Best sandwich in the Northwest? A PDX food cart holds the title
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PORTLAND, Ore. -- Owners of a local sandwich cart are celebrating some national recognition.
Big Ass Sandwich was recently featured on the Travel Channel show Adam Richman's Best Sandwiches in America.
The sandwich, with roast beef, french fries and cheese sauce -- all put on local ciabatta bread -- earned top honors in the Northwest.
On Wednesday, there was a 10- to 15-minute wait just to get a taste of the sandwich that could serve as more than one meal. The sandwich is already catching on in downtown Portland as is the food cart, said Lisa Wood, who owns the cart with her husband Brian.
"When I got laid off out of radio, we had always talked about opening a restaurant and this is a great starting point," she said.
Wood has worked in the cart for the past three years. Now thanks to Richman's show, her lines at this Cracker Jack box-sized cart stretch down the street.
"We're trying to keep up," Wood said. "It's an 8x16 cart. We only have so much space ... We homemake everything we also packed this thing to the gills every morning when it's gone it's gone we have to make everything again."
The taste isn't just in the bread. The beef can't be forgotten. The same goes for the cheese sauce that practically melts in your mouth. The french fries are also a crucial ingredient in the sandwich.
"We hand-cut the fries we cook them twice and it's a taste you won't find anywhere else," Wood said.
It's a taste her customers said is just too good to stay away from. James Guigayoma was visiting in town from San Francisco visiting friends and made more than one stop at sandwich cart.
" ... We've been here pretty much every day," he said.
Customers like Guigayoma are keeping Wood and her staff busy.
"You have to have all that stuff together, and it's the flavor we're going for," she said.
The business has been so successful that the Woods would like to eventually open a restaurant to serve what is now the best sandwich in the Northwest.
um i'll take my fries on the side thank-you!
"Customers like Guigayoma are keeping Wood and her staff busy." "Wood" and "staff" in the same sentence, and nobody caught it??
There is not ONE nutritious thing in this sandwich. It saddens me that our society has lost its way and become so unhealthy. I look around and see morbidly obese Americans everywhere, yet we celebrate food (sandwiches) that will kill us in the long run. Is it any wonder our health care costs are skyrocketing along with the obesity, heart disease and diabetes?!
 @criticalreason Actually your wrong. They have a ceasar sandwich that has plenty of greens on it.
Secondly, eating unhealthy every once in a while isn't going to kill you. I like to splurge every now and again and this cart is one of the best places I can think of to go to.
 @ToyotaMafia One more thing, it's "you're" not "your". Your lack of proper grammar implies ignorance.
 @ToyotaMafia Actually I'm not wrong. I was referring to the sandwich featured in this article, not their ceasar sandwich. Your reading comprehension is nonexistent.
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Further, I never stated or implied eating unhealthy once in a while will kill you. I said this article celebrates a very very unhealthy choice. And, the fact is, people who would willingly eat such a sandwich are making a very unhealthy choice, whether they do so frequently or not. For the record, I would never ever put that poison in my body.
its called Googling, folks... Big Ass Sandwich: SW 3rd & Ash Street, Portland, OR
Big Town Hero subs are allot better!
 @martyh_11@yahoo.com You clearly have not been to Big ass sandwiches. Big town sandwiches are horrible.
BigTown Hero Subs are better!
Hey, Where is the food cart ? C'mon KATU guys !! Give us the information. Its called REPORTING !!!!!
 @thargrove google, my dear... Big Ass Sandwich: SW 3rd & Ash Street, Portland, OR
Where are they at ? They weren't at the airport last time we were there. Â Might have to visit them sometime when we are up there @trina larson studebaker
 @Jeff Lavey Big Ass Sandwich: SW 3rd & Ash Street, Portland, OR
Terrible article, full of typos and grammar issues.Â
Wow. Being a transplant from NY to Portland (12 yrs ago), my friends in Buffalo and Brooklyn must be dumbfounded over this. I'm gonna have to try dis food cart!
Doesn't anyone proof-read articles here? Talk about sloppy.
The food cart fixation I just don't get.
""The business has been so successful that the Woods would like to eventually open a restaurant to serve what is now the best sandwich in the Northwest. "" BEST sandwich in the NW----by who's standard? Some NW liberals---no thank you.
 @onceagain lol you brought liberals v conservatives into a discussion of a sandwich.  you have major major issues, dude.
 @onceagain you asked - "by who's standard?"
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- From the story "recently featured on the Travel Channel show Adam Richman's Best Sandwiches in America"
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Adam Richman bio:Â
"Richman was born into a Jewish family and raised in Brooklyn, New York, and graduated from Midwood High School. He completed his undergraduate degree in International Studies at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, and earned a master's degree from the Yale School of Drama.[1][2] While attending Emory University, Richman was a member of Alpha Epsilon Pi, fraternity.[3] Richman, an only child, still resides in his hometown of Brooklyn. "
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Not every story warrants a "NW liberals" slam... Â
So who is Adam Richman and what makes him so special. Just because he has a TV show means nothing, all TV shows are scripted anyway. You state in your reply he has a degree in Drama, so that makes him the all inclusive expert on food. I think not.
I bet you are a Rocket Scientist? Research Analyst? (http://lmgtfy.com/?q=adamrichman)
Do  not think i would eat this sandwich, looks like something I may have step in by accident a couple of times.
1500 calories?
 @terre08 Per bite
Man that sounds mighty tasty. I love the name too!
It's on the corner across the street from Captain Ankeny's and Ash Street Saloon, I believe it is SW Third and Ash. And it is a great sandwich. Awesome late night snack after a few drinks...
wheres the dam food cart so i can taste it
@riderofthelegend Remember when you were in grade school and they taught you the essential components of any news story were the 5 Ws (Who, What, When, Where, Why, and sometimes How)? I've noticed they don't appear to teach that in journalism school anymore.