We arrived at about noon, signed my name to the list and received a 20-minute seating estimate. Unfortunately, we had to wait over an hour. It wasn’t completely miserable, since there were interesting locals to talk to, including Jim R. of Vancouver, Washington, his wife and daughter, who were at Simpatica to celebrate Father’s Day. Jim said he buys meat from Viande, a butcher shop from the dining hall’s owners. It’s always good to meet people, and because the host felt guilty about making us wait, we each received a free Mimosa.

Here’s the abbreviated Simpatica story: In 2003, Hawaii native Benjamin Dyer moved to Portland and purchased Viande Meats and Sausage, a charcuterie and butcher shop. In 2004, he teamed with John Gorham on Simpatica dining hall and catering. In January 2005, Jason Owens joined the Simpatica and Viande team as a chef-owner. In 2007, Portland native Dave Kreifels became part owner and co-chef of Simpatica, with Owens. According to their online mission statement, the group claims to have their fingers “on the pulse of the Pacific Northwest’s burgeoning food scene working closely with local chefs, farmers, and food producers.” Based on our brunch, they’re fulfilling their mission.

We started with a slab of Olive Oil Cake with Rhubarb Marmalade ($5) and chantilly cream. The warm cake was crisp around the edges and fairly moist within due to the olive oil. The marmalade wasn’t too sweet.

Fried Chicken and Waffles ($11) included Dried Fruits Syrup (actually, more of a chutney) made with apricots, cherries and golden raisins. The waffles were absolutely ethereal, and the fruit “syrup” was incredible. The chicken was certainly moist, but the skin was under-seasoned, not crispy enough and reminded me of Shake n’ Bake.

Belgian Waffles with Dried Fruits Syrup & Chantilly Cream ($11) came with a side of Bacon. There was a lot of overlap with my entrée. Sadly, I didn’t get bacon, which looked outstanding, with singed edges and inviting streaks of hog fat.

Flat Iron Steak ($11) included Romesco, Roasted Potatoes & 2 Eggs Easy. The seared strips of rosy meat were luscious. The Spanish sauce was a nice accompaniment. The potatoes were roasted in olive oil, which made them lighter and moister than normal.

Simpatica offers an excellent brunch. Was it worth an hour wait? Probably not. Next time, I’d arrive earlier or opt for Simpatica’s Friday or Saturday dinner.

The Annex houses 20 jars of beans of varying degrees of fullness., including Los Pranes (El Salvador), Duncan Estate (Panama), Casa Quemade (Colombia) and Las Galandrinas (Nicaragua).

Beans are kept on the shelves for four days. On the fifth day, they’re ground for the French press.

The Annex staffs a single employee, so it’s cheap to operate, and even if it didn’t turn any profit, there’s value in educating Portland’s coffee drinking customer base.

Matt was the day’s employee. He’s worked at Stumptown for the past nine months. Before that, he played in a band and roasted coffee in Athens, Georgia, at Jittery Joe’s.

Until recently, the Annex used a deluxe Clover to brew their coffee, but replaced it with a “pour over.” It’s basically just a porcelain dish that holds a Mellita coffee filter, and the coffee drips down into a porcelain cup. The first pour releases gases, then grounds begin absorbing water. There’s a second pour of water, to bring out the sweetness.

Matt just got in 7 different “delicious” coffees. He recommended Finca el Injerto Bourbon ($2.50) from Guatemala. He compared it to diner coffee, if diner coffee was any good. If I received a cup of Finca el Injerto Bourbon in a diner, I’d be happy.

The Annex is known for their cuppings, a.k.a. “wine tastings for coffee,” but only offers them at 11 AM and 3 PM. We mistimed our visit. Still, we had a unique coffee experience and would definitely return.

Hours:
Daily 8 AM - 8 PM
Cuppings: 11 AM & 3 PM

There isn’t much to the decor, just yellow walls, a few tables and a counter that runs along the west wall. The walls host framed photos of rusted cars.

The blackboard menu couldn’t be simpler: Biscuits & Spreads, Biscuits & Gravy and Biscuit Sandwiches. Order at the counter and wait to hear your name, then grab your plates. To drink, Pine State Biscuits offers distinctly Southern beverages like sweet tea and cherry-flavored Cheerwine soda.

