Making the 'Ultimate Reuben' with Higgins' Greg Higgins

To celebrate Greasy Spoons Week, Eater asked four restaurants to embrace the classic diner experience and make a special Eater Greasy Spoons creation, available on their menus all this week.

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[Avila, EPDX]

Chef Greg Higgins has been driving the whole hog movement since many Portland restaurants were just a twinkle in their owner's eye, and the menu at Higgins already elevates classics like pastrami sandwiches and sausage-and-peppers (all house-made, of course). So for his Eater Blue Plate Special, Higgins offers his take on the Reuben — "a much-maligned sandwich," he says — with a focus on house-made and "funky" ingredients.

First, Higgins slathers his house-baked "Epic Stout" rye bread with butter and gives it a sizzle in the pan; then tops it with pastrami, a sauce made from capers, pimenton; and roasted peppers; and fermented kraut. It's then topped with a fancy Swiss chesse — Glauser's two-year Emmentaler, made from raw cow's milk — which is lovingly melted over the meat pile. The plate is garnished with house-made potato chips and pickles, and according to Higgins is best eaten with "a pint of something of equal intensity from the mother list." The Ultimate Reuben is available for $16.50 on the Higgins menu, all this week.
· Higgins [Official site]
· All Previous Higgins Coverage [Eater PDX]
· All Greasy Spoons Week Coverage [Eater PDX]