Skip to main contentFor years now, we've been reading news stories about the politics of food: supersized portions leading to supersized Americans, bio-engineered crops. Then there's the current hot-button issue, that little flap over industrial beef and spongy gray matter, which has further pushed the pleasures of the table into the realm of policy.
At Groundswell Cafe on Northeast Alberta Street, owner Harriet Fasenfest would rather serve the food of politics. Her promotional postcards provide an example: "You'll love our dessert policy, Dick Cheney," one reads. "It's shamelessly biased towards the rich."
While activism may feed the soul, the belly needs attention, too, and Groundswell, one of the gentrification pioneers on Northeast Alberta Street, delivers the goods. Portland diners of a certain age may remember Fasenfest back when she was Harriet Reed, the fast-talking redhead with the Bronx accent who single-handedly cooked, cleaned and dished snappy patter at the seven-stooled Bertie Lou's from 1982 to 1984. If your memory is serving Frangelico pancakes or home fries with fresh salsa, you're not ready for the home quite yet.
Don't expect to order a full-blown breakfast here, though, because a couple of decades have taught Fasenfest to set priorities. That lesson, combined with the cafe's hot-plate kitchen, translates to a pared-down morning menu. If breakfast just has to be eggs, go with the fried-egg sandwich ($3.95) topped with roasted red pepper, basil and provolone served on Pearl Bakery ciabatta. For just 55 cents more, you can have prosciutto 'n' eggs, a breakfast sandwich with real electability.
Thick slices of toasted brioche with either cinnamon and sugar or almond butter and apricot jam ($2.25-$3.25) will satisfy those who crave something sweet in the morning. Even better are the sticky buns, an occasional special, made with the same brioche and twisted around a caramel-nut filling. Living up to the cafe's motto, "Eat with an Open Mind," Fasenfest includes a vegan potato-tofu wrap ($3.75) spiked with hot lime chutney. But a culinary equal-time clause offers a special rebuttal of biscuits and gravy served recently on a bed of greens, sure to garner the Southern vote--and mine, too.
In the evening, the dinner menu is simple. A wedge of brie ($5.50), warmed slightly so it's soft and just a bit runny, comes with a fresh apple chutney that's perfect with the rich cheese. The smooth purée of white beans ($4.25) emony and spiked with a little red-pepper heat, contrasts nicely with long, thin, crispy breadsticks baked in-house. The heart of romaine in the Caesar salad ($3.95-$5.95) is all one piece, which looks great but is difficult to eat--but the curls of shaved Parmigiano and crunchy walnut croutons make it worth the effort.
Chicken stew ($7.95) combines big chunks of breast meat (if I were president, thighs would share the ballot) with substantial pieces of carrot, fennel and other aromatics, while a fat biscuit sits on top. The vegetarian black-bean chili ($6.50) comes with fresh salsa and sour cream, and the accompanying slab of cornbread not only tastes right but provides Adelle Davis' "protein complementarity" that dates back to when we were previously involved in a questionable war that the government lied about.
Geezer insights notwithstanding, much of the culinary credit goes to chef Nancye Benson. Benson paid her dues on the line in Baltimore, cooked on the road for rock stars, catered for Woodstock '99 (a stint she'd rather forget), and was a personal chef in the heady days of dot-com millionaires in San Francisco. She's experienced enough to craft homey, simple food that may won't leave you hungry, either.
Groundswell's well-edited menu offers plenty of dessert choices ($3.50-$4.25), including snowflake coconut layer cake, pumpkin bread pudding with burnt sugar sauce, and warm apple crisp, but don't even think of passing up one of the incredible macaroons ($1.75). Sorry, Mom, but these are the best cookies I've ever tasted, a tangle of shaved coconut flavored with a hint of lime and studded with fluorescent bits of candied ginger.
In Portland, we know that coffee and politics are a good mix. What we don't pay as much attention to is the particular blend of history: how, long before Starbucks became a symbol of the dark underbelly of corporate globalization, the caffeinated brew was making the ruling class nervous.
In the 16th century, for example, the governor of Mecca tried banning coffee when mosque attendance dropped. In 1675, King Charles II decreed that British coffeehouses created a "Disturbance of the Peace and Quiet of the Realm." In the young American colonies, John Adams and Paul Revere conspired for revolution at the Green Dragon coffeehouse in Boston. So if you're voting to start your own conspiracy, consider locating political headquarters at Groundswell.
1800 NE Alberta St., 331-14207:30 am-4 pm Sunday-Tuesday; 7:30 am-10 pm Wednesday - Saturday. Cash and check only. Accepts cash or checks. $-Inexpensive.
In the early '80s, Harriet Fasenfest earned a mention in WW when she scored a TKO for a local punk rocker over some forgotten slight, but she claims she's really much more mellow these days. Still, she says, "For $2.50, I do not kiss ass. That was true then, and it's true now."
Groundswell uses as many local and organic ingredients as possible, which are listed in italics on the menu. Why doesn't everybody do that?
WWeek 2015