Esquire helped to make the Reggie Deluxe famous when it was listed as part of “The Best Sandwiches in America” in February 2008. The sandwich incorporates fried chicken, bacon, cheddar, gravy, and an egg on a buttermilk biscuit. I’m not much of a gravy fan, so we opted for the McIsley.

McIsley ($6) is a biscuit sandwich with boneless fried chicken breast, crinkle-cut pickles, whole grain mustard and honey. Each component was solid, and the combination tasted excellent, sweet, spicy and tangy.

We also ordered a biscuit sandwich with a rutty house-made sausage patty, a slice of Oregon-made Tillamook cheddar and over-easy egg. Very good.

Feathery Hash Browns ($2) were dusted with paprika and plated with stray tines of rosemary.

Any time animals are incorporated into the decor, especially pigs, I like to show them.

After our breakfast, it was easy to see why Pine State Biscuits had a line out the door. The food is fresh and flavorful, the prices are cheap, and the space is charming.

Hours:
Tuesday - Sunday: 7 AM - 2 PM

The kitschy doughnut shop is bracketed by blocks of bars. It’s a brilliant business concept, since drunk people crave fatty foods, and doughnuts are about as devastating as food gets, especially how Pogson and Shannon make them. A handwritten menu lists all the offerings and poses a challenge: “Live By The Voodoo” or “Die By The Doughnut.”

Voodoo opened at 10 PM, and we arrived by 10:15, but they were already sold out of maple bacon bars. The counterwoman said they typically sell out within 20 minutes of opening. This was definitely disappointing, but we still bought five different doughnuts:
- Blueberry cake
- Blood Filled Voodoo Doughnut ($1.75) – a rich raspberry filled chocolate voodoo doll with “BOO” on it and a pretzel speared through its chest
Grape Ape raised doughnut ($1.30) - grape Kool Aid frosting
Dirty Snowball ($1.50) - Devil’s food cake with strawberry coconut strands and peanut butter
Arnold Palmer ($1) - cake doughnut with iced tea and lemonade frosting

We skipped some of the more risqué offerings, including the Cock-N-Balls, which looks just like it sounds (triple Bavarian cream filled, scribbled with “Sexy”), and the Triple Chocolate Penetration (chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and Coco Puffs).

Voodoo asks customers to “take the Tex-Ass challenge,” referring to an oversized doughnut that’s easily six doughnuts in one. “Eat it in under 80 seconds and it’s free!” No thanks.

The Arnold Palmer and Blueberry doughnuts were top level, but we came to Voodoo Doughnut to eat the maple bacon bar. Based on that, the experience was a letdown. As a doughnut shop, Voodoo is above average, but given the long lines and painful parking situation, it’s hard to imagine a return visit.

Coffeehouse NW owner Adam McGovern was happy to discuss his approach. I told him that barista Ryan Willbur of Intelligentsia L.A. said Coffeehouse NW is the best shop in Portland. Adam said, “He’s right.” He credits lower volume than Stumptown and the attention to detail from true coffee “dorks.”

The Portland coffee scene is so competitive, so Adam said, “We have no choice but to try and go above and beyond in every sense of the word…We were the first Synesso in Portland. We had time to get really familiar with every espresso customer.” They also use “high quality milk, chocolate, sea salt and pastries, which is stupid business wise, because the margins aren’t there for a company not roasting their own coffee.” To try and compete with hot chocolate legends Sahagún and Cacao, they use Michel Cluizel chocolate and sea salt. Adam takes coffee seriously, and it shows in the cup and on the palate.

Adam became interested in coffee because, “It was something my dad had done in college and spoke fondly of it. It wasn’t until I got up here that I saw how good coffee could be.” Adam lived in Sacramento prior to Portland.

Adam hangs Tomasz Karwowski’s Ed Ruscha-like photos on the brick walls. The airy space is glass-fronted on two sides, featuring wood floors and a wood bar.

The blackboard menu is simple, with no gimmicky drinks.

Adam considers cappuccino a better representation of a coffeehouse than espresso, saying, “It’s very hard to know what you’re tasting. You could be tasting dose, humidity, bean, etc. Our job is to represent the coffee on a daily basis and Stumptown’s job is to represent the farmer on a seasonal basis.” Adam used to use beans from Portland Roasting Company, but switched to Stumptown because, “I believe Stumptown sources the best coffee available.” They use Hair Bender, Stumptown’s sole espresso blend, for all espresso drinks.

