Favorite
Years before the 2025 parade of new trattorias and nostalgic red sauce spots, Campana began as an Italian pop-up in a side room off the now-closed Grand Army Tavern. Eventually, it took over the whole joint, and it’s not hard to understand why. Co-owner George Kaden’s time in New Jersey kitchens informs this palace of pasta, marrying East Coast frivolity Read more...
Favorite
Shh. For the past few years, Southeast Portlanders and industry folks have kept Bellwether Bar as their own in-the-know neighborhood jewel of the highest order. The setting: a wonderfully warm historic 1910-era building off the shoulder slope of Mount Tabor. Here, chef Jimmy Askren approaches the idea of a PNW public house with genuine intent—crispy prawns with Old Bay cocktail Read more...
Favorite
It’s all in the name. If you’re after a dizzying croissant, proud and regal with layers stacked as precisely as the pages of a book, this is your spot—and there are two locations in town. Chocolate croissants wear a handsome swirl of coco dough and a sumptuous glaze. A rose-scented cruffin (croissant + muffin), fat with raspberry jam and rich Read more...
Favorite
Born in Seoul and trained under Las Vegas’s French pastry gods, Jin Caldwell and Kyurim Lee ditched Sin City for Stumptown in 2018. But their unassuming shop overflows with ritzy pastries. Walk in and pick from an outsize collection: mondo croissants warm from the oven each morning (classic butter to crispy ham and cheese), intricate savory tarts, and jewel-toned desserts Read more...
Favorite
This mecca of earthy-crunchy sourdough with an undying love for hearty grains now sits in a brand-new location on SE Belmont, a ways away from its eponymous volcano. Longtime employee Rebecca Tosdevin took over last year, and despite the change of scenery, the spirit of the place—and, we assume, its fermentation mothers—are well intact. The menu’s guiding question is, Can you Read more...
Favorite
Café Olli is many things: a brunch sanctuary, a pizza destination, a date haven. The room feels like a modern foodie diner—white booths, cozy counter, eggs yanked from a brick oven. The unofficial motto: Make everything. The breakfast sandwich rules, spicy house sausage patty to wondrous fresh bun. The lox plate deploys plush house-cured gravlax, herby creamed cheese and fantastic Read more...
Favorite
Newly reopened in Sellwood after three years in a teeny Montavilla storefront, this family-run Sicilian bakery and deli rests on the holy trinity of nana-worthy cannoli, sesame-crusted muffuletta sandwiches, and every variety of dainty Italian cookie under the sun. The delicate, blistery cannoli are a revelation of crunch and fresh ricotta, filled to order to preserve the crisp shell. Cuccidati (shortbread cookies rolled Read more...
Favorite
When it opened in 2008, this SE bakery was dubbed the church of heavenly bread. Founder Tim Healea passed the reigns to longtime head baker Dillon DeBauche in 2023, prompting a minor facelift and a doubling down on all things grain nerd. Bread remains the star, from righteous spelt loaves to snappy “long skinny” baguettes. I ride with the Sally Read more...
Favorite
Next door to the acclaimed restaurant Coquine, this sweet little chef-driven bakery and market opened in 2021 with its own barista and morning pastry bar that stacks its wares whimsically tall on pie plates. Come for sweet and savory scones that announce the season, from persimmons to huckleberries, exemplary waffles handed over in paper jackets, or arm-length jalapeno-cheddar breadsticks. And Read more...
Favorite
One reason to get up on weekend mornings: Berlu Bakery’s traditional and contemporary Vietnamese pastries and soups. The Vietnamese tasting menu restaurant is on an indefinite hiatus as chef Vince Nguyen adjusts to new parenthood. So the weekend-only bakery is currently the only way to eat the James Beard Award–winner’s food. I’m a fool for the bánh bò nướng, a Read more...