Neighborhood:
Sellwood Although just 10 minutes from downtown, Sellwood-Moreland’s old-timey charm and Antique Row along Southeast 13th Avenue reminds visitors it was once its own small town. (read more) In the 1890s, the area became home to the workers who serviced and operated both Portland’s streetcars and the nation’s first interurban rail line (until the 1950s). The eclectic self-sufficiency continues today, with the old-school single-screen Moreland Theater (6712 SE Milwaukie Ave., 236-5257), hours-long-wait-worthy sushi at Saburo’s (1667 SE Bybee Blvd., 236-4237), artisan cheeses from Curds & Whey (8036 SE 13th Ave., 231-2877) and the strongest margaritas north of Tijuana at Tex-Mex staple Iron Horse (6034 SE Milwaukie Ave., 232-1826). The ’hood’s even got its own century-old haunted house: creepy yet gorgeous Wilhelm’s Portland Memorial Funeral Home (6705 SE 14th Ave., 236-4141), a massive, eight-floor marble mausoleum with views of Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge and 103-year-old Oaks Amusement Park (7805 SE Oaks Park Way, 233-5777) along the Willamette River. After you explore the crypts, liven things up with a cheap bottle of Bud and shuffleboard at the venerable Black Cat Pub (8230 SE 13th Ave., 235-3571). A 20-block drive up Southeast Milwaukie Avenue—past Portland’s answer to Hansel & Gretel’s demise, Keana’s Candyland (5314 SE Milwaukie Ave., 235-5177)—deposits wanderers in Sellwood’s shabbier cousin, Brooklyn, where stately old Victorian homes abut trashy-looking apartments just waiting for a meth bust. For a dose of legal crack, fill up on a cup of coffee and browse a bizarre assortment of hand-me-downs and secondhand books at True Brew (3370 SE Milwaukie Ave., 231-9992), or pop into Edelweiss Sausage & Deli (3119 SE 12th Ave., 238-4411) for a contact high of Teutonic meat products. —Kelly Clarke.
Featured in Restaurant Guide 2008
This little Italian house had a rocky start when it replaced Sellwood’s Assaggio in late 2007—until chef Gabriel Gabreski took over the kitchen in May. Now the restaurant’s warm, soothing dining room and Gabreski’s beautiful but unpretentious dishes make A Cena a dining destination thanks to his devotion to ripe ingredients. On recent visits, we mostly found downright pyrotechnic dishes, exploding with the flavors of fresh meats and seafood, as well as vegetables that tasted like they had been plucked out of some sunshiny bower of ripeness (or, in some cases, A Cena owner Chris Custer’s own garden). A preparation of raw fish created a delectable tension between lemon, capers and long threads of chile, and we had no complaints about the house-cured olives. A dish of housemade tortelloni featured heavy mascarpone and sweet summer squash basking in an acidic, colorful pool of tomato jam. And a tender Sweet Briar Farms pork chop with soft, decadent mascarpone polenta proved an irresistible sweet-and-savory match.
IDEAL MEAL: Feeling flush? Gabreski’s six-course tasting meal is a steal at $70 per person.
Tiffany Lee Brown