Near the register, I read a note from McGovern that helped to partially explain why his cappuccino was so good, and why Coffeehouse NW is considered to be near the top of the coffee industry. The note read, “The weekend before last, I tried a cappuccino at 9th Street Espresso in New York City, and it was good. Too good. Turns out they use Organic Valley Whole Milk, which is very expensive but arguably the best milk available. So of course we immediately began making our cappuccino with Organic Valley milk, because our cappuccino must be as good as possible.” Adam is often willing to adapt to deliver a better product, even if it costs more.

Adam makes it clear, “Espresso is the heart of the shop, but we haven’t ignored the periphery.” As a result, we ordered an Americano, which was well balanced, not bitter at all.

For pastries, Coffeehouse NW primarily uses Nuvrei, a wholesale baker out of the Pearl District. “He came in for coffee and got the account,” says Adam. “We pay raw cost on any pastry we don’t sell, he writes it off and donates it to charity.” He’s also a believer in Two Tarts, who have a booth at the Portland Farmers Market. He gave me a peanut butter cookie sandwich, lashed with chocolate, with luscious peanut butter cream in the middle. Adam says the Tarts also make excellent lemon shortbread.

Coffeehouse NW definitely lived up to the hype, and certainly delivered the best tasting cups of Portland coffee all weekend.

According to the Sahagún website, Montes was a Manhattan artist who stumbled upon the 1998 Chocolate Show. Inspired, she soon found work at Maison du Chocolat and Neuhaus. She started Sahugun in 1999, relocated to Portland in 2001, and began selling her chocolates at the Portland Farmer’s Market, which is where she sourced most of her non-chocolate ingredients.

According to the site, “She has come to rely on real spices, seasonal herbs and fresh fruit flavors (not flavorings) to create pure tastes, usually limiting flavor ingredients to one or two in order to avoid obliterating chocolate’s intrinsic flavor.” For ganache, she uses hormone-free Oregon cream. The difference was noticeable at first bite.

Montes wasn’t on-site when we arrived, but we spoke with protégée Miranda Rake. Rake approached Montes one-and-a-half years ago and offered to work for free, since she was so passionate about Sahagún. Montes wouldn’t hear of it; instead, she offered Rake a paying gig. They’ve been making all the chocolates in back ever since.

Hot Chocolate ($5) is available with a shot of Stumptown Hair Bender espresso, which would no doubt lead to a devastating mocha, but the hot chocolate was magical enough, rich without being cloying, with shaved chocolate and silky crema. Montes prides herself on making the hot chocolate with melted single-origin chocolate (in this case 75% Tanzania) and hormone free half-and-half and milk.

The glass-fronted display case hosted a wealth of tempting options. We bought four chocolates. Figalicious combined Calmyrna fig, Marcona almond, chestnut honey and a whisper of cardamom on a Venezuelan chocolate disc. Mendiant ($1.25) was a bittersweet chocolate disc topped with dried and candied fruit “sprinkles” – a single pistachio, a fig disc, a candied orange peel and a dried cherry. The hand-dipped lavender truffle ($2.25) incorporated 65% Venezuelan chocolate and hormone-free cream. There was also a hand-dipped Chile truffle ($2.25), made with 71% chocolate. Each chocolate had a distinct flavor profile.

Oregon Bark ($2.15) showcased La Mancha Orchard filberts and sour cherries from Salem, bound together with Mangaro Madagascan 65% chocolate.

Pepitapapá ($2) hosted toasted organic pumpkin seeds, homegrown fresh-ground jalapeno and Ecuadorian 71% chocolate.

There were also skeletal chocolates that Montes originally introduced for the Day of the Dead. The skulls, heads, brides and grooms were absolutely lustrous.

Montes has created a truly special chocolate experience.

Picklopolis
www.picklopolis.com
We were happy to enter “The Kingdom of the Brine.” Since it’s a kingdom, that would make Chef David Barber the King and his gardener wife Barbara the Queen. The pickled Royals also own Three Square Grill in SW Portland.

Even the menu is in the shape of a pickle. “All savory flavors include cider vinegar and kosher salt, unless otherwise noted.”

We made sure to order one Cucumber Garlic Dill “pickle of the future” ($1.50), barrel fermented with garlic, spices and cinnamon, snap fresh and delicious. The future is now.

