Bunk Bar is an offshoot of the wildly popular Bunk, noted Portland sandwich purveyor, which specializes in a short list of awesome sandwiches. We were actually meeting for dinner around the corner at Boke Bowl, an impressive start-up that serves mash-up variations of ramen and a few other Asian dishes. Boke was closing early, so we ordered take-out there, and I zipped around the corner to get a to-go sandwich from Bunk.
The muffaletta, a New Orleans invention, came about as a result of the proprietor of a local establishment called Central Grocery, improvised on the small plate he was serving local Italian farmers a hundred years ago. The farmers, selling their produce at the local market, would stop by Central and order a little Italian meat, cheese, and bread. Salvatore Lupo, proprietor, decided to put the meats and cheese, with some olive salad (diced olives and vegetables, oregano, garlic), on a 9″ round loaf for convenience sake. A legend was born.
So I order Bunk’s version, which is pretty close to spot on, with the exception of the roll (generally not available outside of New Orleans). Bunk used (it appeared to me) a hearty version of a French boule, which was, to me, a pleasing choice.
A full muffaletta in New Orleans is generally too much for one diner, and at Bunk, the same would be true. Their sandwich is approximately 1/4 of a loaf, and at $8, is worthy of recognition from visitors from the Crescent City.
I’d be wanting to try Bunk for some time, and thanks to Boke closing early on the day we were going out, I’ve found a new favorite place. Can’t wait to try some of their other sandwiches.
