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Today I was in downtown Portland and at the noon hour I found myself hungry, as I was driving down SW 4th Avenue I noticed a pop-up sign on the sidewalk while waiting for traffic at a stop light which said, “Doners Kebab and German Cuisine”. I quickly decided that this is where I would have my lunch.

I walked in and while I was expecting similar decor to say “Gustav’s” or the “Rhinelander” I was pleasantly surprised at the tasteful decorum. I walked up to the front counter where I was greeted by a man, who’s name I learned later was Johann Arkosi, and with a slight german accent said good afternoon. The look of surprise on his face when I replied “Guten Abend” and told him I would like to have some lunch (in german). After a brief conversation, he seated me at a glass table and offered me their menu. I found that their menu a nice mix of choices: Soups, Sandwiches, Salads, Vegetarian, Specialties as well as what appears to be very authentic german dinners. For instance, I would like to try their Piltz Kraeuter Rouladen dinner to see how it compares to my mom’s. (Going to have to be pretty good to compare).

As I was there for lunch and it was my first time there, Johann suggested that I choose the Doner Kebab as it’s becoming the rage in Germany, but instead of getting french fries I choose to try their Bean Soup with German Sausage. I must say, their soup was very good and reminded me of mom’s homemade bean soup. The Doner Kebab uses meat that is similar to Gyros meat but it’s not the same, I can say it’s very tasty and seemed to be lighter and more flavorful than regular lamb Gyros meat. This sandwich is made using a homemade pita style bread pocket, the Kebab meat, cabbage, shredded lettuce, onions, tomato, Feta cheese and their homemade yogurt dressing sauce. (I found out later that everything is not only baked or cooked on site but is also prepared fresh by Johann or his wife.) The sandwich had a wonderful balance of flavors where no individual ingredient over-powered any others. I have had other pita style sandwiches elsewhere, where they put so much lettuce in it, you couldn’t taste anything else that this was a most pleasant surprise. The lunch meal was a perfect balance where I didn’t walk out rubbing my stomach saying “UGGG, I’m soooo full” nor did I leave saying, “Wow, I am still hungry” because the meal was so small.

I give Doner Kebab a 4 star out of 5 rating for their lunch sandwich Kebab and the delicious soup. I give it a 3 star for value as the sandwich itself was $6.99, the soup was $3.75 totaling $10.75, which isn’t horrible for downtown Portland lunch scene, but doing this everyday could get expensive quickly.

I can say that Johann and his wife are very friendly and personable, I had a Gemutlich Zeit (Relaxed and Pleasant time) while I was in their care for lunch. I will definitely be returning another day to try their authentic german schnitzel, spatzle and their sweet-n-sour red cabbage.  I suggest whoever reads this does the same.

Doner Kebab and German Cuisine
515 SW 4th Ave
Portland, OR 97204
503-295-4929

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School has ended and I got my grades in, I got an ‘A’ in my database class and a ‘B’ in my Math class.  I was sweating my Math class, that final was brutal.  I have 2-3 more classes and I should be finished with my Bachelor degree, but unfortunately we don’t have enough left in the bank to cover another 3 months me not working and doing school.  If my estimate is correct, I have to take a writing intensive class and 2 more computer science classes to have enough upper division credits to complete my degree requirements.  Thankfully I should be able to take the writing class online from Western and the other two I can take from Portland State.  As for now, it’s back to looking for work so if anyone out there knows of a open position for a Network / Systems guy drop me a line.

While I’m looking for work, I’ve been studying my CCNA book and hopefully the guys in my study group can grill me this weekend for the test.  I want my certification before I go back to work.  Not sure if I’m going to go forward and do the CCNP curriculum or go study up the Microsoft 2008 server test.  I’m thinking I may do the Microsoft test and the Microsoft Network+ test as those would kill 2 of the 5 tests required for a MCSE (or whatever they call it now).