An upscale 7-11. That would be an apt descriptor of Porcella Urban Market. On one side of the store you have dry good and a refrigerated section, just like 7-11, though the stock on those shelves is more of the imported variety. From pickled vegetables, to sweets, canned octopus and even escargot - this is where you go, in Bellevue, if you’re throwing a gourmet cocktail party and need last minute supplies. But it is the other side of the store that will interest most people. Again, like a 7-11, Porcella offers a selection of ready-to-eat items but unlike the ubiquitous corner store, the fare in Porcella’s display case is of a much higher quality. Cured meats, house-made sausage, roasted vegetables and various beasts and fowl are what one will find in a glass case that stretches over twenty feet long.

But it’s not what’s in the case or what’s on the shelf that brings me to Porcella. Unlike a 7-11, I come for the meals they cook up in their glass-walled, semi open air kitchen. The day of my visit, around lunch time, I made a selection from the list of sandwiches of a Warm Lamb Baguette ($11.00). The pressed baguette arrived layered with thin slices of slightly wild tasty, meaty bits of lamb. Slow cooked the meat was tender, juicy and easily enough bitten through with only the mere hint of fattiness to it. Dotted here and there within the sandwich were bits of melted cheese that, while fairly mild in flavor, reminded me of a fresh goat’s cheese. It was the olive and lemon relish that really helped to make the sandwich overall from becoming a heavy, leaden affair. Adding brightness and flavor contrasts, the relish takes the place of lettuce and tomato in cutting the heaviness of meat and cheese. Aside from the relish, or as a side to the relish (And the sandwich in general), my plate served with pickled vegetables that were restrained in their pickle-ishness but which still held a near fresh picked crunch. Of course what sandwich would be complete without chips? At Porcella they are referred to as frites or more accurately, truffled gaufrettes but whatever you call them you will eat them as though it was Crack-In-A-Bowl ™. Feathery, light, lacy and doily delicate are just a few words I can think to describe these little waffle cut jewels. I for one never fell victim to the whole truffle craze. You know, the one where everyone wanted truffle oil, truffle salt or truffled truffles in truffle sauce? I never really got it. It wasn’t quite my thing, however, in this application the truffle oil combined with salt and warm potato had an effect on me that prohibited me from eating just one (Sorry Lays!).

While I can’t see myself living in Bellevue, having to work there, near Porcella wouldn’t be too terrible of a proposal. Warm sandwiches, deli plates and a case full of prepared food to take home for dinner, what more could a person ask for? Slightly lower prices perhaps. At an average of ten dollars for a sandwich you’d have to live in Bellevue to be able to afford such extravagances on a daily basis. But if you are on the Eastside, shopping at the mall, working or buying a car, stop in for lunch or dinner. You’ll have the best convenience store meal of your life.