Adorable Sweedeedee — screen door and all.

Last weekend I had a chance to eat brunch at Sweedeedee, in North Portland. It’s an insanely cute little place, and I had heard many good things about the food. Jen Stevenson, of Under the Table with Jen, said something like “favorite place ever.”

But I (in fact, we) have a serious reservation about the place. We’ll get to that.

First, it couldn’t be more Portland, from the screen door to the pies, the wood floors to the jars in windows, the iPad register, the pickled carrots, and the young folks running it. Adorable little place.

And it is little, like with 20something seats, tops. And herein lies the rub, for my money. We got there and got in line to order, but all the tables were filled. It seemed odd to place an order when there’s no place to sit, but I was told, “By the time your food comes out a table will come up.”

For the record, that did happen. So maybe I’m just being grumpy. But why take my order if there’s no place to sit? Why create the anxiety of me (along with many others) standing around, waiting for food, while vulturing over tables? There’s also no designated waiting area, so you’re literally hovering over others while they eat.

Meanwhile, you take what tables you can. I saw a party of four crammed around what should be a two-top, I saw someone standing at the counter, with their plate between her two seated friends … what’s the point? Why not seat us, then take our order? We’ll wait.

Alright, like I said, a table opened up, and we grabbed it, with three other parties hovering around. End of complaining.

What came out, a while later, was two little plates of perfectly-matched breakfast heaven. They, like the place, were adorable! I got the corncakes with eggs, bacon and greens. Why more places don’t offer a little sweet-and-savory variety plate like this is beyond me

Corncakes, eggs, bacon and greens at Sweedeedee

My friend got a breakfast plate (sorry, don’t remember the name, and they haven’t posted their menu online) with bacon, egg, salad, cheese, pear, bread and marmalade. All delightful.

Breakfast plate at Sweedeedee

The bacon was perfectly crisp, my eggs were just as I like ‘em, and in short everything was yummy — except for the logistics. Many of the reviews on Yelp mention this, as well, so I think it isn’t just me. We were there on a Sunday around 9, and it was packed. Not sure what it’s like during the week.

So, the bottom line: cute place, great food, hassle seating. Or I’m an old fart.

Read all of Paul Gerald’s Portland Breakfast Reviews. You can also like Breakfast in Bridgetown on Facebook and follow @PDXBreakfastGuy on Twitter.

Buy the breakfast book (plus 60 Hikes Within 60 Miles of Portland and others) here.

And keep up with all things Paul – hiking, traveling, food and spirituality – over at PaulGerald.com.

Sckavone’s practically hides at 41st and Division in Southeast Portland.

One thing about going to so many breakfasts is that after a while, I start to forget what places are like — or even forget them completely.

For example, it occasionally pops into my head that I had a couple of good brunches at Sckavone’s in Southeast Portland. I sometimes remember to mention it when people ask questions like, “Where should I go in Southeast,” and “What’s a good place with no line?”

But after eating in more than 130 places for my book, Sckavone’s sometimes drops off my personal radar. So, last weekend, I went back to check it out.

And guess what? It was half-full at 10 a.m. on a Sunday, the food was excellent, the staff super friendly, and the owner even came by to tell me that none of this is a problem in his world.

First, the scene:

Sckavone’s used to be a drugstore, and the counter is still there.

It was a drugstore for years, and is still owned by the same family. The friendly, neighborhood vibe is still there. In fact, the owner came over to say hi and told me they’re not trying to be anything other than a neighborhood place. He said sure, they like customers, but they’re not trying to be the Next Big Thing. I like that attitude, and I love the feel at Sckavone’s: casual, clean, airy, well lit, and friendly.

And they hand out a scone for everybody:

They give out a scone with honey to eerybody.

The menu hits all the classics, with egg dishes and pancakes and granola. When the Crew went with me, we sampled the corned beef hash, which was just right with a little crisp to the meat, and a French toast with cinnamon and cream cheese icing that was more like apple pie, and huge.

This time, I went with the Smoked Salmon Benedict, a classic Portland brunch dish, and it was really, really good. Here are two shots of it.

