Fork Forty, Salem's upcoming food hall, teases first official vendor: The Portland Press
Emily TeelFork Forty, the food hall under construction at 440 State Street, has officially announced the first of what will be six permanent food vendors housed within it.
Brothers Aaron and Brandon Appel have decided to move their sandwich business, called The Portland Press, from Portland to Salem. Yes. They're keeping the name.
Waffle sandwiches on the way
With a logo like a newspaper, The Portland Press has less to do with dailies and more to do with the tool they use to make their signature sandwiches: a waffle iron. The Appels make loaded sandwiches, but in place of bread each is a packed stack of two waffles with filling in between.
"We're not a waffle restaurant," said Aaron, "we're a sandwich restaurant."
Though sweet waffle sandwiches (think s'mores or Nutella banana) are on offer, they offer more variety on the savory side. The Cubano ($10) is their top seller, stuffed with roasted mojo pork, ham, Swiss cheese, yellow mustard and pickles. A breakfasty twist, The Morning Edition ($9) matches waffles with Spam, two eggs, Swiss cheese, apple butter and ketchup. The Diablo ($11) pairs turkey and ham with Gruyere cheese, arugula, Mama Lil’s peppers, and garlic aioli.
Bigwig fans take note; The Portland Press' menu is entirely gluten-free.
Gluten-free doughnuts:Bigwig Donuts, Salem's own vegan and gluten-free donut pop-up, opens storefront downtown
Until they decided to move the business to Salem, The Portland Press was housed in a food trailer. The small size of the kitchen, they said, limited the size of the menu to nine sandwiches with potato chips on the side.
At Fork Forty, the Appels are excited to expand their menu to include more side dishes, new sandwiches, and perhaps even a few grab-and-go items.
Aaron promises a meatloaf sandwich as well as their version of chicken and waffles.
Meet The Portland Press
The Appels first opened The Portland Press as a food cart in September 2018 at Piknik Park food cart pod in Portland's Sellwood neighborhood.
Originally from Pennsylvania by way of Florida, Aaron is The Portland Press' culinary expert while Brandon, whose background is in hospitality and tourism, represents the operations side.
Before launching The Portland Press, Aaron got his start in the mobile food industry working in Los Angeles-based Cousins Maine Lobster and at Portland's Burger Stevens.
When deciding to open a truck of their own they were testing concepts for poutine or loaded waffles. Their dad, said Aaron, wanted something simpler.
"He said 'I'm tired of all this stuff, just make me a sandwich'." They put a waffle sandwich in a panini press and The Portland Press was born.
Even so, it was never their plan to stay in the food truck scene forever.
"Our goal was never to be in a food cart," said Brandon, but "to launch the cart as a proof of concept. We were already looking for the next thing."
When Charles Weathers, who, along with Conrad Venti, is organizing the Fork Forty project, approached them about becoming a vendor, the Appel brothers felt the time was right to scale their enterprise up.
"There's a boom going on on downtown Salem" said Aaron, mentioning Archive, Bigwig, and Bo & Vine as youthful businesses contributing to a momentum they're excited to take part in.
"Portland is an exciting food city, but it's extremely over-saturated," Aaron said,"whereas [in] Salem, I think we can make a bigger splash."
They've sold their cart and closed their Sellwood location and are in the process of making the move.
"Salem is where we see ourselves building this brand."
When will Fork Forty food hall open?
Fork Forty food hall remains under construction, but according to Charles Weathers they plan to open to the public in mid-November or early December.
Once complete it will comprise six mini-restaurants and a bar with communal seating areas.
Besides The Portland Press Weathers has confirmed that one unnamed vendor will be offering organic vegan soft serve ice cream.
Emily Teel is the Food & Drink Editor at the Statesman Journal. Contact her at eteel@statesmanjournal.com, Facebook, or Twitter. See what she's cooking and where she's eating this week on Instagram: @emily_teel
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