Holy Brunch in Portland

A number of our guides grew up in the Portland area and went away to see the world at some point; a few of us, having grown up in the 1960s – 1980s in Portland ended up on the East Coast as the century neared its end. One of the revelations of New York City and Philadelphia in the 1990s was how brunch was a ritual. In that multicultural context where weekend religious services ran the gamut and were less easy to plan around, brunch was a constant across cultures.

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Someone should write a book about how the 1990s changed Portland; but our story starts in the early aughts, as the food scene born of that decade began to attract East Coasters and Portland’s children who had strayed across the continent to move to/move back to the city, bringing with them few religious practices beyond that of brunch. That weekend meal, often served amidst a drizzle, became a weekend bright spot and its own spiritual practice. As church attendance fell, brunch spots opened and lines got longer. Everyday brunch restaurants became a part of first the neighborhoods most full of former New Yorkers and DC escapees — like the inner NE and SE, along Broadway, Alberta, Fremont and Belmont Streets — and then spread into every neighborhood.

Now some of us look into our childhood neighborhoods agape at the lines around the corners we once roller skated around. This for ricotta pancakes with chantilly cream and marionberries; abelskivers and lox; chicken and waffles. This for legendary breakfast sandwiches and $11 oatmeal. This for the best side of pork or veggie bacon in town.

In the heady aughts little breakfast places started popping up with mason jars with a few sidewalk flowers and English muffin sandwiches and homemade jam. Each one had its own special sweet treats, like Sweedeedee‘s salted honey pie and corn cakes; the jammers at Tin Shed Garden Cafe; the amaretto French toast at Byways Cafe. As the 2010s approached the introduction of brunch-focused spots made the lists of Portland’s best meals with dishes like the fried chicken and waffles at Screen Door, the abelskivers at Broder, and the French toast at Tasty N Sons. The Portlandia brunch episode hit the airwaves paying homage to the importance of the ritual of eating marionberry pancakes. Brunch had arrived, and by the twenty-teens, it was firmly lodged into the Portland lexicon. “Let’s meet for brunch” was as normal a thing to say as “I’ll have the Ethiopia pourover” or “the mountain is out” or “have you done Dog Mountain yet this year.”

Best Brunch in Portland? This is a constant argument. We’ll have to each lodge our favorites. The general agreement is that you can never go wrong with anything at J & M Cafe or Broder and the chicken and waffles at Screen Door are always delicious (but the rest of the menu pales) and the Reggie Deluxe at Pine State Biscuits is Portland a recipe as you can be while still being technically a North Carolinian restaurant (we are after all a city of transplants who carry our origins with us as badges of pride — even though most of us have no plans to go back to those cities).

The list of restaurants we would have chosen in the 1990s would have been limited to weekend brunch at hotel restaurants, Besaw’s in its original location, and the Original Hotcake House with a few mentions of fancy edge-of-Portland spots like Salty’s and the Fernwood Inn/Amadeus Manor in Milwaukie. None of those experiences today (for the few that are still open) can approach the sticky approach to grandeur of the old days. But every brunch in Portland has its own devotees and one of the best things about Portland is getting beyond the tourist favorites (like, admittedly, most of our favorite list) and finding a place that has its niche audience, its delightful regulars. Whether you are hitting up the decidedly gritty Dockside or the tiny seating area at Maurice, we know you can find some religious experience for your morning(ish) meal.