Smoked salmon benedict.

Let’s get in close on that Benedict!

Here’s what I wrote about the history of the place for the book:

Nick Sckavone came from Italy to Southeast Portland in 1908. He led a labor action against the Oregonian at age 15, and at 17 he formed a club of neighborhood baseball teams, and there’s a field in Westmoreland named for him. In 1930, he opened a drugstore at Southeast 41st and Division, and in 1980 his grandson took it over.

It’s just your basic neighborhood place, and it has been for 80 years. Kind of makes a guy want to move to the neighborhood and sit at that counter all the time.

And by golly, I had the same feeling last weekend, too! Could mean I should be more creative, or that I just eat at too many places. But maybe it just means I should go to Sckavone’s more often.

Read all of Paul Gerald’s Portland Breakfast Reviews. You can also like Breakfast in Bridgetown on Facebook and follow @PDXBreakfastGuy on Twitter.

Buy the breakfast book (plus 60 Hikes Within 60 Miles of Portland and others) here.

And keep up with all things Paul – hiking, traveling, food and spirituality – over at PaulGerald.com.

Blues City Biscuits is back on the scene.

Just got word last night — and confirmed this morning on their Facebook page — that Blues City Biscuits is back in business, as of tomorrow. They have changed owners and locations, with a soft opening at Good Food Here at SE 43rd and Belmont Street set for Thursday the 28th. Real opening is Friday, March 1.

I had a fine meal there once, and I’m glad that somebody who understands Memphis-style breakfast is back on the street!

Keep up with all Portland breakfast news by subscribing to my Breakfast Bulletin, liking my Facebook page, or following me on Twitter.

And keep up with all things Paul – hiking, traveling, food and spirituality – over at PaulGerald.com.

I am still plugging away on the third edition of my Portland breakfast book, Breakfast in Bridgetown. And by “plugging away,” I mean mostly stuffing my face. I am a procrastinator when it comes to writing, but I can’t really put off eating at something like 60 breakfast places until the last week or two. That would be a bit much.

You can catch up on all the recent reviews if you want, but here’s where things stand with the book as of this morning:

I plan to have a little over 100 places in this edition, down slightly from the last edition, but I think I will actually mention more places this time. Here’s how that makes sense: Let’s take the Portland Penny Diner. It’s a nice little place with pastries and sandwiches, and it’s associated with a nice restaurant, Imperial, in the Lucia Hotel. But is it really worth a whole chapter? I think not. Nor are, in my opinion, sandwich places like Meat Cheese Bread and Bunk. Nor is every coffee shop in town that has an egg sandwich, nor every tavern with a $2.99 bacon and eggs special, nor all the bakeries, nor every diner.

The solution to this is to develop a set of criteria — real restaurant, been open for a while, puts serious effort into breakfast or brunch, etc. — thus limiting the size of the endeavor.

But what about the sandwich places, bakeries, carts, and so on?

My answer: Lists.

For this edition, I’ll be tossing in lists and other features between the restaurant chapters. Lists will include sandwich places, downtown hotels, bakeries of note, and so on. I’ll also inject a little more analysis and opinion like “10 Benedicts to try” and “8 pancakes I dream about.” The numbers don’t matter, but I think people want to know stuff like that: weirdest dish, best combo platter, biggest portions, places with no lines, etc.

For features, what I have in mind are chef/owner profiles, funny stories I’ve run into along the way, and various people’s answer to my standard question, “What’s the best breakfast you ever ate?”

What other ideas or suggestions do you have? Put them in the comments below, and I’ll pick somebody to win a free book.

Otherwise, I still have about 40 places to check out, which even as I write that makes me think I should be out eating instead of sitting here writing about it. Then I’ll write those up (or rule them out), then review the 60 or so others I’m not visiting for this edition, work on the lists and features, arrange photos, hire an editor and designer …

And now I feel overwhelmed again! Right. Back to it.

Stay tuned. We’ll get this thing done and in your hands by July, promise.

