Try This: At Night Moves bakery, a sandwich that celebrates spring
May 20—I forgot to go to the Portland Farmers' Market on Saturday, and midweek I was still cursing myself for my absentmindedness. Even this early in the growing season, when most of what's on offer is seedlings, the market is an annual rite of spring for me. Luckily, before Saturday rolled around again, Night Moves bakery's whipped feta sandwich turned my frown upside-down.
The sandwich ($15), with its thinly sliced, nearly translucent radishes, carpet of pea shoots, and lemon-chive vinaigrette shouted spring. I am sad to report I ate it sitting at my desk, but in a perfect world, I'd have tucked it into my bike pannier, hopped onto the bike path in South Portland (which passes right by Night Moves) and ridden to Bug Light for a picnic.
Like pretty much everything else in American food in the last 30 years, sandwiches have gotten a major upgrade. Serious-minded cooks and bakers everywhere are taking care with each component. In this case, the pea shoots and radishes came from Stonecipher Farm in Bowdoinham, while the feta — which the bakery whips with cream cheese and olive oil — came from Pineland Farms in New Gloucester. Night Moves makes the focaccia on which it builds the sandwiches, and it takes care to spread both both top and bottom with the whipped feta, which, in turn, holds the radishes in place.
A good sandwich needs contrast in flavors and textures, and this one checked those boxes, too, offering creamy, salty feta; crunchy, faintly hot radishes; chewy focaccia; and delicate, slightly grassy pea shoots. It's a big sandwich, and quite rich. I probably should have stopped at half.
The bakery, which opened last July, has been selling grab-and-go sandwiches from its cooler for only two months. Starting at 10:30 a.m. or so, it sells two sandwich options each day, one of them vegetarian. The menu changes every few weeks according to seasonal ingredients and "whatever the whims of the kitchen are," according to barista Dustin Otton. "They have all been good so far," he said, "so whatever ends up next will be delicious." I've no doubt.
While you are picking up a sandwich, the right move at Night Moves is to also take home a loaf, any loaf, of its beautiful sourdough bread.
Whipped feta sandwich, $15, Night Moves, 695 Broadway, South Portland. nightmovesbread.com
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