Addy's Sandwich Bar
Location: SW 10th and Alder (facing 10th)
Description:
Sandwiches. Is there anything more satisfying than a good sandwich for lunch. I have fond memories of making basic cheese and ham sandwiches when I was a kid. My parents always opted to add butter which I thought was gross. I used mustard to mix it up. These days, one can find gourmet sandwiches almost anywhere and the influx of sandwich culture from other parts of the world keeps us on our toes. Yet, I still crave a simple, tasty, filling sandwich. Enter Addy’s Sandwich Bar.
Addy’s is brand new, having only been open for about 2 weeks now. I had seen the shiny black cart arrive back in July, but didn’t know it would be Addy’s until towards the end of the month when Addy invited some to a “tasting party.” Addy was a sous chef at Sydney’s Cafe in NW Portland and had a little get together to show off what her cart would be offering. Sadly, I was unable to attend that event, so yesterday was my first foray into Addy’s Sandwich world.
Addy offers up a range of sandwiches, both for meat lovers and vegetarians. She servers her sandwiches on mini baguettes from Little T Bakery. They are called mini, but they are not hat small, a little larger than a stadium bun or french roll if you can imagine that. I chose as my first sandwich the Tuna with hardboiled egg. Hadn’t ever been presented with that selection option, so thought I would give it a try.
Tuna is one of my favorite lunch sandwiches. This isn’t a chuck of tuna steak, more like the tuna fish spread mom use to make, with a little extra love. After taking my first bite, I remembered why I love fresh baguettes. There is a chewiness that isn’t too hard, nor too soft. It forces you to truly taste the bread and the work put in to make it. The tuna was just right. I could taste the tuna, capers, and a hint of red onions. The spread was the right mix of tuna and the other ingredients without too much mayo or binder. Mix that with the chewy bread and the sliced hardboiled egg and you have a great sandwich. I finished it. It wasn’t too much sandwich.
Upon arriving yesterday, I had to wait in line, which is a good sign for a new cart. While standing there, a gentleman walked by and peaked in the window to tell Addy the sandwich was the best he’d had. What an endorsement! Addy’s Sandwich Bar offers up both meat and not meat sandwiches. She also has drinks, including my favorite – Fizzy Lizzy. Next time you’re out looking for a good lunch, check out Addy’s Sandwich Bar and tell them FoodCartsPortland sent ya. Welcome Addy.
Sample Menu:
Sandwiches all served on Little T Bakery mini baguette: $5.50
- House cured ham with gruyere and butter
- Tukey with brie and cucumber
- Country Pate with mustard and cornichon
- Duck Confit with apricot sauce
- Tomato basil and mozzarella
- Brie and cucumber
- Chocolate with sea salt and olive oil
- Organic Salad – $2.50
- assorted drinks and chips – $1.5
Hours: Monday – Saturday 11am – 3pm
Contact: 503 267 0994 or addyssandwichbar@hotmail.com
As tasty as tomato, basil, and mozzarella are, I would really really like to see some more creative veggie sandwiches. That’s like a salad on bread, and disappointing when I see the creativity put into the meat sandwiches. I do not want condiment sandwiches for meat sandwich prices.
I stopped by for lunch today, and tried the Country Pate with Mustard. It was served with sliced pickles, and nice gourmet mustard. It was really tasty. The bread was excellent, but of course gives your jaw a workout. I’ll be back to try the Tuna next week.
chocolate with sea salt & olive oil?? oh, yum, that sounds dangerous & deliciously French-y & I can see myself rationalizing that as okay for lunch – it’s a sandwich, right? And chocolate has antioxidants! Little T bread is excellent, so this is very good news.
As to Tara’s comment, I guess I’m a little confused by the complaint. Tomato, mozzarella & basil seems like more than just condiments, and to me, more than just a “salad on bread”. I eat mostly veggie myself & I think the 2 veggie options sound great, especially since it is tomato/basil season. I would just hope they may change their offerings in the winter when good tomatoes are hard to come by. A little harsh considering they’ve just opened & you haven’t even tried their sandwich yet.
plus, there’s always chocolate if you want a really original veggie sandwich!
Chocolate, olive oil and sea salt is my absolute favorite dessert. It’s a really big in Spain. First time I had it I just about fainted from the goodness.
If they want to up their vegan/veg sandwich offerings they should try Escalivada on Pan con Tomate. It’s a Catalan thing: basically get some good french bread. Slice in half, grill for a minute, rub with fresh tomato (garlic too if you want), drizzle with best quality olive oil. Now, add the escalivada. That’s slow roasted eggplants that have been peeled, onions, red pepper (I also like zuchini but it’s not traditional). Add sea salt to taste. Amazing.
A good decision to use little t loaves, best french bread in the city!
Yeah, yeah, I know, I’m a sandwich snob. I also expect the world to cater to my whims. (Maybe you missed that menu) But *everyone* does caprese sandwiches. I like my cheese as an occasional garnish, not a meat substitute. To me, caprese is a salad, and just isn’t as hearty as the meat sandwiches. Maybe it’s unfair, but I find caprese sandwiches boring and am not going to buy them anywhere when I could get a good banh mi for half that price.
I don’t begrudge it being on the menu, I know lots of people like it, I just really wish we had some more creative veggie sandwich options at the downtown carts.
Now, Cuisine Bonne Femme, that sandwich sounds amazing!
missed that MEMO not menu. Sheesh.
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Tara, I’ll let you in on a little secret I’ve learned over the years with the food carts. Go talk to them and tell them what you want. Simple as that. Chances are they will listen and respond. I’ve done that with several carts and am proud to say I even have a sandwich named after me at Savor Soup House because of it. Also, do keep in mind they just opened so they most likely will be tweeking their menu and are looking for ideas of what’s in demand.
