punky's

tried this place today for lunch.  punky's is a typical quick stop sandwich and drinks style place. plenty of parking, and a nice little area inside with booths for eating. the menu has some interesting choices - mostlyhotor cold sandwiches/subs. the also offer burgers and fried sides. plenty of chips, snacks, and drinks. a surprise to me: they offer daily homemade "comfort" food. such as chicken alfredo, turkey and stuffing, chicken pot pie, tuna casserole, etc. you can get a generous portion in a take home container. the comfort food, imo, really makes this place different and worth a look.  (also spotted some pre-cut homemade desserts, though not much of it was left in the display cooler.....) i brought home a shaved steak sub, and a container of the homemade chicken and broccoli alfredo. both were delicious. prices - reasonable for portland, not too high but not cheap either.  negatives to be aware of: the inside of the store looks rather rundown. nothing fancy. and many shelves (primarily the snacks area) were empty. and while they do have a enormous selection of drinks in the wall cooler, the drinks i purchased were not very cold. one other thing: be aware the store hours are unusual on the weekends. they close at 4 on saturdays; closed entirely on sundays. these last few negatives bring down my overall rating for punky's...  but still a place worth trying.

i found the kind of portland fast food restaurant that i love: a few steam tables selling daily $5-a-scoophotcasseroles, like american chop suey, potatoes au gratin, and something called, “mexican casserole,” a few faded, red-formica tables in the back, and an enormous selection of locally-made whoopie pies, cookies, and fruit bars.

falafel: what a nice surprise!. inside this brick wall facade rimmed by fluorescent deli signs is an unexpectedly bright and friendly shop. loads of choice: sandwiches, subs, roll-ups, burritos, casseroles, chowders, pasta, pizza, salad, etc.

do yourself a favor and try the falafel pita. fresh veggies, tzatziki,hotand crunchy falafels, and is that...fried eggplant?! not sure if that's always in there, but even without it, yum. worth stepping inside.