Six seats, one skinny counter, and Chemex “vases” sprouting flowers fill this Latin-proud coffee shop, which highlights Mexican growers and gives coffee nomenclature a Latin American twist. That includes just about everything, from the shop’s name (in Mexico, a ubiquitous community gathering spot) to the all-Spanish language menu, to the trio of “cortaditos” on offer. Those cortado hybrids include a Read more...
In a city already fixated on goofy glazed treats, 180 swooped in and perfected xurros, Spain’s signature long, skinny fried tubes—digging deep into Euro tradition, adding Portland-playful fillings and chef collaborations, and achieving a level of commitment rarely found near a deep-fryer. The tiny café, co-owned by Ataula’s Jose Chesa and Cristina Baéz with David Martin, is arguably the best Spanish xurro shop Read more...
This Alberta Street spot doubles as a fancy brunch destination serving Aussie-inflected fare and a cupping bar brewing flights of coffees so rare some aren’t available anywhere else in the US. The sprawling, sun-drenched space vibes like Kinfolk got coffee-drunk at a dive bar. At Proud Mary, “hash” means an addictive stack of crisp potato cakes, the thickest bacon, and Read more...
Think French Toast is squishy and cloyingly sweet? Ford has engineered the answer: a house-baked cardamom bread, toasted and topped with clouds of ricotta, nutty granola and dried cranberries, all drizzled with honey ($6). It’s sturdy and crunchy; whisper-sweet and a lot savory, with shocks of black pepper, cashew, and toasty coconut in every bite. Read more...
How OG is Andrea Spella? Eleven years ago, the dude helped pioneer the city’s nanobatch coffee and food truck scenes, serving poetic, lever-pulled espresso drinks from his Spella Caffè cart. At their core: hand-roasted beans calculated to make Italian expats weep, like dense, liquid coffee candy. In 2010, the low-key perfectionist opened a chandelier-lit shoebox hidden along downtown’s bus mall. It’s Read more...
D&W rotates its fizzy, amber thirst quencher every season. In winter: root beer made the olde-school way, with sarsaparilla, birch bark, and wintergreen. Warm weather brings a sweet vanilla–rose water number topped with fluffy coconut foam. The real kicker? A glug of Dapper & Wise cold brew. Read more...
The Latina-run coffee-house across from downtown’s DMV does the Mexican tradition proud with a seemingly straightforward mug o’ joe—but sweetened with piloncillo and spiced with cinnamon. Read more...
A customer since the ’80s notes fewer hippies nowadays at SE 12th Avenue’s Rimsky-Korsakoffee House, but not much else has changed. A relic of Portland’s coffee culture before the Starbucks-on-every-corner era, Rimsky’s still charts its own course: a 7 p.m. opening time, cash or check only, and not a laptop in sight. Only a fool would ask for a Wi-Fi Read more...
