Café Cello

September 15, 2010 Will Hutchens

Café Cello, located downtown across Yamhill Street from the Central Library, shares a Victorian-style house with the Pulse Salon. The café is fairly intimate, with five tables plus a row of seats along the front window. You can sit at tables on the front sidewalk if you prefer to watch the Max trains pass by. Inside, the deep red walls give the space enough character to be interesting, but are not so outlandish that they are distracting. The café has a couple stuffed chairs that are good for sitting and reading.

Café Cello

Coava Coffee Roasters

September 14, 2010 Will Hutchens

I wasn’t sure where I was going yesterday when I left the house, so I pointed myself eastward and started walking. It was a beautiful day, warmer than I realized when I left the apartment. I walked down to the riverfront and turned north. It was nearing lunchtime, and when I got down to the river, lots of people were out walking and running along one of Portland’s most beautiful spaces. There were more people out running than usual—it appears that people are gearing up for next month’s Portland Marathon and getting in some extra miles during their lunch breaks.

I considered continuing north along the river and then turning back into the Pearl District, but the East Side was calling me, so I crossed over Naito Parkway and climbed up on to the Morrison Bridge. As I crossed, I realized that the bridge is a good place to look at downtown and take pictures. I took a few before crossing over the bridge and into the Central Eastside Industrial district. I like this part of town: it’s a part of Portland that works. The neighborhood isn’t as concerned as some neighborhoods about looking pretty, and the array of wholesale and distribution centers is more diverse than I thought. You don’t realize the amount of business going on in this city until you see all of the office supply stores, wall covering stores, lumber stores, industrial bakeries, etc. that are found in this area.

A beautiful day on the waterfront

Continuing eastward, I crossed Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard (MLK) and walked one more block to Grand Ave. I turned right on Grand and walked southward. As I crossed Main Street I noticed a sign to my left that said Bamboo Revolution. Very Portland, I thought. One of the city’s claims is to be the most sustainable city in the US, and a store that sells bamboo flooring and counters fits that mould (Sustainability is a theme that will show up frequently as I write more about Portland.)

A few steps later, I noticed an A-frame sign on the sidewalk that said Coava (koh-vuh) Coffee Roasters. I did a double-take because I thought I was passing a bamboo flooring shop. Apparently, I was right on both counts. Inside I saw a coffee bar, and I couldn’t resist the temptation to stop in and check it out.

Coava/Bamboo Revolution

Jitters

September 13, 2010 Will Hutchens

[Author’s note: I am still planning to write about Portland’s coffee scene, but I wanted to tell you about a place I found right before I came back to PDX last Friday.]

The day after we finished harvest, I found a coffee shop in my hometown where I could sit down to write a few things. It’s called Jitters, and it is located on Main Street in Dayton, WA. Here’s what I found out about Jitters, just in case you ever pass through Dayton. Jitters is a great place to go if you’re looking for a quiet place on a rainy day. With its old, red-brick walls and its well-worn hardwood floors. Jitters would fit in well in Portland’s coffee scene. Located in the heart of Main Street, the café resides in the historic Engle Building, built in 1887.