It was also impossible to bypass the Pickle Kebab ($2):
- Orange Fennel Beet (brined in orange, fennel and clove, “They cast their own light!”)
- Asparagus (from Eastern Washington, in a white wine vinegar brine)
- Garlic Green Bean (not dilly, “super crispy”)
- Pickle of the Future
- Spicy Carrot (escabeche style)
- Bread and Butter Pickle (“sweet slice”)

Sundance Lavender Farm
www.sundancelavenderfarm.com
Michael Farley and wife Susan farm lavender, herbs, spices and garden vegetables in the hills of west Salem, Oregon. I asked Michael Farley why he and his wife decided on lavender, and he said, “It was an accident. We tried to do dried flowers, but they weren’t selling, so we decided to make lavender jam and sell it up here.”

We sampled two of Sundance’s lavender-infused jams: lavender marionberry and lavender pear raspberry. In other jams, the Farleys utilize loganberry, boysenberry, peach and blueberry. They buy the fruit from nearby farmers.

We bought a tin of the lavender-infused grill rub ($4), which contained rosemary, thyme, fennel seed, basil, marjoram, chives, onion flakes, lemon, pepper, garlic and sea salt. [We used it on boneless pork chops within days of our return, and the rub imparted an intoxicating aroma.]

Springwater Farm
Oregon is known to be a paradise for foraged wild mushrooms, and Springwater Farm, based in St. Helens, featured baskets full.

Mushroom varieties included Nameko, Shitake and Porcini, all sold by the pound.

Tastebud
www.tastebudfarm.com
Mark Doxtader helped run his family farm in Canby, Oregon. Beginning in 2000, he set up a wood-fired brick oven at the Portland Farmers Market, making baked goods on site. Just this month, Doxtader opened a small restaurant in SE Portland, but continues to make pizzas and wood-fired sandwiches at the farmers market. The menu is always different, depending on what he sources from local farmers.

Doxtader’s brick oven has soaked up plenty of smoke since debuting eight years ago.

Tastebud offered three different slices of pizza ($4). We opted for the variety with parsley pesto, roasted zucchini, spring onion and ricotta. The middle was flavorful, but the outer crust was a little chewy.

We ordered a Lamb Pita Sandwich ($9). The pita and Cattail Creek leg of lamb were cooked in the oven. The luscious slices of sheep meat were stuffed in the pita with wheat berry salad, smoky spears of roasted asparagus, spring onions, hummus and spring greens. The counterwoman asked if we wanted hot sauce. I asked if it would make the sandwich taste better. She was strangely confused, but ended up pouring on some sauce. It was a solid sandwich, but the pita was actually the list interesting component, dry and wheat-y.

Sol Pops
www.solpops.com

We found a sky blue paleta cart beneath a canopy of green “leaves.” Sol Pops partner Bob Pullen explained that paletas are Spanish for “little shovels.” He, Noah Cable and Aaron Harmon work three days per week at different area markets. SOL stands for (S)ustainable (O)rganic (L)ocal. Noah Cable was friends with Aaron Harmon and his wife, who’s still in North Carolina before she moves to Portland in August. They had a paleteria in North Carolina. Noah and Aaron decided they could do the same thing in Portland, only organic and local. Bob said his brother’s friends started making paletas in ice cube trays, and he was brought in to contribute a “culinary approach to the process.” He attended Western Culinary Institute “before it went corporate.” Bob’s currently developing a blackberry hopsicle for the organic Brewers Festival on June 27-29.

Noah said, “A lot of them are inspired by what’s fresh at the market.” The trio gets rosemary, lavender, basil and strawberries from surrounding stands. Noah said, “I skip like a little girl with an armful of basil.” He made basil lemon and ran back to give the farmer a new product made using their basil.

The blackboard menu changes depending on what the trio finds at the market. Today, the offerings included cucumber lime jalapeno, strawberry lemonade and coconut agave. The cost: $3 apiece or 2 paletas for $5. Our first selection was basil lemon, which was sensational, containing what must have been two ounces of finely chopped basil.

Mango lavender had an intense mango flavor, and the lavender seeds imparted an aromatic perfume.

The Portland Farmers Market was every bit as impressive as my first visit there in 2004.

Portland Farmers Market runs from April 5, 2008 - December 20, 2008
Hours:
Saturday: 8:30 AM - 2 PM

Robert led us to the second story meeting room with round tables and a projection screen. The play button wouldn’t work, so Robert said, “The remote is willing, but the battery is weak.” Thankfully, he’s so knowledgeable about beer that he didn’t need a canned message. After all, the man completed the Beer Training Certification Program, evaluating over 1000 beers at over 300 breweries nationwide. Here’s a micro-fraction of his beer knowledge.

