Thursday, January 28, 2016

Portland Cafe/Xurreria: 180

What: 180
Where: 2218 NE Broadway St.
When: 8am-4pm
Honeys Heart: All the churros! 

Doug and I ate lots of delicious savory dishes during our trip to Spain a few years ago and with all those tapas to try, we didn't save much room for sweets. Our sampling was limited to nun cookies in Granada, marizpan in Toledo, and – the winner by far – churros with drinking chocolate from a small coffee shop in Barcelona.

All about those churros:


So, when we heard that Ataula's Jose Chesa and Cristina Baez were opening a xurreria next to their highly anticipated paella restaurant, Chesa, I was pretty darn excited.


Last night, we got a sneak peek of 180 and let's just say you should be pretty darn excited too.


Here's what's on the menu:

Xurros (aka Churros)
Made to order, these traditional xurros are fried at about 180°C (hence the shop's name). Order 3 for $3.75, 6 for $5.75, or 12 for $10.75 (go for a dozen- it's the fiscally-responsible choice).


Xurros Bañados
Xurros Bañados are traditional xurros served with a coating of xocolata and finished with Jacobsen’s salt. Guys, these are SO good.


Housemade Dipping Sauces
The $4 cup of drinking chocolate is obviously the way to go, but the housemade sauces are also really tasty. Choose from caramel/peanut butter, marshmallow cream, and a special seasonal sauce. At the tasting, the seasonal sauce was lemon curd and it was amazing.


Fillings
Filled xurros can be stuffed with traditional crema catalana, dulce de leche, or housemade crema de xocolata.

Xuixos
I'm so bummed we didn't try these when we were in Barcelona- but these are another traditional Catalan pastry that are rolled in sugar and cinnamon, filled with crema catalana, and look similar to a croissant. We didn't get to try any of these but I'll fix that soon.


Café
The shop will also offer a selection of coffee drinks including Spanish classics like Cafe Bombón (espresso with sweetened condensed milk) and Cortado (espresso cut with a little warm milk). Coffee is also served with a variety of milk options including a locally-produced hazelnut milk (which I learned is much more sustainable than almond milk.)


180 officially opens tomorrow (Friday, Jan 29) and they're giving away free churros from 8am-4pm while supplies last. See you there!