Lunch at Pambiche

Today we ventured into Northeast to dine at Pambiche, the somewhat offensively colored Cuban joint on 28th and Glisan. There’s definitely some drama surrounding this place, with the local hipsters mad that people park their cars on the side streets and that they can’t pass out drunk on that section of sidewalk or whatever, and today was no exception. Although the hipster in question was Jared, and he was concerned that Cuban cuisine is not very veggie friendly. True, but I had a serious hankering and I told him too damn bad.

I’ve only been to Pambiche one other time, and it was for Happy Hour (which lasts like 5 hours and has incredibly cheap food.) I wasn’t sure what to expect for lunch. Basically it’s the full menu, but I assume smaller portions since everything was about half the price of dinner. Not cheap (still $7-$10 per entree) but not too bad either. I got a chicken dish, Pollo Criollo, which came with rice, beans and little samples of both types of salad (beet and cabbage.) It was more than I could finish. The whiny vegetarian ordered a spinach and cheese empanada plate that came with tostones and salad. He ordered a side of rice, and didn’t finish everything. He made sure to whine that if he hadn’t ordered rice it wouldn’t have been sufficient but I told him to suck it up.

Perhaps the most interesting thing about lunch at Pambiche was the crowd. Most tables were drinking, even those with small children. I suppose that’s what the middle-upper class does at lunch. And of course it is Portland, so no one actually works anyway. But yeah, a few weird hippies, and some middle aged ladies (one of which who fell out of her chair in an especially amazing turn of events.) Strange over all.

But the food was good and prices were reasonable. Now if they only served tofu we’d be all set.