Read all of Paul Gerald’s Portland Breakfast Reviews. You can also like Breakfast in Bridgetown on Facebook and follow @PDXBreakfastGuy on Twitter. And keep up with all things Paul – hiking, traveling, food and spirituality – over at PaulGerald.com.

Downtown Portland seems to be the epicenter of a breakfast and brunch explosion these days.

First Morning Star will be replaced by Hatch as of this Friday, then Sugar Mamma’s says they will re-open the same day, then Tasty N Alder opens to much fanfare (I visited on opening day), then the Brunch Box cart announces plans for a restaurant, … and now Mama Mia Trattoria has started serving brunch.

The menu doesn’t have a lot of surprises or anything, but there’s a solid lineup of cocktails, frittatas, egg dishes, griddle fare, Benedicts and specials.

The fact that all this is going on within easy walking distance of my office is not necessarily good news. The gym is farther from here than any of these!

Keep up with all Portland breakfast news by subscribing to my Breakfast Bulletin, liking my Facebook page, or following me on Twitter.

And keep up with all things Paul – hiking, traveling, food and spirituality – over at PaulGerald.com.

(via thekitchn.com)

Tasty, Sugar, Oven — that was my scribbled note to remind myself of Portland breakfast news I need to post about. I thought that was kinda funny.

So …

• Tasty N Alder is finally open, so let the media frenzy end and the eating begin. I went there on opening day, and here’s what it was like.
• Sugar Mama’s Cafe announced their opening date will be February 19 at the new location on SW Alder between 3rd and 4th. They are trying to raise money to make it happen, too.
• Oven and Shaker has started serving brunch. The menu is pretty limited at the moment, but interesting: Broiled grapefruit, anyone? They will also have breakfast pizza (house cured ham, mozzarella, leeks, pecorino, duck egg), which is apparently becoming a thing.
• Work continues on my Third Edition, still looking good for a July 2013 pub date.

There have been two great pieces of machinery at work lately in downtown Portland.

One is the growing empire of one John Gorham, owner of Toro Bravo and co-founder of two of the best brunches in Portland: Simpatica and Tasty N Sons. Gorham got a place downtown and announced plans to open Tasty N Alder, basically another Tasty N Sons to rock the downtown Portland brunch scene. Gorham is a machine in the good sense, with multiple successful restaurants, a cookbook in the works, and now this. Good for him, and us!

John Gorham, the genuis behind Tasty and Sons and now Tasty and Alder. (by Gideon Bosker at portlandmonthlymag.com)

The other machine at work has been the Portland Media Machine. It fell in love with Gorham years ago, and the number of blogs and publications lining up to hump this man’s leg lately has been awesome to watch. The Media Machine has showed us pictures of Tasty N Alder before it opened (Oregonian), previewed its staff (Eater PDX), typed in its menu (Food Dude), posted a food slideshow (Examiner), interviewed one of his chefs (Willamette Week),  and along the way even let us know that Gorham likes the doughnuts at Helen Bernhard Bakery (Eater) but hates the whole “hottest (looking) chef” thing (Zester).

For the record, I am not hating here. I had John on my podcast a couple years ago and heaped praise all over him in my book.

So by the time Tasty N Alder opened, I mean … how can you not go? It started brunch on February 6, with dinner coming February 20, and a grand opening March 1. So, yes, that’s three more chances at praise-heaping and leg-humping. You’re warned. I even teamed up with another blogger, Jen Stevenson of Under the Table with Jen and, with me, Operation Big Belly.

from EaterPDX.com.

Meanwhile, what’s up at Tasty N Alder? It f–ing rocks, just like Tasty N Sons does. Go back and look at that menu from Food Dude, and here’s a little taste of what it was like to eat brunch there on opening day.

The thing to remember about brunch at Tasty is that you need to get past the idea of “to each their own.” Instead, think of it as “from each, a contribution to the whole.” That is, the plates are small, so everybody order something that sounds good, and let’s share.

The first thing we got was the yams glazed in cumin and maple. They went way too fast for photos.

Next out was Robin’s Steakhouse Sandwich, which might look like a burger but actually was Cascade Natural smoked coppa steak with fried onions & horseradish. We are talking tender, luscious meat in scrumptious sauce.

