Lunch at Paseo/ by Kat Gibbons, Palace Line Cook
One day last week my roommate, Lewis, came downstairs to find me on the couch watching Law & Order:Criminal Intent before work. Looking like a kid on Christmas morning, he enthusiastically asked if we could go to Paseo for lunch so he could get his Cuban sandwich fix for the week. I’d wanted to go for a long time and decided to jump (off the couch) at the opportunity to mow down some slow braised pork. We got in the car and headed over to Fremont Ave, just south of Caffe Vita, and parked on a side street. There was a line out the door of the small, signless restaurant, but it seemed to be moving along quickly, and so we stood behind the last person in line and figured out our order. Lew informed me that their most popular sandwich is the #2, the Cuban Roast. We ordered two and waited outside with the other 20 people standing patiently, giving the crazy eyes to anyone that walked out of the building with a white sack full of sandwiches and pints of rice and beans. The guy behind the counter called our number, and as I watched Lewis walk up to the counter, I prayed he wouldn’t elbow a small kid in the throat to get to our food as quickly as possible. We were too impatient to drive home and eat and there were no benches around, so we sat in his car, the windows down, napkins lining our laps, frosty Cokes in the cupholders, and, in frightening silence, ravaged our sandwiches. Cruncy toasted baguette, slow braised pork butt (aka pork shoulder, it’s a confusing nomenclature, I know), pickled jalapenos, crunchy romaine lettuce, and garlicky mayonnaise topped with super thick cut caramelized onions….
In my personal opinion, this is one of the greatest sandwiches in the city of Seattle, and I know a lot of people that agree with me. Any place that sells out of EVERYTHING on their menu every once in awhile (check the sign next to the cash register) has to be pretty amazing.
Note: these sandwiches are messy, and there’s no attractive way to eat them. But luckily they’re so delicious that I didn’t care about the weird looks I was getting as I was hanging my head out the side of the car door, shoveling the last bits of pork and peppers in my mouth from the bottom of the sandwich wrapper.
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July 1st, 2010 at 1:03 pm
Paseo actually uses 3 cases of pork shoulder picnic cushion to 1 case of pork butt, less fatty that way but still keeps the flavor and moisture
July 22nd, 2010 at 8:46 pm
Best sandwich ever! I used to live about a half a block away and let’s just say I gained a bit of a belly but never tired of the wind wafting the smells toward my house. The meatloaf sandwich at Dahlia Bakery is a close second!