Sanborn’s
503.963.8000
3200 SE Milwaukie
Portland, 97202

BAM cakes and German food

We saw a comedy show the previous week across the street at The Aladdin cafe and before Showtime while walking around the neighborhood I made note of Sanborn’s which curiously had hours posted of 8-2 and was open only a few days a week. I figured we’d find ourselves back at their door front soon and the following week we journeyed back across the river for a bite of German fare. I scribbled our name down and took note of the five others above mine, guessing it would be about 25 minutes we took a stroll around to see what else was nearby but upon returning to check the progress we saw that the same 6 people that were waiting when we arrived were still there and it didn’t look like anyone inside had yet paid their bill so we took a seat and decided to people watch until our turn came. It was still about another 20 minutes before we finally were escorted in and seated smack in the middle of the room at a small square table without all that much elbow room but looking around it seemed as if the space was divided as economical as possible. We had a few moments to look over the menu and I noticed a large chalkboard at the entrance covered in different types of pancakes with creative names and flavors, when our perky waitress arrived her eyes lit up when I asked her to pick something good to bring me while Carly of course chose French toast which has become her default breakfast food the last few weeks. The Internet also advised trying their biscuits and Carly got a side of diced potatoes as well for us to split. While waiting for our chow we rubber necked around the room and noticed the adjacent house was actually connected from within the building where we were seated and they had converted the front room into a bar with additional seating just in front as well as on the deck. Our four plates showed up in short order and we quickly ran out room on our tiny table and had to watch our wrists until we ate ourselves some room. The B.A.M. cake that the waitress brought for me was all that she promised and more, stuffed with Bacon, Apples & Maple syrup and I was glad I decided not to pour any of the included syrup on it since the sweetness was already a 9 out of 10, the smokey bacon bits scattered throughout was the perfect contrast to the Granny Smith apples fanned out throughout the fluffy baked cake. The biscuit was quite delicious as well and the homemade raspberry preserves complimented it quite nicely and even the diced potatoes came out quite good and tasted lightly seasoned with rosemary. Carly was less excited about her French toast because it was light and fluffy while she generally opts for thin and crispy, I thought it tasted quite good but I was too stuffed from my giant cake to make much of a run on her breakfast as well. There were quite a few other options in the menu that caught my eye so maybe next time we have a guest in town we’ll take them for some German cakes.

GALLERY