It’s been exactly an hour and 15 minutes since operation bake sale has finished. I can proudly say that Share our Strength is $35 richer due to the efforts of the Fly on the Wall’s four-hour bake sale. But no; there’s absolutely no way I can take even a slight majority of the credit. A big, HUGE thank you goes out to the Ruizes (seriously, those two are always the best), Sadie’s cookie-dough cupcake recipe recommendation, Alouette, Jessie, Parker and all the other friendly folks for stopping by and partaking in this fundraising fun.
Portlanders love their coffee, which was the first bake sale item sold AND the first thing to sell OUT. Nice.
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720 SE Sandy Blvd.
Portland OR 97214
Anyone who knows Kevin Ludwig, the owner of Beaker & Flask, knows this guy’s been working on opening his first bar-restaurant for a looong time. The latest hold up was the good ole OLCC. Then the waters parted and just in time for their opening on June 25, the license came through.
I jumped into the hype machine and checked out the madness during opening night. It was super fun. Gaggles of sparkling girls and smiley guys packed the place. Cameras were going off, and the excitement buzzed. Kevin was working the bar faster than I could grab him, but I did talk to Doug Paquin who’s in charge of beer. The beer list, ps, looked awesome. Not that I drink the stuff much, but I hardly recognized any of the choices, and lot’s of them were local. Doug mentioned that other than a brief moment when the craziness tipped towards out-of-control , everything so far had been running smoothly.
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3640 SE Belmont Street
Portland, OR 97214
(503) 236-3346
Lordy, lordy, if I ate here as much as I’d like, I’d put on another 40. I hope you’re not sick of me blabbing about how rad things like, oh, I don’t know, a breakfast sandwiches are because (gasp!) yes, they make an amazing one. Don’t blame me for being repetitive, I’m just the messenger. Note to self: try eating other things.
Pine State Biscuits is awesome. They run a tight ship and run it well. Owners Walt Alexander, Kevin Atchley and Brian Snyder started this successful biscuit biz after developing a cult following at the Portland Farmers’ Market in 2006.
I love it when people do one thing and do it well, and I think Pine State is a great example of how the culinary scene is becoming more and more micro-tized (you like that new made up word?). Do they do breakfast? No, they do biscuits. It’s almost as though menu size is collapsing in relation to our shrinking attention span.
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2723 NE 7th Avenue
Portland, OR 97212
(503) 281-1420
I lived in Irvington once. And when I did, I realized how many beautiful, incredible trees filled up almost every street. I miss that — North Portland’s trees are little. My visit to Cartola, Irvington’s newest coffee shop reminded me of this.
Simone (pronounced Sim – own – ay) loves the trees too. She opened up Cartola with her boyfriend about five weeks ago and right off the bat, mentioned how much she loves the trees out front of her shop. The namesake is a shout out to her favorite musician, Cartola. It’s also Portuguese for top hat.
Her shop is stunning; marble-top tables with floral wallpaper and nicely chosen art. It’s also pretty small. Stumptown’s the coffee vendor and Pearl Bakery does her pastries. Continue Reading »
621 SE Morrison
Portland, OR 97214
(503) 477-9515
Finally I got there. Bunk Sandwiches has been on the list, well, since it opened last fall. I hate to admit it, but gettin’ out of my NoPo neck of the woods can sometimes be a challenge. The wait often makes the epicurean joy all the more intense, yes? Yes. Bunk fucking kills, and not at all the slang meaning of its namesake. Please accept my apologies if I sound like a broken record, but count them as yet another off-the-charts crazy-good sandwich outfit. Is it me, or is Portland kind of going bonkers with fantastic sandwiches right now?
