Portland is growing on me as a food city.  Ive yet to have a bad meal there.  On my last visit, the lady at the check in desk of the hotel told my girlfriend and me that “we couldn’t go wrong for food”.  After dropping our luggage, we set off to rustle up some food, undeterred by the dreary Oregon rain.  Eventually, we ended up at Cheryl’s on 12th.

Cheryl’s is your classic American diner, highlighted by big portions, endless coffee, and giant cinnamon rolls to finish off your meal. Located downtown, we grabbed a table by a window to do some people watching. I only had to glance at the menu once to know I was getting the Jumbo Breakfast Sandwich.

Overall: 8.7/10

The Good

This sandwich absolutely smacked. The meat department featured a triple threat of ham, sausage, and bacon. The Black Forest ham was the star both in quality, taste, and quantity. The bacon was cracking and the right mix of chewy and crunchy. The bread? Spot on. Perfectly toasted, buttered white bread. Crunchy outside, soft inside. Can’t fault it. The egg was perfectly cooked. I’m a firm believer that cream cheese is one of the worlds most underrated condiments. So I always have to be weary of biasing too much. However, I loved the addition of a schmear of cream cheese. It was a great base, adding a nice creamy texture. The thick slab of cheddar, slightly melted and oozing off the edges, tied the sandwich together and gave it a hearty, warm feeling that was perfect on a drizzly Portland day.

The Bad

3 things could have been done to push this sandwich into the upper echelons of all time greats. First, the sausage was a bit low quality. Now, I recognize that I may have slighty elevated expectation for sausage quality living but it stuck out like a sore thumb when compared to the ham and bacon. Second, I love cream cheese but it’s not really something that sets a sandwich apart from the crowd. Theres nothing here that makes ya say “wow, now that’s unlike anything I’ve had before”. Last, it was a bit too meat heavy. I’d like to have seen a bit more egg to balance out the triple threat.