Sweet Masterpieces Coffee and Chocolate Bar
March 14, 2008
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Location: Pearl district
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Price for beverage and snack for two: $8-$18
My friend Barbara and I helped out at the Museum of Contemporary Crafts exhibit, and decided to find a place to sip and talk afterwards. Sweet Masterpieces was just up the street, and we stopped in for a brownie, creme brulee and beverages. Half the shop is devoted to chocolatier-ey stuff–which we didn’t get around to–and the other half is a coffee bar.
Stumptown Coffee
March 10, 2008
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Location: Downtown business district
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Price to snack up two people: Around $8
The Greek food from Alexis enstomached in greasy, garlicky lumps, Robyn and I decided we needed a hot beverage and a cookie or SOMEthing to erase the taste. After wandering through homeless missions and X-rated nightclubs with lackluster ladies on swings, we crossed Burnside into the funkadelic pubside of town and then into Stumptown Coffee.
Now, Stumptown is something of a local legend–glassland coffee afficionados who wouldn’t be caught dead in Starbucks and turn their noses up at Peets speak of Stumptown with reverence. “They KNOW their beans,” they’ll murmur.
Stumptown doesn’t have much in the way of desserts (we split a small blueberry-chocolate chip muffin), but they definitely worship at the altar of coffee and turn the making of a latte into ballet.
We did the decaf latte thing (which got us a tolerant but pained look), and it was delicious. $6 for two beverages and the muffin. There’s serious audio equipment for an obsessed DJ in the back, playing nice music at just the right volume. Only complaint: They close too early for a relaxed after-dinner interlude.
Tip: While the folk at Stumptown are more than friendly, DO NOT let your coffee naivete show unless you have an extra half hour or so and your idea of fun is asking Jehovah’s Witnesses to teach you about religion.
“I’ve never really bought coffee before,” I confessed on my first visit, and the barristas practically vaulted the counter to convert me. They eagerly pressed brewlet after brewlet on me as part of the education process, accompanied by earnest commentary on wininess, floral notes, depth, etc. I was so wired I didn’t come down from the ceiling for two days.
Papa Haydn’s
March 9, 2008
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Location: NW 23rd (restaurant row)
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Dessert for two: About $15
Hang around Portland long enough and somebody will suggest going to Papa Haydn’s for late dessert. That’s ’cause these guys do dessert like kangaroos hop. There’s a regular, non-sweet restaurant, too, and the food’s probably pretty good, but who knows? Nobody I know gets past the dessert case.
This week Mom decided to postpone her birthday party (and the cake) for a week and just do dinner out with whoever remained after sick kids, emergency business trippers and the like took their toll. I stopped off at the 23rd St. PH’s for three pieces of cake: hazelnut torte, raspberry gateau, and triple chocolate cake. ($24 for the three)
All three were dense, incredibly chocolatey and so rich and huge that each slice was enough for three people. My favorite was the hazelnut torte, but I could have tossed them all and just slurped the raspberry sauce that came with the gateau—-hoooooooooly cow.
I’m not a huge chocolate fan, so the triple chocolate cake was a bit too much for me but Mom, a world-class chocoholic, loved it.They’ve got non-chocolate stuff, too. I’ve never had any dessert there that wasn’t well worth the price.
Sydney’s
March 3, 2008
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Location: Pearl district
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Price for coffee for two: About $10
Had a client meeting this morning in the fun part of the Pearl (where all the artists and creative agencies hang out, mid-teens and end-of-alphabet streets), and was a bit early so I stopped into a little place called for a bagel. I’d call it the quintessential Portland coffee house…for gadget freaks.
Really nicely decorated, good view of the bridge and sorta the river beyond. Then there’s this bonsai/box of rocks thing going on in one table and good lighting over each individual table so you can actually work while you do breakfast or lunch (they’re not open for dinner). The food is nicely done, tasty…but there’s a BeoSound on the wall (serious sound, guys), flat panels on the other walls, and it’s obviously designed for people who sip joe and work on a laptop.
Only did the bagel (and true to non-NewYawkers these dudes think that whitebread thing that looks like a donut is a bagel (yeah, right) but at least it was well-toasted), but I’ll definitely be back to try lunch. The soup they were simmering for the lunch crowd smelled wonderful.
Backspace
February 9, 2008
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Location: Downtown, near Chinatown
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Price for coffee and a bun for two: About $10
File this one under “experience.” Robyn and I hit up Sushi Takahashi on our weekly dine-out, and asked the hostess where to go for after dinner-cocoa or coffee. She pointed us to Backspace, about three blocks away (and maybe four blocks down from the Contemporary Crafts Museum) in the freezing cold. We opened the door…and realized that the starving students who fill up at Sushi Takahashi probably head right down here for a night of music, e-mail and sock puppets.