¡Tortas Gigantes! truck on 82nd Ave

[trillium]

Ate at a new tortas truck (well new to me) on 82nd Ave and Otto (?Otter...can't remember exactly). Due to a Flexcar SNAFU we were about 3 hours behind schedule, which is a big deal when it comes to lunch or lack thereof, following a longish bikeride and a smallish breakfast. We needed food and we needed it fast. I was about to give up and go to Dairy Queen on the way to Costco when we spotted the truck.

The name is no joke, these suckers really are gigantic. The guy was irritated the partner didn't speak Spanish, while I did, and was pretty dubious when I explained he was chino and not mexicano, but we got past that. They had a huge variety of tortas that were divided into torata with egg+ingredient or melted cheese+ingredient or cold ones. Plus, a section on tortas cubanas, which I'd never seen before, but are supposidly pretty popular in Mexico City. I had the fresh cheese (not sure about the distinction, except to differentiate it from cheddar I suppose, it was white and mild, maybe mozzarella) and pork sausage which I picked because in spanish the name was close to Linguica. I think it was the Mexican version of Linguica, it certainly tasted like it. The partner went with the "sausage" in the cold section of the menu, which turned out to be hotdogs. He says it was the best hogdog sandwich he's ever had, 3 dogs split and deep fried, grilled torta bun (great quality, some taste like hamburger buns, this one didn't), mayo, generous amounts of avacado, good tomatoes, onion and pickled jalepeños. My sandwich was sublime as well and thank god it didn't come with mayo. Next time I'm picking something with a little less grease though, I could only eat 1/2. The ham and egg looks mighty tasty. They had a little side menu with tacos, burritos and tostadas, but I only saw gringos ordering those. Everybody else was getting tortas. Check them out.

regards,

trillium

Edited August 18, 2003 by trillium (log)

[Jim Dixon]

sounds great...the only problem, of course, is that you have to drive out to 82nd...

Jim

[KNorthrup]

Do you mean Otty, like by Krispy Kreme?

[trillium]

Yeah, that's it, that's where it is. Right across from the Krispy Kreme. We drive out that direction more often then some, I suppose, our favorite Asian groceries are out there. Depending on how much you like tortas, I'd say they were worth a drive just for themselves.

regards,

trillium

[Jim Dixon]

So that's deep SE, like nearly to Clackamas Town Center?

What Asian store do you like? I need some fish sauce.

Jim

[trillium]

Well, I hate admitting this but we don't really have a favorite because we have to go to a lot of places to get our favorite products.

We go to two different places for fish sauce because I can only find Tra Chang, which I'm convinced is the best brand for cooking in the US at one little shop on Sandy Blvd (Nam Phuong Market). I also really like using uh-oh, blanking on the name, but it's a yellow label with silver fish on it and a Vietnamese name even though it's made in Thailand. Anyway, it's my prefered fish sauce for dipping sauces and dressings. Lighter then Tra Chang and more aromatic and almost winey, if wine could be made from fish. That one you can find almost everywhere here in Portland. We go to An Dong on Powell for Chinese stuff because they carry the widest variety and are the only spot that sells Amoy Gold Label light soya and toban djan sauce (Sichuan style stuff with fermented broad beans and chillies, a must for ma po doufu at our house). They also have nice produce on the weekend and sell what we call chendol in big bags in the refrigerated section (a must for summer!). We go to Om Seafood (the shop not the restaurant) because they have a salted fish from Malaysia we like and they also are the only place we've found that carries 50 lb bags of Phoenix jasmine rice. We go to Gold Garden (the restaurant) for the best bbq duck you can get in Pdx, they have a BBQ take out counter at the front of the restaurant. We go to Pacific Supermarket (67 and Halsey) to find SE Asian ingredients that aren't at An Dong or the quality isn't very good like pandan, kaffir lime and banana leaves, good frozen galangal from Thailand, and also for the Asian skincare lines. Whew. There is also an herbal store on 82nd that we'll go to when our stash from SF runs out. I think there is another big grocery store (Dong Fang) on Powell past 82nd Ave that the grapevine says is pretty decent.

This is probably way too much information, right?

regards,

trillium

[Jim Dixon]

This is probably way too much information, right?

seems about right to me....

thanks

Jim