, but don’t overlook the rest of the modestly priced menu—try
the freshly made noodles; thick and satisfying, they come in huge
portions with vegetables or meat. MS

Du-Kuh-Bee, 12590 SW 1st, Beaverton

Best hidden treasure thai cart
You won’t find this one unless
you listen carefully, so pay attention. Right off I-5, on the east
side, on Killingsworth, there’s the Lao-Vieng Market—a deceptively
large store that sells a vast array of Asian goods, plus live crabs (be
sure to stop in, it’s interesting). Now, pull into Lao-Vieng’s parking
lot, and in the back corner there’s a brand-new Thai cart called
Thai Touch—and trust me, it’s worth the hunt. Delicious, weighty
pad thai that’s perfectly prepared and sauced, plus a very wide variety
of favorites such as fresh rolls, drunken noodles, curries, and a
dreamy Thai iced tea that’s infused with lime instead of heavy cream.
This place was my secret, now it’s yours. WSH

Thai Touch, 1032 N Killingsworth, parking lot of
Lao-Vieng

Best pan-asian superstore
From pig’s feet to incense coils,
teapots to Chinese eggplant to fresh seafood to frozen dumplings to
loose leaf tea to… okay, you get the point. Fubonn is a great
place to buy tofu and produce on the cheap, and their selection of
ramen will blow your mind. They also, a very immature friend insists
that I note, sell Wang Mandarin Juice. AH

Fubonn, 2850 SE 82nd

Best trip to cookie heaven
Across the shop from an illuminated
cheeses and cured meats counter—tended to by a clerk who’s also manning
the shish kabob grill just beyond the back door—Ril’s European
Market devotes a ton of shelf space to cookies. There are
giant round ones that look like crispy waffles, Italian almond cookies,
and EVEN boxes of snacks adorned with the Russian version of the
Keebler elves! Then there’s the entire shelf stocked with tall tubes of
Ukrainian Kracik—or sugar cookies—in flavors like condensed milk,
caramel, and lemon! (And just 89 cents each? I’ve died and gone to
cookie heaven!) AJR

Ril’s European Market, 8220 SE Harrison

Best place to watch telenovelas over lunch
Inside
Chilangos Tienda y Taqueria in NE Portland, you’ll find the
standard elements of any little Mexican sundry shop—masa flour, jars
and cans of spicy sauces, bottles of Jarritos soda. But, as the name
implies, this shop also boasts a small, super casual restaurant, with
delicious burritos, sopes, and tacos. At lunch, you’ll find a handful
of regulars all facing the same direction as they eat—the small
television, perched on top of the Coke cooler, that’s broadcasting a
juicy Mexican soap opera. If Fernando continues to run around on poor
Maria, I swear to God I’ll kill him. AJR

Chilangos Tienda y Taqueria, 1473 NE Prescott

Best place to question your liberal cred
For all of its
low-priced, delicious Lebanese food and charmingly low-rent décor,
Riyadh’s suffers from one killer of a problem—it’s located right
across the street from Fish Emergency Services, which gives food to the
needy. What’s the problem? Well, say you’re sitting in a window table,
looking across the street while waiting for some killer veggie mezza,
and you happen to notice that even though Fish is closed, there are a
few people hanging around, just waiting for food. “God, I’ll bet
they’re hungry,” you’ll probably think. And when your food comes,
you’ll scarf it down, but not without thinking, “Hmmm, I bet they’re
even hungrier now.” And when your dining companion suggests you not eat
your whole meal in order to give some to the needy people across the
street—you’re a little thick around the middle anyway—there’s a 90
percent chance you’ll say, “Fuck it,” while licking your plate clean.
As you leave the restaurant, try not to look anyone in the eye—your
liberal shame is contagious. SM

Riyadh’s, 1318 SE Hawthorne

Best world’s biggest beer stein
Edelweiss makes its own
delicious German, Hungarian, and Polish sausages, salamis and
braunschweiger, which you can sit down to eat, hot, in the deli, or buy
some to take home. They also stock German wine and more Swiss chocolate
than you’ve ever seen in one place, but the highlight is the five-foot
tall “WORLD’S BIGGEST BEER STEIN,” perched on a shelf in the back, next
to a sign that reads “IF YOU CAN FINISH THIS, YOU’RE A REAL MAN.” And
an alcoholic, presumably. MD

Edelweiss Sausage Company & Delicatessen, 3119 SE
12th

Best “colonization sandwich”
I’m not going to say that the
ends justified the means, or anything… but it is true that one
delicious result of France’s occupation of Vietnam was the introduction
of French bread to Vietnamese cuisine. The sandwich that resulted from
this clash of culinary cultures is called báhn mì, and it’s cheap,
tasty, and addictive, usually featuring jalapenos, carrots, cilantro,
and meat on a crunchy baguette. The tiny Binh Minh deli, tucked
in between between Pacific Market and some apartment complexes, bakes
their bread on site and turns out arguably the best báhn mì in town.
AH

Binh Minh, 6812 NE Broadway

Best baba ghanouj
When Southeast staple La Villa closed
earlier this year, I despaired that I would never have baba ghanouj so
delicious again. At most places, the baba is barely recognizable from
the hummus, but La Villa’s had a tangy, smoky flavor that gave my
tongue multiple orgasms on every visit. And now I couldn’t be more
thrilled to discover Ya Hala in Montavilla, where the baba
ghanouj is every bit as good as (if not better than! Heresy!) the
dearly departed La Villa’s. Get it on the massive mezza plate, or get
straight to the point with a huge plate and some piping hot pita on the
side. Then send your compliments to chef Mirna Attar and ask her nicely
not to change a thing. CB

Ya Hala, 8005 SE Stark

Next Best baba ghanouj
No matter how you spell it, the baba
ghannooj at Al-Amir is damn near perfect. It’s creamy, yet still
chunky and filled with texture. The mere touch of tahini is right on
the money, and, best of all, the mixture lets the roasty-ness (there’s
no better word for it) of the roasted eggplant shine through. It almost
makes up for their hummus; I don’t know how you screw up hummus, but
Al-Amir’s tastes a little—hang on to your hat—mayonnaise-y. Eeep! Avoid
that, and the place is a charm, filled, of course, with wall posters of
Lebanon, and a friendly, attentive staff. SM

Al-Amir, 233 SW Stark

Best hum bao for a buck
While Asian markets may not be the
first place you think of for a delicious and cheap lunch, it’s time to
start re-thinking. Take for example, Thanh Thao Market on Sandy.
Not only will you find a bounty of noodles, tofu, and sauces, as well
as fresh produce and seafood, they also have a spanking deli counter
featuring roasted pork sandwiches, curries, and (my favorite new find)
delicious, pillowy hum baos—for only a buck! If you’re
unfamiliar with this delicacy, you’re really missing out; this soft
steamed bun is a doughy delight filled with mouth-watering barbecue
pork, and two will totally make for a great lunch. WSH

Thanh Thao Market, 6517 NE Sandy