Bread out of the oven at four. Coffee until the light goes.
A small café on SE Ash Street. An espresso bar, a pastry case that empties by lunchtime, and a room at the back you can have to yourselves.
Closed Mondays. Dogs are welcome at the pavement tables.
A few of the things, with what they cost
The whole menu is on its own page, prices and all — including the plates the kitchen sends out until two. Nothing here is priced on application, because that would be an absurd thing to do to a croissant.
Mid-block on Ash, under the green awning
Two blocks off Cesar Chavez, in the middle of the block rather than on a corner — which is why the map below shows the street rather than a pin on a satellite photo.
Mid-block on Ash, between 23rd and 24th. Terracotta front, dark green awning, two tables on the pavement.
2314 SE Ash Street
Portland, OR 97214
On foot
Mid-block on SE Ash between 23rd and 24th. If you reach Cesar Chavez you have gone three blocks too far east.
By bike
A staple rack outside the door and two more on the 24th Avenue corner. The greenway on Ankeny is one block north.
By bus
The 15 stops on Belmont, four minutes south. The 20 stops on Burnside, six minutes north.
Parking
Unmetered on Ash and on 23rd, and it is usually easier after nine. Please leave the two spots outside the door for people picking up orders.
Getting in
One shallow step at the door and a level room inside. Say hello and we will hold the door — the accessible toilet is at the back, past the long table.
What it actually looks like
No stock photographs and no borrowed interiors. This is the room, on ordinary mornings.
Fourteen at the long table, twenty-four standing
Evenings from five, any day but Monday. No hire fee, a minimum spend instead, and a real person here the whole time.
The back room, with the doors closed
Behind the counter there is a second room with one long table in it. During the day it is where people sit with laptops and prams. From five in the evening it can be yours, with the doors shut and nobody walking through.
We do not charge to hire it. There is a minimum spend instead, which for most evenings is less than people expect, and we would rather tell you the number on the phone than print a package.
The food is whatever we are good at: the morning baking done again in the afternoon, soup, cheese, bread and fruit. If you want it laid out on the table before people arrive, say so and it will be.
- The whole back room with the doors closed
- The long table laid, or cleared away for standing
- Coffee, tea and soft drinks for the whole evening
- A spread from the same oven as the morning
- Someone from the café here the entire time
- Your own music through the room, or none at all
What people say when they are not being asked
I came in for a coffee and ended up having my mother's wake in the back room. They moved the tables, they did not once make it feel like a transaction, and they let us stay an hour longer than we said.
The morning bun is the reason I changed which way I walk to work. If you get there after nine you have missed them, and that is not a marketing trick, they are simply gone.
Two of us worked here all winter on a laptop and never once felt hurried. They tell you when the plates stop, they mean it, and they always find you a plug.
Come in, then.
We are on SE Ash between 23rd and 24th, open Tuesday to Sunday. No booking, no list — just the door.