Steakhouse Sandwich

Next out was Jen’s Korean Fried Chicken, which again sounds like fried chicken but comes with house kimchi and two easy eggs.

Korean Fried Chicken

I was getting jealous and hungry by this time, so it’s a good thing the Potatoes Bravas came out. They don’t share many details about this dish, but according to Wikipedia it’s chunks of potatoes that are boilded to soft, then fried, then covered in a sauce of either tomatoes, red pepper, vinegar, and spices or olive oil, red pepper, paprika, chili, and vinegar. At Tasty, it comes with an egg on top and aioli on the side, and it’s amazing.

Potatoes Bravas

Are you hungry yet? I was ravenous by this time, and that worked out, because out came my Pork Schnitzel. That would be a breaded and fried (and super tender) pork cutlet, served with a slice of ham, havarti cheese, over-easy eggs and mustard braised cabbage.

Pork Schnitzel

After a while we were all pretty giddy and happy, and then Jen suggested we finish things off with the Budapest Coffee Cake. I don’t know what’s up in Budapest, but apparently they do their coffee cake warm and soft and loaded with cinnamon. I couldn’t even get the girls to wait before I snapped a photo of it!

Budapest Coffee Cake

I am really worried about Tasty N Alder being downtown, and in fact a block where I board the Streetcar going to and from work. I am trying to lose weight even as I eat all these breakfasts, and having this huge menu of awesome food nearby isn’t going to help.

Count me, therefore, as part of the Tasty N Alder Brunch Machine.

Tasty N Alder is at 580 SW 12th, at Alder. It’s open for brunch 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. daily. You can follow them as Tasty N Sons on Facebook. You can also follow The Breakfast Guy’s Twitter list of Portland Breakfast Places. And here’s The Breakfast Guy on Facebook.

Read all of the Paul Gerald’s Portland Breakfast Reviews. You can also like Breakfast in Bridgetown on Facebook and follow @PDXBreakfastGuy on Twitter.

And keep up with all things Paul – hiking, traveling, food and spirituality – over at PaulGerald.com.

Portland writer Hanna Neuschwander has written a great book for Timber Press of Portland, profiling 55 roasters from Seattle to San Francisco: who they are, where they are, and what they are about. It will also educate you on the lingo, the geography of the coffee world, the process from bean to mouth, roasting your own, and how to drink the best possible cup at home.

I have a brief review, and an interview with the author, over at PaulGerald.com.

Folks have often said that in Portland, we don’t go to church, we go to brunch. And if, indeed, the Portland brunch scene is a religious one, then the Screen Door has to be considered one of the holy of holies.

This past weekend, the Breakfast Crew and I went to worship. But it started with fear for me. This was the scene at 10 minutes before opening time, 9 a.m. on a Sunday:

10 minutes to open, and we are in Portlandia.

If only they knew ….

But I was not afraid of the line, so much. I was afraid because with great power comes great fear … or something like that. You see, I know one of the great “secrets” of Portland Brunch: The Screen Door takes reservations! That’s right, if you have a group of six or more, and you’re all there at 9 a.m., you can get one of two tables reserved each weekend morning. I had called several days ahead, and admonished the Crew that anybody showing up later than 9 would be flogged, or worse, face the fate of the End of the Line. (By the way, did you ever wonder where they filmed the Portlandia brunch episode? I know.)

My fear was this: What happens when a guy shows up at 8:55, walks to the front of the line with five friends, and goes right in? I was convinced I’d meet, instead of the Shaun of the Dead Fate (warning: super gross.)

In fact, what happened is, I wove through the line, told the dude I had reservations and my whole group was present, and about a minute later we were seated. By the time we had coffee, this was the scene inside:

… and 10 minutes after opening, we’re packed!

Now, I have for years wondered how people can wait in line for this place — or any place — and I am convinced there’s an aspect of “famous for being famous” to it. And also, people accept waiting in line as a part of the experience, even pleasant perhaps. Not me. But I did wonder, having not been to Screen Door in a while: Is the food really worth it?

