{"id":1909,"date":"2009-12-20T05:30:30","date_gmt":"2009-12-20T13:30:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/burgersdogspizza.com\/?p=1909"},"modified":"2009-12-20T05:30:30","modified_gmt":"2009-12-20T13:30:30","slug":"oconners-portland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.peterstromquist.com\/?p=1909","title":{"rendered":"Portland, OR – O’Connor’s (Multnomah Village)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"oconners\"<\/a><\/p>\n

O’Connors has been around for 75 years, in some form, fashion, or location. The current incarnation is in cute and quirky Multnomah Village, a neighborhood strip of chops and cafes not far from our domicile.<\/p>\n

It was late afternoon and Mrs. BDB and I were feeling a might peckish, but were not predisposed for any particular item or cuisine. I don’t think she had eaten yet that day, and my entire sustenance was comprised of a bevy of Vietnamese foods provided at the open house of our local nail salon. That was good, but not wanting to seem particularly piggish, I demurred in my selections of those delicacies.<\/p>\n

After some discussion about our possibilities, we headed out to nearby Multnomah Village, parked the car, and headed to O’Connor’s. As it was early, it wasn’t busy, and we chose a booth away from the bar and televised football matches, and perused the menu<\/a>, which offers a variety of bar food, Mexican, Louisianan, and regional American dishes.<\/p>\n

We agreed on Louisiana BBQ’ed shrimp for a starter, one of our favorites (it is not BBQ’ed at all, but \"Beefeater\"<\/a>pan-broiled in butter, olive oil, and herbs), and my better 2\/3rds went for the Beefeater’s Special Sandwich (Marinated sirloin, grilled rare, served on sourdough with jalape\u00f1o jack cheese, red onion and roasted chiles) with hush puppies on the side, and I opted for a traditional New Orleans sandwich, the Muffaletta (pronounced by those in the know as MOOF-a-LOTT-A).<\/p>\n

The shrimp were tasty, but very hard to peel. There’s a solution to that, which I would pass on to you here, but I have forgotten it. Oops. Mrs. BDB pronounced her sandwich a success, the serving was ample, she offered me a bite, I thought the meat was similar to pot roast, but the flavor was great.<\/p>\n

My muff was quite a variation on the original recipe, which was invented around 1900 in New Orleans. The original recipe calls for a 9″ round loaf of Italian bread, with layers of capicola, salami, mortadella, emmentaler, and provolone, and smeared with olive salad, which is a marinaded blend of olives, cauliflower, celery and carrots.<\/p>\n

O’Connor’s version is a chopped pepper and olive salad layered with smoked ham, salami, jalape\u00f1o jack and cheddar cheese on a baguette. The baguette was grilled beforehand, and then perhaps put into a panini press to melt all the gooey cheesy goodness together.<\/p>\n

Being as Mrs. BDB thinks her husband is the persnickety type and a purist, she wondered aloud whether I was dissatisfied with the sandwich, but I wasn’t, it was tasty in its own right. But then, when isn’t ham, salami, and cheese good? The olive salad was more than fine, not sure if it’s a purchased variety or made in the house. The hand cut fries were reminiscent of In N Out, and were very good, I ate more of them than I should have.<\/p>\n

If you want to purchase authentic olive salad, there’s a fairly good one on CajunGrocer<\/a>. Occasionally you will find a vendor that offers Muffaletta bread, or even sandwiches online, I’ve tried those and not been satisfied. (Maybe, I AM persnickety!)<\/p>\n

I have heard about other Muffalettas in Portland, which I have not tried. This one, although not “authentic”, more than satisfied my craving. Being as it’s 5:15 on a Sunday morning, and I’m feeling a might peckish again, I am delighted I brought home half of the muff! To the Bat-refrigerator, BDB!<\/p>\n