East of Mississippi, Widmer Brothers offers Hefeweizen. Up and down the West Coast, there’s hefeweizen, Broken Halo and seasonals like Crimson Wheat, a double weizen.

Every year, Widmer Brothers pays for malt, hops and yeast. Home brewers invest time and water and submit brews for consideration. Sometimes there are dozens of submissions, and sometimes it’s just one or two. Home brewers submit two bottles for judging and two for chemical analysis. The home brewer who wins gets to name their beer, brew it at the Widmer facility, and it’s distributed around Portland. An example of a winner is the Snowplow Milk Stout.

Kurt and Rob Widmer started brewing beer in 1984. They ran two tons of grain daily, brewing beer at 4 AM and running fermenters before made sales calls. Robert said the process was truly “homemade.” They had a shrimp cooker for the mash. The turning point for the brothers’ success was beginning to produce hefeweizen. For the first 12 years, Widmer Brothers was available by draught only, to save on packaging and storage. Now the brothers have graduated to their fourth brewhouse.

Before he provided us with four tastes of Widmer Brothers beer, Robert suggested we focus on the color and clarity, take a deep sniff to get “the nose,” take a swig to have beer at the front and the back of the tongue, then notice the “finish,” since aroma is such an important component.

The Widmer Brothers brewing process utilizes 100,000-pound silos of grain. To make 250 barrels of hefeweizen (31 gallons each), they use 10,000 pounds of wheat. 4800 pounds of pale malted barley, 4300 pounds of pale malted wheat and 900 pounds of Munich and currant malt. The cloudiness comes from live wheat and extra protein. Hefeweizen has been brewed in Germany since 900 AD, focusing on yeast and wheat.

Drop Top Amber Ale has an amber color, with an emphasis on honey malt. It’s known to be velvety and creamy. Robert said that when paired with vinegary foods, the hint of sweetness cuts the vinegary bite.

Broken Halo IPA is “one of the hoppiest styles of beer.” It’s made with one pound of bitter hops and 200 pounds of aroma hops, making it less bitter than other IPAs. Robert says Broken Halo is ideal for a “hoposaurus.”

Robert passed around two canisters of American hops – Cascade and Amarillo – revealing American hops are more potent and aromatic, almost “pine like.” The bitterness of the hops is balanced with sweetness. Amarillo is more expensive, so it’s used as a finishing hop. Cascade is used earlier in the brewing process.

Crimson Wheat is an American dunkelweizen made with pale malted barley, white, red and roasted wheat. Robert said, “It’s so smooth, it’s like a beer popsicle.” Crimson Wheat is a spring and summer seasonal.

He said that every two weeks, each Widmer Brothers employee gets a case and a half of beer. Every quarter, they’re entitled to four cases or a quarter barrel. That’s a serious perk.

I asked Robert why he thought Portland is so well known for beer. He said Portland has the most breweries and beer festivals anywhere, and has the “highest per capita consumption of craft beer in the world.” Grain is close by in the Yakima and Willamette Valleys. Those valleys also grow the best hops, with 6-18% Alpha acids, blowing away weak German hops. Bull Run Watershed is one of the five communities in the U.S. that doesn’t have to treat their water, New York City being another one. Finally, Portland is home to two of the top yeast culturing labs in the world.

Robert concluded his presentation and led us across the street to the Widmer brewhouse. We passed the 3-story grain tower. Nothing goes to waste at Widmer. Spent grains are fed to cattle, and so is beer from under-filled bottles. Apparently beer spurs milk production.

We entered the room with the beer vessels, five massive silver tanks that looked like some kind of Richard Serra sculpture. There was a mash tun, a lauter tun, a brew kettle and a whirlpool.

We walked upstairs to see the Krones bottling system, which handles 500 bottles per minute.

Between the beer vessels and bottling system were grain silos, plus palettes of Weyermann wheat.

Robert said craft beer is a combination of traditional ingredients and brewing processes. Last year, each brewer lifted over 120,000 pounds of grain. For comparison’s sake, Coors has 2 brewers for 122 brewing vessels, and the process is “totally automated.” Robert said, “They probably spill more beer than we make.”

