Cheap Eats 2011: Pause

With a meat-centered menu that could cure the most severe protein deficiency, Pause can churn out a substantial lunch or dinner for under $10. Pause looks somewhere between a diner and a sports bar, and is dimly lit, open late and an oasis of good food on an otherwise unfrequented stretch of North Interstate Avenue. The housemade pickles that garnish most dishes are surprisingly good and make an interesting appetizer on their own. Pause’s warm and cold sandwiches are good for lunch and dinner—the Cuban sandwich ($8) is a real showstopper. With roast pork, house ham and whole-grain-mustard aioli, it manages to be moist without collapsing into a soggy mess, is salty and a little spicy, and not as sweet as your average pork sandwich. Entrees like the mac ’n’ cheese with house sausage ($12) and cider-braised Tails & Trotters pork with potato salad ($14) are classic Portland collisions of gourmet and grunge.