/pearl/italian/12th
Caffe Umbria
They had me at hello. Either that or this frosty cold mug of Lagunitas IPA. This was a fine intro to the semi-new EaT: An Oyster Bar, in the slightly less semi-new HUB building on N. Williams Avenue (home to Lincoln Restaurant, Ristretto Roasters, and others, and former home of the short lived vegan restaurant Nutshell. I know, I agree...."short lived" and "vegan restaurant" is a redundancy!) EaT is named after partners Ethan Powell and Tobias Hogan (the E and T of the name). We wandered in a couple of Sundays ago on a beautifully sunny fall afternoon when we were in desperate need of sustenance. The word was that E and T were providing it by serving up New Orleans style grub in various forms of po' boys, gumbo, and oysters....
303 NW 12th Ave
(503) 241-5300
greenxnm posted a Food/Drink in Northwest Portland:
Resale and wholesale coffee roasting company.
Caffè Umbria appeared on the scene a few months ago, with all the flash and glamour you'd expect for a major restaurant opening. Getting through the door and fighting my way through the mob, it was hard to believe all of this fuss was for yet another coffeehouse.
This new cafe is in the Casey Building, at the corner of NW 12th and Everett St (Across from Everett St. Bistro). They put a lot of thought into the design and it shows; black granite counters, new glass display cases, both stand up and sit down tables, and high quality fixtures throughout. According to one of the employees, many of the design elements were shipped over from Italy. Every detail has a slick "planned" feel. This is not necessarily a bad thing. It fits the neighborhood, and is the only coffee house I can think of in the Pearl District, that isn't part of a huge corporate conglomerate. I can't imagine how much money they spent on the build-out, but rumor on the street, is they are paying upwards of $38 dollars a square foot.
Read the full review at Portland Food and Drink...
I have to disagree with Dude about Umbria being "the only coffee house I can think of in the Pearl District, that isn't part of a huge corporate conglomerate". Urban Grind, World Cup, Cafe Allora, Sip & Kranz...The first change is Bernadette Breu Antiques is closing. A phone call to the store said that the business will be moving to SE Portland in the near future, but the focus right now is on closing the Pearl District store. They estimate that the doors will close in about a month. During the closeout everything is on sale and discounts start at 30%. If you'd like to receive updates on the new location and opening in SE, send an email to blackpearlwild@hotmail.com. We hope Bernadette Breu does well in SE.
Moving into The Casey is Caffe Umbria, an Italian cafe from Seattle. I hope this store is similar to their Seattle store located in Pioneer Square. I've visited it and enjoyed what they offer. According to their website, Caffe Umbria offers "an authentic Italian bar experience, complete with expertly pulled expresso drinks, pastries, panini, gelato and fine Italian beer and wines". As I recall both the paninis and pastries were good, and the coffee was terrific (but Stumptown is still my personal favorite). Caffe Umbria expects to open in early or mid December.
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