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It is no secret the restaurant formerly known as Olympic Provisions—the restaurant agreed to rename after some unfortunate trademark business courtesy of the money-grubbing Olympics committee—has the best cured meats in the Pacific Northwest. Elias Cairo's long-celebrated salumeria has been producing some of the most sublime saucisson, mortadella and chorizo this side of the Atlantic since 2009.
What you may not know is that Cairo and company incorporate their handcrafted meats and homemade pickles into damn good brunches, lunches and dinners in two locations: a cozy bistro in the shadow of the Fremont Bridge in Northwest and a converted commercial building in industrial Southeast. Despite three handpicked European cheeses, a two-by-four-size charcuterie board (available in three regional varieties), and a hoagie roll piled high with buttery capicola and pepperoncini, I still felt remarkably light in the step. The chocolate pot de crème with honey-roasted peanuts and soft peanut butter cookies should've landed like a cinderblock, but it was as light as a feather.
Pro tip: Olympia Provisions is one of the only American providers of several obscure, regional European sausages that are pretty much impossible to find outside of their homelands. If you see a salami you've never heard of, get one to go and impress your friends with your impeccable taste in obscure sausage.
GO: 107 SE Washington St., 954-3663; 1632 NW Thurman St., 894-8136; olympicprovisions.com. 11 am-10 pm Monday-Friday, 10 am-10 pm Saturday-Sunday. $$.
Willamette Week