Trying to add a payment method? You can do this on the 
QuickTake:
Maude & Sons opened a month ago out of a commissary kitchen in west Eugene. Owner Ben Maude’s small shop is inspired by his love of sandwiches and the cooking techniques he picked up over several years in the restaurant industry, from fine dining to food trucks.
Ben Maude is a one-man show at Maude & Sons, west Eugene’s newest sandwich shop.
He cranks out 30 sandwiches a day and will eventually scale to 50, maybe 60. But no more.
“I’m not going to shy away from selling out” of the sandwiches, Maude said, placing a slab of mozzarella on a golden brown, Viking longship-shaped chicken cutlet. “I don’t want it to be huge.”
By 1 p.m. on a recent weekday in July, he had three sandwiches left.
“I don’t usually sell out this early,” he said.
The sandwiches are all made on focaccia Maude bakes daily using Camas Country Mill flour, so fresh you can sometimes see him pulling the steaming loaves from the oven. He even apologized to a few customers whose sandwiches were made with the still-warm bread because “it’ll be a little soft now.” Mouths full, they didn’t seem to mind.
Maude & Sons boasts a small menu: a handful of colossal sandwiches, a house salad, lemonade and iced tea.
Still, I wavered. “I haven’t had mortadella in a while, but I also love a good chicken cutlet…”
And stalled. “Ben, what’s your favorite sandwich?”
Maude said the mortadella — with whipped lemon ricotta, arugula and pesto — is a bestseller. But his favorite is the pork confit.
“It’s pork slow-cooked in pork fat then fried in pork,” Hey Y’all owner Bill Nave said, chiming in.
Sold.
Nave, by the way, shares space in the same commissary kitchen Maude runs his lunchtime shop. In between prepping biscuits, fried chicken and peach cobbler for his food truck, Nave sometimes takes orders — as he did with me — for Maude during the lunch rush.
“He’s the best employee I never hired,” Maude said of Nave, laughing.
Maude & Sons is a tiny shop located in a nondescript building off West 11th Avenue. Most customers get their orders to go, but if you opt to dine in at one of the shop’s three tables, be sure to spoon on some Chili Royale chili crisp.
Maude’s partner, Ginger McCabe, founded Chili Royale in 2021. He joined her chili crisp business in 2023 and together, they expanded its footprint in grocery stores and farmers markets across Oregon and now distribute to Washington, California and Idaho. The couple makes batches in the same commissary kitchen as the sandwich shop.
I excitedly eyed the options for my pork confit sandwich before landing on Unholy Molé, whose smokiness complemented the plump cubes of tender marinated pork and zippy pickled red onion.
I was already scheming on pairings for my next trip; definitely the Calabrian chili with the crispy chicken cutlet or caprese. After sampling Chili Royale’s spiciest, The One, I decided to save it for when I’m feeling more daring (read: masochistic).
Maude packs his sandwiches with quality meats (the 24-month prosciutto di parma, for one), local ingredients and a balance of flavors (take the salty richness of the prosciutto with sweet fig jam and a lively balsamic reduction) that reflect his years as a chef.
While chowing down on pork confit, I met a few restaurant industry folks at Maude’s shop, a good sign for any food establishment.
“Half the people who come in here are cooks,” Maude said.
Maude & Sons started as a monthly pop-up earlier this year before he found permanent footing in the commissary kitchen.
Prior to the sandwich shop, Maude co-owned a distillery, founded (and sold) Bar Purlieu and opened a handful of food trucks and carts around town, including Poutine On the Ritz.
“I like to start things,” he said.
He also ran Pasta La Vista with Mike Pierce, who now owns a 45-year-old pasta shop called Pasta Plus. Maude uses Pierce’s pesto in some of his sandwiches.
Looking at Maude’s entrepreneurial range, his latest culinary expression may very well morph into something else in a few years.
But one thing remains clear.
“I love sandwiches,” Maude said.
If you go: Find Maude & Sons at 4222 Commerce St., Suite D, Eugene (in the same building as Supercuts and T-Mobile). The west Eugene shop is open 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. or until sold out, Tuesday to Saturday. Maude’s current menu boasts six sandwich options, alongside iced tea, lemonade and daily specials. Most sandwiches are priced at $16 or $17. It’s primarily a pickup spot, with a few tables for folks who opt to dine in.
