Slideshow

Slide Show: SW Broadway's New Portland Penny Diner

December 1, 2012

Prospective diners are lured in by the eatery's looming spinning penny sign, in homage to the coin Portland founding fathers Frances Pettygrove and Asa Lovejoy used in 1845 to name our fair city (had the loser won, we'd be Boston, Oregon. Really).

Photography by Allison Jones

The counter service restaurant features flat screens with the day's offerings, available for dine-in or to-go noshing. Seating is available along long bar tops surrounding the eatery, many with people-watching views along SW Broadway.

The a.m. sweets case is filled with treats from pastry chef Michelle Vernier. Look for Reuben Croissants, Hazelnut Linzer squares, daily-rotating quickbreads like banana or apple, and housemade Toaster Tarts (complete with rainbow sprinkles). Other break

Starting at 11 am, the lunch and dinner menu features salads, soups, and sandwiches served on house-fried bread, rolls, or Grand Central Bakery selections. Amongst the savory offerings: The Ya-Ya (falafel, spicy harrisa, cucumber raita, lettuce and toma

Discerning diners can swap New Cascadia gluten friendly bread on several sandwiches, and late-night weekend guests can choose from a few specials (like wing-zing spiced crispy chicken oysters and chicken livers or Frenet Branca-battered and fried cheese

The tile floor along the restaurant's wall-spanning bar features the floor design from the original Imperial Hotel, which sat on this block during SW Broadway's heyday.

On the liquid side of things, Bar Manager Brandon Wise resurrects the historical soda fountain with phosphate sodas, milkshakes, lactarts, and DIY "Spoon Drinks," pictured above. Tipplers can choose their spirit, then get to doctor up their selection (se

Hot on the heels of his just-opened Imperial Restaurant—chef Vitaly Paley's first new venture after debuting Paley's Place in 1995—comes the award-winning chef's spin on casual fare: the Portland Penny Diner. Dishing up fry bread sandwiches, grab-and-go breakfast nosh, and throw-back soda fountain cocktails for the downtown set, the Portland Penny Diner is set to show another side of the lauded farm-to-table chef and his team. Paley is once again joined by executive chef Benjamin Bettinger and barman Brandon Wise, who will all be doing double-duty at the new diner and at Imperial (which sits just across the lobby of SW Broadway's Hotel Lucia). Click through the slide show to find out more.

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