For the wonderful thing (one of thousands of wonderful things, actually) about the food carts is that that diners have direct access to the folks in charge of the menus and food.
Keep us posted.
Yes, I am rather fond of chatting up the cart owners, too. Haven’t gotten a sandwich out of it yet, though.
Only problem is, if I don’t want to order what they have on the menu, I feel really bad walking up and asking questions and then going to order food somewhere else. 
Everyone, thanks for the comments. See, sandwiches are a huge deal here in this city. I’m excited for Addy’s since they are the first sandwich bar I have found. Granted, others do do sandwiches, but they are to augment other items on the menu. Addy’s just does sandwiches.
Tara, I’ve met many food cart owners and they love to talk about their options and menu. Honestly, I have ordered from cart A and then chatted up cart B while I wait for food from cart A and have had no issues. AND, it wasn’t because I write for this site. It was because they want to engage their current and possibly future customers.
Thank you for the nice welcome!!
I love the eggplant idea, and since I got some in my produce box this week, (from Organics To You) I think they are destined for a sandwich special. A friend mentioned a book on terrines that got me thinking about making a vegetable terrine that could be used in a vegan sandwich. Could be good!
I’ve been to Addy’s a couple of times now. Fantastic bread, and the brie and cucumber sandwich is fabulous. The cukes were thick and fresh and salted very lightly. The combination is simple but winning. My one constructive criticism is with the duck confit. When I had it, the apricot sauce completely overwhelmed the duck. Perhaps heating the duck confit before adding it to the sandwich would kick up the flavor of the duck and balance things out? At any rate, I recommend Addy’s and will continue to hit up the cart.
Stopped by this week to try the “house cured ham” and gruyere sandwich and was pretty disappointed. More like plain roasted pork (and fairly unseasoned bland pork at that) and the gruyere tasted suspiciously like plain old swiss cheese. Bread is absolutely delicious, however. I may be back to try another sandwich on the menu, but I really think advertising “ham” when it’s not is quite misleading.
I had the duck confit, but I have to disagree with heather about the apricot sauce (maybe they’ve cut back?). I could definitely have gone for more apricot sauce to balance the sandwich better, it was mostly just duck. All in all it was a very good flavor combination though.
The baguettes, however, are too tough and chewy for me, I’m not a fan of sandwich bread that is so hard to bite through… it monopolized the sandwich with the toughness and the sheer amount of bread. The bread is probably going to be the deciding factor in not experimenting with other offerings at this cart, though it seems like it has a lot of potential. Bread is one of my favorite things to eat, but a large hunk of bread of this size and consistency isn’t what I want to make up the majority of my lunch.
I actually loved the bread – it was my favorite part, but I like a little chew to my bread, esp baguette-style. I appreciated how itt really held the sandwich together well (much better than soft bread), so that I was able to eat it while walking back to work with no spillage.
I had the turkey/brie/cucumber and my only complaint was the turkey seemed a little bland. Maybe I’m just used to buying more fancy turkey for my sandwiches at home (I usually get honey-roasted or peppered at the New Seasons deli).
I also noticed the day I was there, she has a batch of homemade sauerkraut started. She said no specific plans for it yet, but I love sauerkraut!
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I love this cart. I think it’s only gotten better since I started coming here. And she changes it up… not too much, but enough to keep it interesting.
As for the baguette… that’s how it’s supposed to be!
The secret weapon at this cart is the soups and salads… A lot of carts treat soup and salad as an afterthought. Glad to say there’s no shortage of flavor here. I’ve had a great mushroom and kale soup, and I think a lentil soup of some kind. Both were seasoned really well.
I just tried the Duck Confit sandwich today, having had other offerings since the cart opened last year. The duck is now paired with cranberry relish & cabbage instead of the apricot sauce previously noted. Not having had it with the aprioct sauce I can’t say whether this change is an improvement or not, but I definitely enjoyed it in the current incarnation. Good balance of flavors and the cabbage was a nice little touch. Look ma, I technically had veggies today!
One of these days I have got to try the chocolate with sea salt and olive oil combination but I haven’t yet felt that I can justify the cost. But maybe I’ll stop by Little T’s for a baguette and make my own concoction at home.
My wife and I just tried Addy’s for the first time today and we thought it was simply delightful. Addy is warm and friendly, and the sandwiches were delicious. I had the country pate and my wife had the turkey with brie and cukes. We thought both were very flavorful, an excellent choice of bread, and very filling. Thanks Addy for making great sandwiches!
OMG. I hadn’t made it to Addy’s Sandwiches food cart until a month ago, and now I’m kicking myself for having missed out all this time. After I ordered the ham/gruyere sandwich on baguette, I thought, “That’s kinda dumb. What a boring sandwich to order; how will I be able to tell if her sandwiches are really any good?” I took one bite, and OMG. Perfectly balanced yumminess on the most awesome baguette ever. YUM!
Since then, I have also tried the Country Paté. It’s good — I think the pate could be a little more flavorful, and, well, paté-like. I found it a bit more like meatloaf, which will make it easier to like for those scared of paté (but would they order it?). Have also tried a soup (a lentil) and a salad (yummy!).
I will be back… again!
Addy,
I second my husband’s comment–we thoroughly enjoyed our sandwiches…..
I couldn’t help but do a little ditty on my blog today about you!
best wishes!
http://skbranine.blogspot.com/2010/06/tuesday-treat-addys.html
Addy’s — PLEASE open on the weekends or after 5pm on weekdays! I just switched jobs to a firm out in Hillsboro and miss your sandwiches so much!!
I’ve tried several of the sandwiches and found them unflavorful. Gourmet and different are great things but taste should always prevail.