The days of Stacked Sandwich Shop’s signature sandwich, the oxtail French dip, are soon coming to an end. The Southeast shop (1643 SE 3rd Ave), the first of three restaurants opened by Top Chef Season 18 contestant and Portlander Gabriel Pascuzzi, will close on December 19, citing pandemic-related difficulties according to a December 1 post on the shop’s Instagram page.

“After struggling through the past 2 years of the pandemic, we looked at the rising labor cost, food cost, meat prices, and supply chain issues; and have decided to go out on our terms on a high note!” the post reads.

Stacked Sandwich garnered an enthusiastically positive review from former Portland Monthly food editor Benjamin Tepler shortly after it opened in 2017, and was also featured in PoMo’s 2017 Best Restaurants issue. “Pascuzzi’s headliner is a reimagined French dip that swaps out roast beef for heaps of pulled oxtail and uses the rich, rosemary-steeped braising liquid for dipping the crusty Pearl Bakery hoagie. Topped with havarti, onions, and cremini mushrooms, it tastes like a two-handed French onion soup of the gods,” he wrote. 

Pascuzzi’s two other restaurants—grilled chicken restaurant Mama Bird and newly opened grain bowl outpost Feel Good—remain open.