Skip to main contentThe pre-lunch din at Peanut Butter and Ellie's, a family-friendly joint on Northeast Fremont Street, is not so different from the cacophony before food arrives at the Oregon Zoo's monkey cages. Kids scribble on the walls with thick chalk, build towers with wooden blocks, push trains around a wooden track and watch the peanut grinder in noisy delight.
It may be noisy, but the contented expressions on the adults' faces confirm that Ellie's is the best restaurant news to hit Portland in a long time for parents of young children.
At many Portland restaurants, it's hard to find much for kids other than a bowl of buttered pasta. It's not surprising that tykes get second-class treatment: They're noisy and picky, and they don't drink much booze. Still, they and their parents are a large market too long ceded to gastronomic and aesthetic wastelands such as McD's and Chuck E. Cheese.
From the moment I opened Ellie's door, it was obvious that owner Angela Roth had outdone the efforts of traditional family haunts such as Ivy House and Old Wives' Tales, which, for all their kid-friendliness, still cater to adults first. From the custom-made pint-sized tables and chairs to the free diapers to the goldfish in the soap dispenser (fake, PETA members), Ellie's focus is kids' amusement and comfort--the points of the toothpicks that hold sandwiches together are even blunted.
That seemingly simple concept is pure genius, because if the kids are happy and well-fed, parents are ecstatic and will gladly buy $5 peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches by the dozen. It doesn't hurt that the chow aimed at big people is first-rate, either.
Across from Ellie's tiny, open kitchen, the restaurant's entire eastern wall is given to a chalk board that extends to the reach of an 8-year old; above that are murals painted by local artist Rob Bardel of dogs and elephants grinding peanuts and making sandwiches.
On a recent visit, my 3-year-old son spoke happily about the relative merits of the butterflies hanging from the ceiling, the squadron of balsa airplanes on the walls and the paper chains on the Christmas tree, made from old restaurant flyers. Nobody minded that he and all the other kids in the place wandered from toy to table, screeching all the while.
Corralling my son, I tried a test: the blackberry smoothie, of which he has inhaled dozens in his brief life. Ellie's version ($3.25) shows a characteristic attention to nutrition, coming with the choice of flax or wheat germ and soy or yogurt. "Me wewy wike it and me can nedder stop dwinking it," my son said (translation: very good).
He did put his smoothie--and his chalk--down long enough to devour a freshly ground, organic peanut-butter sandwich ($5) on whole wheat (all baked goods come from Lake Oswego's Upper Crust bakery). Although five bucks might sound steep for a PB&J, all sandwiches come with milk, freshly cut carrots (organic, of course) and lightly salted Kettle chips.
But the value of Ellie's extends beyond the excellent food--all of which, in addition to being tasty, is whenever possible either organic or "sustainably produced." For the parents who pack Ellie's at lunch, the opportunity to relax in the cheerfully lit, pistachio-and-lemon-sherbet-painted room while sipping bottomless mugs of Hood River organic coffee ($1.25) without having to worry about their kids' stomachs or behavior is well worth the price.
Nine variations of the basic peanut-butter sandwich dominate Ellie's menu--ranging from classic Mama's PB&J, Ellie's World Party (peanut butter with Mexican chocolate and topped with peanuts and chocolate chips, $5.25) to the Garden Granny (peanut butter and grated carrots topped with strawberry rhubarb jam, $5.10).
Not every menu offering is sweet and sticky--parents will find sandwiches that rival any in town. The tuna melt ($6.25) possesses the optimal ratio of fish to cheese; the chicken salad ($6), recently made with currants and curry powder, changes slightly each week; and the BLT ($6) features thick bacon, perfectly crisp, and just enough mayo to moisten Upper Crust's excellent sunflower spelt bread.
On another visit to Ellie's, I witnessed a shocker: my 3-year-old and 6-year-old were battling (not uncommon) over vegetable soup (earth-shattering). Normally, the only green food they eat is green Gummy Bears, but they powered down the al dente zucchini, broccoli, corn and everything else in the bowl. The soup comes from a local producer because Ellie's tiny kitchen lacks prep and storage space, although Roth hopes to expand soon.
If Ellie's has one slight drawback, it's that the mostly bare concrete floors amplify the noise. But even that fades as kids' stomachs fill up and, like the monkeys at the zoo, they turn from feeding to playing.
"The food is great," my daughter said as she soaked up the last of the soup and drifted back toward the wooden train track. "But I really like this place because there's a play area and lots of toys," So, fellow parents, will you.
1325 NE Fremont St., 282-1783 Open 10 am-8 pm Tuesday- Saturday, 10 am-3 pm Sunday. Major credit cards accepted. Children pampered, adults welcome. $ Inexpensive.
Owner Angela Roth, a North Carolina native and former graphic designer, named her restaurant after her 3-year-old daughter, Ellie.
Garden-vegetable soup, chicken-salad sandwich, the Hounddog (peanut butter, banana and honey)
WWeek 2015