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Crowsenberg's
Half & Half
923
SW Oak St., 222-4495
8 am-6
pm Monday-Friday; 10 am-5 pm Saturday. Inexpensive.
Le
Happy
1011
NW 16th Ave., 226-1258
5 pm-1
am Sunday, Tuesday-Thursday; 5 pm-2:30 am Friday-Saturday.
Moderate.
Crowsenberg's:
Hand-mixed granola with fresh fruit, Muffuletta, hot chocolate
made with milk. Le Happy: salade de courgette, Nutella-banane
sweet crêpe, Edmond Burle Vacqueyras red.
Nice
touch: At Crowsenberg's, an evolving taxidermy display
from Keith's personal collection; plus, they sell stamps!
At Le Happy, the total decor, from wall art to lighting
fixtures.
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If there's a breakfast niche to fill downtown, it's full-bodied,
homemade doughnuts. And if there's a dining niche to fill
in Northwest, it's for affordable food served late. Two
new eateries do all this and more while contending for the
Cutest Cafe in Portland Award.
Of course, there's a danger in being too good-looking.
People might think you're dumb and unsubstantial. At Crowsenberg's
Half & Half and Le Happy, one needn't worry that the
resoundingly cheerful trappings compensate for a lack of
heat in the kitchen. These nosh spots have brains and beauty
in spades.
Let's start with Crowsenberg's, a joint that is
half breakfast and lunch destination and half a convenience
store of the quirkiest kind. The menu of sundries--from
roasted green peas to Pop Rocks--and food items, which run
the gamut from toast with peanut butter and Fluf to the
Wild Colonial sandwich consisting of roast pork, mango chutney,
Swiss cheese and red onions, perfectly reflects the personalities
of the Crowsenberg team, Keith Crowe and Robin Rosenberg.
"When Keith and I decided to do this, we came up with our
dream store and there were no rules to keep us from selling
mouthguards," explains Rosenberg, the foodie side of the
partnership. She's talking about some of the unique aspects
that puts Half & Half ahead of dime-a-dozen Portland
cafes. Like the seafoam-green velveteen kittens that decorate
the counter, or the singular O.B. tampons and Trojan-Enz
condoms for sale at 50 cents a pop. Or the public service-style
posters circa 1978 in the bathroom reminding youngsters
to Stay Neat and the homemade granola, heavy on whole almonds
and green pumpkin seeds, featured in Robin's yogurt and
fruit parfaits. Here, God really is in the details.
Details such as the grain salad that accompanies sandwiches,
the commitment to using organically grown bananas (because
the mass-market variety taste mealy) and an eye on fun,
exciting snacks and sundries make evident the pair's smarts
in creating a place that's different. "I like to order a
bunch of stock, not knowing what I'm going to make beforehand,
and then experiment. Sort of like raiding the refrigerator,"
says Rosenberg.
But don't think that the made-from-scratch sandwiches are
just thrown together. Indeed, they rival their pre-made
cousins at the nearby Pearl Bakery and surpass the ones
at Grand Central, where Rosenberg worked off and on for
years. This bent for the homemade produces sammies layered
with Thai-style eggplant, olive tapenade, chile cream cheese,
roasted-shallot mayonnaise, tofu salad and Reuben-style
tempeh--not all together, of course. Here, instead of a
plain turkey sandwich you can sink your teeth into the William
Tell turkey number with Swiss, apple slices and dijon mustard.
There are more thoughtful and delicious details you should
know about: One specialty salad and three sandwiches rotate
weekly--one always vegan--augmenting the regular menu of
grilled cheese and the best-selling tuna melt; the concoctions
are hemmed in by Grand Central bread. Due to urgent customer
requests, a daily soup is coming soon. This is the only
place downtown to get supreme doughnuts, direct from Helen
Bernhardt's bakery. And in a city where coffee matters,
Crowsenberg's offers one of the best cups around: Stumptown
Coffee Roasters, provided by the meticulous purveyor Duane
Sorensen. (He took two days to train Crowe and Rosenberg
on the brewing process and stops by regularly to make sure
they're doing it right.)
Le Happy is no stranger to the little things that
make a big difference, either. John Brodie, who manages
Pink Martini and 3 Leg Torso and ran Muu-Muu's during its
first year, has artfully transformed the old African Roots
space into a vibrantly hued crêperie. The red, gold
and flower-splashed eatery is located in the no-man's land
between the Pearl District and Northwest 21st Avenue. In
order to thrive, Le Happy will need to establish itself
as a destination. By giving people something different and
a reason to linger, Brodie is attempting to do just that.
There are crêpe stands in Portland, but no crêpe
restaurants. "Crêpes are a social food. Six people
can go out and order eight crêpes and everyone can
try them," says Brodie. Though this newcomer hasn't drawn
huge crowds so far, that might be just as well. Brodie is
interested in creating an easy environment that fosters
a French (read: leisurely) approach to dining. Think of
it as French tapas, a meal that is meant to progress casually
and be shared. But can Portlanders be convinced that crêpes
and a salad constitute a full meal?
"My first experience with crêpes was at Ti-Couc in
San Francisco seven or eight years ago. My friends suggested
we go there and I was like, 'You've got to be kidding, I'm
hungry,'" recalls Brodie. "But it was excellent."
A crêpe and salad may not be enough to sate robust
appetites--and at about $12 for the two, you sort of hope
it would be--but rest assured that what the kitchen does
produce is tasty and well-balanced. Brodie recruited John
Roos, who ran a crêperie in Ville Franche sur Mer
on the French Riviera and was also a pastry chef at Il Piatto
and a cook at Muu-Muu's, to man the kitchen and collaborate
on the menu. Some items, especially the sweet crêpes--Suzette,
butter and sugar, chocolate and banana--are traditional
French. Other selections such as Le Trash Blanc (cheddar
and bacon, throw in a Pabst for a buck) and Demi-Vegan Tofu,
which incorporates tofu, black beans, cilantro, cucumber,
onion and a peanut/panang sauce and is actually quite good,
exhibit a decidedly Yankee flair. The savory crêpes
are made with buckwheat flour, upping their heartiness.
Apart from the salads, which are eclectic mélanges
of shredded zucchini and carrot, or rice cakes and avocado,
the less complicated offerings work best. Simple standouts
include the Faux Vegan--spinach, mushrooms, crème
fraiche, goat cheese--and the pommes dessert, as
good as Mom's apple pie. A no-nonsense $10 sirloin steak,
Le Happy's only entree-like entree, is also commendable.
As is the case at Crowsenberg's, the details jump out and
make you take notice at Le Happy. The tea, for example,
is without a doubt the best $1 beverage in town. It's Mariage-Frères
that Brodie just brought back from Paris. He describes it
as the best tea in the world, and it's hard not to agree.
The wines are also French, from smaller vineyards that are
probably unfamiliar to most diners. No matter, servers are
happy to give you a taste till you find one you like.
Half & Half and Le Happy both opened late in October.
Both are adorable and very Portland in their eclecticism,
but they also fill practical needs. It's too soon to tell
whether enough people will discover and embrace these lookers,
but so far, their mettle is as tough as their makeup is
fresh.
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