Well, let’s get some of it out here and have a look, shall we?

First up, cornbread with apples and cream, topped with cane syrup.

Cornbread with apples, cream and cane syrup.

Right here, I think we have what brunch at Screen Door is all about. You take a southern staple (dry, mealy, non-sweet cornbread) and dress it up all fancy with apples and amazing cream, and then serve it with cane syrup, which most people have never had. It’s lighter than maple syrup, sweeter than molasses, and just pure amazing. They do this a lot: grits with spinach and provolone, a fried oyster Benedict, bananas foster French toast, praline bacon waffle. A special when we visited was red velvet pancakes.

We enjoyed the cornbread as a warmup, but after that it was just a parade of big, yummy-looking plates:

Veggie Hash

A large bowl of oatmeal.

Mushroom scramble with seasoned potatoes.

And the came the Mother Lode itself, the one thing I knew somebody was getting, perhaps the ultimate Portland brunch dish: the chicken and waffle. (Sized up here for effect)

My GOSH!

Okay, just for fun, here’s a shot somebody else took of me, about to dive in.

“Back the hell off!”

I want to tell you two things about this: One, with some help, I managed to eat the waffles and two pieces of chicken. And two, it took one bite of that chicken, and a quick listen to the Crew around the table, to understand that, yes, the Screen Door is worth the wait. It may be the best fried chicken I’ve ever had, but clearly more research is needed. And when it’s sitting on a waffle, with maple syrup nearby … I mean, I may die in my 50s, but I’m coming back to the Screen Door!

That was pretty much the verdict of the Crew, as well. I’d wait in line for this, but why? Get five of your friends together and use The Power. If any Portland brunch was worth the wait, it would be the Screen Door. The fact that you can get in and get fed without having to wait in line … it inspires a certain religious fervor in me for the morning meal.

One more thing, though:

When is Portlandia going to make fun of this moment?

The Crew: Debi, Michelle, Erica, Shari, Jerry. Screen Door is at 2337 E Burnside St. and serves brunch weekends from 9 to 2:30. I’m told they serve dinner, as well, but who cares? Call ahead for one of two reserved tables (for six or more) each weekend day.

Read all of Paul Gerald’s Portland Breakfast Reviews. You can also like Breakfast in Bridgetown on Facebook and follow @PDXBreakfastGuy on Twitter. And keep up with all things Paul – hiking, traveling, food and spirituality – over at PaulGerald.com.

If you want in on this Crew action, subscribe to my Breakfast Bulletin newsletter and stay tuned.

Just a scattershot review of new from the Portland breakfast scene, from various sources:

• Sugar Mama’s Cafe tweeted that they are re-opening at 320 SW Alder (no date given). This is good news and bad. I love their cinnamon rolls and biscuits and gravy, but they will be right across the street from Breakfast Empire HQ.
• Speaking of re-opening, my friends (and fellow former Memphians) at Blues City Biscuits just announced, rather vaguely, on their Facebook page that they will be re-opening.
• As I first reported here (I love getting to say that!), the folks at Killer Burger are opening up a southern/Southwestern style place called Hatch, where the old Morning Star Cafe used to be, at SW 3rd and Morrison. Now Eater PDX has gotten in touch with them for details. Projected opening date remains March 1.
• Eater also got the menus from Tasty N Alder, which will open for brunch February 6. Watch for my review around February 7, as I intend to go with this lovely lady (I love getting to say that, too!) to check it out.
• And once again, thanks to Eater, I hear that the SE Wine Collective has started a monthly brunch at $32.50 per, with a three-course menu and sparkling wine. Details here.
• Here at the Empire, I have decided to start my own kind of Portland breakfast meetup deal, but not on meetup.com — rather, on my Breakfast Bulletin newsletter. There’s about 250 people on there, so subscribe today, and let’s start meeting and eating!

Keep up with all the Portland breakfast news by subscribing to my Breakfast Bulletin, liking my Facebook page, or following me on Twitter.

And keep up with all things Paul – hiking, traveling, food and spirituality – over at PaulGerald.com.