Just in case you didn’t want to hit up Little Red Bike, Chow, or Kenny & Zukes for a luscious egg sandwich… go. to. Bunk. They’ve got ‘em Monday – Saturday 8am-3pm. I had the egg, cheese, sausage option. The menu claims it comes on a “hard roll” but it lies. The roll is wonderfully soft and soaks up all the savory juice that comes in the sandwich. The sausage was thick, herbaceous, with the perfect touch of sweetness. Being the salad-aholic that I am, I got a side of greens too, which was fine. It’s possible to fuck up a side salad, but really… there’s not much else to say about it. Continue Reading »
Just a few little things I thought I’d pass around:
John Brodie, aka, the gentleman behind Le Happy is embarking on a very impressive gallery project. The Store of the Month just opened and boasts a huge artist roster.
Basic Rights Oregon just released their 10th Annual Bites for Rights restaurant listings. Not a bad list of participants. It all goes down on June 18.
A neat-o sounding international food-cart show, VendrTv is making its way through town this week. Stops include, yes, Spella Caffe and Ziba’s Pitas
The Portland Fruit Tree Project seems as though they are busting out all over with action. They’re looking for volunteers in almost every area. I think this is one of the coolest sounding organizations (go get free fruit legally!). I tried to partake in a workshop but was told I was on the waiting list — that was a few months ago, so maybe they’re working out the details and have expanded their operation by now. Continue Reading »
1006 N. Killingsworth
Portland, OR 97217
(503) 998-1387
When I first heard the rumor a few weeks ago about another (good sounding) coffee shop going in within a quarter mile of my house in North Portland, I thought no… no, way. It’s just too much… I mean, right? Coffeehouse 5, Albina Press, Blend, Ristretto, Fresh Pot, Blue Gardenia, The Waypost, AJ Java; these are all ridiculously close to each other (and me, yay). Then, yes, once again, I’m flabbergasted by Portland’s coffee appetite and the brown paper came off the windows of North Portland’s newest coffee shop member, Red E.
If you walk in and think you’re in an Albina Press, it’s because it’s cut from the same coffee cloth. Ex Albina Press employee Mindy Farley opened it and ex Albina Press employee Matt Higgins is the man behind one of their exquisite coffee offerings. Matt runs the boutique roasting company, Coava Coffee, not to mention works blocks away at neighboring coffee shop, Coffeehouse 5. Continue Reading »
505 NW 14th Avenue
Portland, OR 97209
(503) 274-2469
I’ve never met a sandwich I didn’t like. Truly. Throw a bagel into the mix and I get weak at the knees. But I’m also a mild carb-o-phobe, so bagel sandwiches aren’t something I have the pleasure of enjoying often. So Chow is definitely a treat.
Owners Annie and Geo Bencomo opened the breakfast/lunch spot in the Pearl this past spring, with the goal in mind of serving healthy food, fast. Some may say bagels aren’t exactly healthy, but they do try and use lots of organic ingredients when possible, and source stuff from the local guys (like neighboring Bridgetown Bakery for their bread). They have sandwiches, salads, fruit and coffee. My purpose for going, was their breakfast bagel. Now breakfast bagels served all-day don’t grow on trees in this town, so already I’m leaning towards liking this place. And I’m talking about real eggs, some veggies, and some cheese on a toasted bagel. Continue Reading »
8438 N Lombard Street
Portland, OR 97203
(503) 715-1006
Sure, everyone loves organic food. Sure, everyone tries to buy it — but really, how many restaurants are 100 percent organic? Hmm? Yeah, not too many, because organic shit’s expensive, and some ingredients simply don’t come easily with that option. Well, Ladybug Organic Coffee takes those excuses and throws them to the wind (speaking of, they operate on 100 percent wind power too). And then they go and make a killer brunch.
I dropped in (just for food, so don’t ask about the coffee) after hearing volumes about it, and was pretty impressed. They go the extra mile with details way beyond just organic-certified food. They make their own biscuits and English muffins, which, yum, are delicious. Continue Reading »
Moving, closing, opening, talking:
Long time granola dining room, Vita Cafe is closed until mid-May. They lost their lease and are in the process of moving directly across the street.
I ran into the drama about the Floyd’s-King Harvest move and yeah, they shouldn’t have stayed open during construction. We had to practically shove the table saw aside to get to the counter. Enough said.
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Fresh Pot and Heaven
Andina is Amazing
Vegan Mole by Gracias Madre