Detour Cafe

I was sitting with a couple of long-time Portlanders at the Detour Cafe, reminiscing about the old Quality Pie Company and what the city used to be like: more working-class, more small-towny, perhaps more old-fashioned. Tom, for example, said it was tough to find a good bacon-and-egg sandwich anymore. It’s like we were missing something that used to be. And then it occurred... [Read more]

Blossoming Lotus

To list the Blossoming Lotus as a breakfast place seems to demean it. Even calling it a place that serves breakfast doesn’t remotely do it justice. How about this? On its Web site, the Lotus calls itself “a vortex of positive and loving vibrations for all to experience.” Seriously. Portland’s Blossoming Lotus (there’s one on Kauai, also) is in the lobby of Yoga in... [Read more]

Bijou Cafe

New/Classy/Veggie You can be healthy/progressive and be a “real” restaurant! The best way to sum up the Bijou Cafe’s standing in Portland’s breakfast scene is this: Out of 36 restaurants listed in Frommer’s Portland guide, only three serve breakfast: the Heathman, Peanut Butter & Ellies (which made it as a kiddie/novelty place), and the Bijou. And... [Read more]

Gramma Lucy’s Cafe

Note: Closed 5/2008 Mom & Pop/Kid-Friendly One of the more entertaining experiences in the Portland breakfast scene is to sit at the counter at Gramma Lucy’s. That’s because Gramma Lucy’s isn’t just a restaurant. It’s also a training ground, a family party, and a stage. At the center of the whole thing, and constantly on the stage, is Mark, the owner. He cooks,... [Read more]

The Tin Shed Garden Café

Mushroom-rosemary gravy. Somehow that wraps up the Tin Shed perfectly – that, plus the fact that when the weather’s nice there are so many people waiting outside, drinking self-serve coffee, that they put up benches out front and people share newspapers with each other. In fact, traveling east from MLK Boulevard, the first indication you have arrived on the Alberta Scene... [Read more]

Review: Cricket Cafe

I used to have this friend Bob, from back east. St. Louis, specifically, but in Oregon that’s “back east.” Bob was a Deadhead and a pot head, not generally a guy anyone called “uptight,” but Bob used to go berserk at the slow pace of the service industry in Oregon. We once got tossed out of the Montage because he couldn’t get anybody’s... [Read more]

Review: Fat City Cafe

Here’s how you do a Breakfast with the Fellas. You meet too damn early on a weekday, ’cause fellas have to work. You can’t meet on a weekend, because fellas have to sleep, or they have to get up and do stuff that isn’t a breakfast with the fellas. You show up on time so you can give a load of crap to the guy who shows up late (generally the single one),... [Read more]

Review: Paradox Cafe

I might be a pig. I might be a backwards-thinking Tennessee hillbilly. I might be a thick-headed carnivorous pre-human. I might also be committing slow suicide with my diet. And yet I have traveled the world, seen several dozen Dead shows, smoked more than my share of grass, lean way left politically, and think of myself as sensitive and open-minded. Can I be both of these... [Read more]

Review: Helser’s Restaurant

I went to Helser’s once when I had been driving around Oregon for days, hosting a friend from Switzerland, staying in fancy hotels and eating rich food. I was ready to settle back into my Portland routine and calm down, eat something simple and tasty. Manuela was still looking for a place to eat breakfast in America where she could get only what she wanted – pancakes and... [Read more]

Review: Café du Berry

So I’m writing a breakfast book, and this raises a lot of questions in my head: What’s the purpose of the book (other than having fun and making money)? What do I do about places I don’t like? What is it that people like in a place, anyway? What should I report on? Is the food everything? What if the food stinks but the place is cool, or the staff is nice?... [Read more]

Review: Alameda Cafe

Alameda Cafe I’m going to start here with a confession: My first impression of the Alameda Cafe, before I even sat down, was that it was full of itself. That’s pure stereotyping, I admit it. When I see white tablecloths, paintings of flowers on the walls, actual flowers on the tables, the staff wearing black, and bottles of wine in a display on the counter, I think... [Read more]

Review: Patties Homeplate Cafe

I used to go by this place on the #75 bus all the time, on my way to play disc golf in Pier Park. I would see tables outside and read something about a soda fountain, and I’d think “Man, I need to go there.” Problem was, I couldn’t catch the name of the place. In fact, now that I’ve eaten there, I still don’t really know what the name of... [Read more]