
Ashland’s greatest food gift to Portland is this sandwich shop’s pastrami: fatty, dark red, and deeply smoky after hours over smoldering black oak. Try it—as the Chicagoans do—in Reuben form, or capping the Sammich Burger griddled with ground Angus beef and special “Sammich sauce.” The 24-seat eatery also hosts a gut-busting lineup of non-pastrami options, from a Chicago Italian Beef served “wet,” to the Timbo cheesesteak, served only “slightly wet.” You can’t miss outspoken owner Melissa McMillan, often seen chopping wood for her smoker out front and enforcing the mandatory Chicago Cubs dress code. Pastrami Zombie, Sammich’s Portland food cart spin-off, also slices thick, black oak-smoked, Montreal-style pastrami like no other.
