Nothing beats a toasty Reuben stacked with corned beef or the simplicity of a well-made turkey and swiss, but sometimes you’re in the mood for a sandwich that travels beyond the boundaries of American classics. Thankfully, the Portland Region has plenty to offer in the way of these global masterpieces to help expand your culinary horizons — stuffed with everything from Japanese fried cutlets to Mexican chorizo with chile-rich sauce. Here are some tasty sandwich options around town with international flair.
Asian-Style Specialties From Vietnamese Banh Mi to Japanese Sandos
Portland has long delighted banh mi lovers, where meat often lies atop a rich mayo and pate spread and is topped by pickled carrots and daikon. Try a textbook version with barbecue pork and sliced lunch meat at Southeast Portland’s An Xuyen Bakery, or mouthwatering variations at nearby Binh Minh Sandwiches, including sardine in tomato sauce and scrambled egg. At Banh Mi Fresh in Happy Valley, sample a beef-stew sandwich — and choose a dessert from the assorted Vietnamese-style sweet pastries on the counter.
Jianbing, the Northern Chinese specialty served at Bing Mi in Northwest Portland (as well as a cart at the Midtown Beer Garden downtown) are handheld treats stuffed with your choice of filling, scrambled eggs, chopped cilantro and a crispy wonton inside of a delicate crepe.
Tokyo Sando, also in the Midtown Beer Garden, is a one-stop shop for Japanese sandwiches like the overstuffed egg salad or miso pork katsu, a fried cutlet, both served on fluffy shokupan bread. For more Japanese sandos, stop by Tanaka downtown or at sister locations in Tigard and Gresham. You’ll have your choice of fried seafood or tofu katsu alongside the classic pork. For dessert, opt for a sweet sando filled with sliced strawberries and kiwis bound by whipped cream.
European and Middle Eastern Handheld Delights
It’s always bikini season at Urdaneta, the Spanish tapas bar in Northeast Portland. Bikinis are just what they call grilled ham and cheese in much of Spain. This version gilds the lily with the addition of truffle honey and an aromatic, vegetable-studded bechamel white sauce. For a rich French bistro classic, opt for a croque monsieur — a ham and Gruyere-cheese sandwich blanketed in a layer of broiled bechamel — at Petite Provence in the nearby Alberta Arts District.
Broder Cafe in Southeast Portland is part of a family of Scandinavian brunch places; it’s known for smorrebrod, open-faced Nordic sandwiches that are little works of art on a plate. Choose from toppings like pear and prosciutto or house-cured gravlax and shrimp salad, topped with tufts of microgreens. Italian sandwiches come in more varieties than you might think. In Northeast Portland Sorbu Paninoteca serves quality Tuscan fare from a food cart, with an emphasis on sandwiches. The signature vegetarian 5&5 places garlicky grilled eggplant and a chickpea pancake in between house-made sourdough focaccia.
Take a trip to the Balkans at Southeast Portland’s Two Brothers Rakia Bar & Grill. It offers pljeskavica, a Serbian grilled-beef patty tucked into flatbread and topped with creamy cheese. Also in the southeast quadrant, you’ll find Lebanese grilled-lamb pita wraps at homey Ya Hala for lunch and dinner and Greek wood-fired souvlaki or falafel to go at Bluto’s walk-up counter. Here the pillowy pitas are housemade.
Warm and Saucy Latin American Sandwiches
One of Cuba’s greatest exports, the Cubano sandwich, has die-hard fans in Oregon. With juicy roast pork, sliced ham, Swiss cheese, tangy mustard and pickles in a roll pressed like a panini, these hot handhelds hit all of the right notes. Try them at two food carts: Havana Station, with two locations in Southeast Portland, and Azucar in Hillsboro.
Tortas — the Mexican sandwiches that put meat like carne asada and carnitas on a roll with add-ons like refried beans, jalapenos and sliced avocados — are a heartier alternative to tacos. Relying on tender meats from local purveyors like Carlton Farms and Painted Hills, Northeast Portland’s Güero might be the most well-known torta option in town. It also serves a dine-in-only torta ahogada, a spicy pork and habanero-slaw specialty that’s slathered in a crimson-red achiote sauce — definitely worth rolling up your sleeves for.
To sample torta ahogada’s close cousin, the pambazo, head to Mi Jalisco in Cornelius, which lies west of Hillsboro. Here a soft roll is dipped in a lightly spiced, red guajillo-chile sauce and fried before stuffing it with chorizo and potatoes. In Aloha La Poblanita wows diners with its namesake specialty, a Pueblan torta on a sesame-studded roll layered with breaded cutlets, pork rinds and more.