Back to the beer vessels. It reaches 160 degrees Fahrenheit in the mash tun. In the presence of enzymes, starch is converted to sugar.

The lauter tun is broad and shallow. There’s a big strainer for husks of grain, which siphons off liquid. Husks of grain settle and you get liquid with a golden-reddish hue.

In the middle of the room, brewers take samples and use a hydrometer. They’re looking for 1.048 gravity and the right ratio of sugar and starch. 7.4% alcohol is ideal.

The brew kettle boils 750 gallons in 15 minutes, using convection. A vigorous boil coagulates proteins and allows Widmer to dissolve bitterness.

The hop cooler, located just off the room with beer vessels, keeps hops fresh, since hops are only harvested in the fall. They’re stored in 40-pound bags. Robert said, “Hops are the spice of beer.”

The whirlpool uses centrifugal force to separate heavier liquids. You can’t add yeast yet because it would cook it. In order to add yeast, brewers cool the brew from 212 to 68 degrees Fahrenheit.

The fermenter room holds over 40,000 gallons of beer. After all, “Yeast loves a party.” Robert enjoyed the fact that, “We’re surrounded by billions of tiny organisms working to supply us with great beer.” Yeast provides beer with flavor and body.

Widmer Brothers brewhouse contains 10 miles of stainless steel pipes and employs four full time engineers. Robert admitted, “As a home brewer, there’s no way I can compete with this.”

Robert’s tour was informative, entertaining and well worth the hour. We also sampled four quality beers and even left with a door prize, a Widmer Brothers beer glass and bottle opener.

Free Widmer Brothers Brewery Tours:
Friday: 3 PM
Saturday: 11 AM & 12:30 PM

Owner Brent Fortune was a sensory judge at the World Barista Championship, so he was out of town in Copenhagen. Thankfully, Brent’s friendly front of the house disciple, who used to make pastries and now works as a barista, provided plenty of useful info.

Here’s a view of Crema’s pastries from behind the sneeze guard. Don’t say Food GPS never delivered access. The counter was blanketed with a wonderland of croissants, pound cakes, buns, scones and muffins.

The four of us each ordered two pastries. That created a cluttered but delicious table. I was especially impressed with the Cinnamon Streusel Sour Cream Coffeecake ($3) with Marionberry, a slab cut from a ring, with a caramelized cinnamon streusel crust, and cake kept moist from the sour cream. Crema rotates different Savory Galettes ($3.50) onto their counter, and today’s version was stellar, featuring caramelized onions, Chevre and pine nuts. The Mushroom and Manchego Biscuit ($3) was far from fluffy, but had a nice crumbly texture. The Orange Ginger Scone ($2) was pretty good, flecked with orange peel, ginger and oversized sugar granules. I’d heard rumors that the Morning Bun ($2.75) is a Tartine Bakery knock-off, and it tasted that way. Granted, the pastry was still good, with a light cinnamon and orange glaze, but it wasn’t nearly as ethereal as the San Francisco original. The Raspberry Crème Danish ($3) featured big dollops of raspberry jelly and sweet crema.

The top of the display case on the far right of the counter is dedicated to monstrous cupcakes. Sweet Tart is a lemon poppy seed cake with a vertical spiral of raspberry buttercream. Red Velvet cupcakes look like characters from Super Mario Bros., thanks to their cream cheese spikes.

Less than three hours after we left, I accidentally erased all the photos on my camera’s data card, meaning I lost the morning’s food and drink photos. I’ll mark it down to sleep deprivation. Whatever the reason, I still had a day to make amends. Also, a return trip to Crema was a pretty damn good idea.

After Sunday morning visits to Pine State Biscuits and the Stumptown Coffee Annex, we trudged across SE Portland to snap replacement Crema photos.

Since we were already there, we had no choice but to order two coffee drinks. The Iced Vietnamese Coffee contained four shots of Stumptown Hair Bender espresso, sweetened condensed milk and half and half. With that much cream and sugar, of course it tasted great, and yes, it totally jacked us up. To balance out the drink, we sipped a small artistic latte, which was stellar.

The barista revealed that Fortune inherited a lot of the pastry recipes when he purchased the space that became Crema. He also has no head baker. Different people specialize in different baked goods. The kitchen may be fractured, but Fortune’s crew clearly takes their roles seriously. Crema is one of the best bakeries I’ve been to on the West Coast, and a place I’d be begging to eat at if it was in Los Angeles.