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!

Portland Restaurant/Pastry Shop: Maurice

What: Maurice
Where: 921 SW Oak Street
Honeys Heart: Black Pepper Cheesecake 

The basics: 

• It's super cute (think Sweedeedee twee but with a good dose of Scandinavian minimalism).
• The pastries and desserts are amazing.

but...

•  It's seriously pricy.
•  The service is not so hot.

---
Maurice is owned by Kirstin Murray, a well-respected Portland pastry chef who has worked with big names like Boston's Barbara Lynch (owner of my beloved Drink) and Portland's Vitaly Paley. Described as a "modern pastry luncheonette", the restaurant/pastry shop serves pastries, desserts, and Scandinavian-influenced small plates, as well as beer, wine, and tea.

Maurice has been open for a year and it's taken me that long to finally cajole Doug into going with me. He claims to not share my sweet tooth (though evidence suggests the contrary), so I think it was the promise of lefse that finally hooked him.

We each ordered a dish off the "luncheonette" portion of the menu. Doug choose Lefse with Pheasant Confit, Apples, and Sunchoke ($10).

Obviously, it was a gorgeous dish and quite delicious. But I think Doug was hoping that for $10, he would be a little more full afterward.

I went with the Quiche du Jour with Greens ($10).

The quiche was incredibly creamy, probably some of the best I've ever had. For me, it was the perfect light lunch.

In the end, I was smitten but Doug, not so much. For him, leaving a restaurant still hungry is never a good sign. True, we could have ordered more, but the service had been slow to begin with, we didn't want to spend more money, and we had things to do. A bit of a bust... but I was determined to give Maurice another try.

I decided that maybe it would be better for a girl's date, so I took Allie there a week or so later for an afternoon snack.

Though we were the only customers there save a gentleman who had already been served, we waited at our table for a good ten minutes without any acknowledgement from the three-person staff before we got antsy and wandered up to the register to see if we should just order our desserts up there since no one seemed to be interested in coming to our table. We were told to a server would come to us. Okay...

Once we finally ordered, I tried Maurice's famed Black Pepper Cheesecake ($10) and Allie chose the Meyer Lemon Souffle Pudding Cake ($6).

The cheesecake was rich, creamy, and not-too-sweet, and perfectly complimented with a luscious brown-butter ice cream. The souffle reminded us of a melty lemon bar and we loved the robust meyer lemon-y taste. So, so good.

We also each had a glass of wine. Prices weren't listed on the board so I was a little surprised when my selection turned out to be $15 for a glass. Yikes. 

In the end, our girl's date totaled up to $41 for dessert and wine. On the plus side, everything was delicious and obviously lovingly crafted. But seriously, thank goodness I could chalk this up as a business expense because even though I firmly believe in treating myself now and then, this would have been a serious hit to my wallet for such a small indulgence.

The final verdict: good thing Maurice is as expensive as it is, otherwise I would be in there way too often. I'll definitely save it as a "special occasion" spot- though a "special occasion" spot usually has the added benefit of superb service so... maybe not? But it is so cute and the desserts are so good. Verdict's still out on this one I guess.

Portland Bakery: Farina Bakery

What: Farina Bakery
Where: 1852 SE Hawthorne Blvd
Honeys Heart: Portland's best macarons (for reals)

Writing for AboutFace Magazine has introduced me to a number of amazing Portlanders that I otherwise would have never come in contact with, including my favorite husband and wife architecture/interior design team from Fig and the awesome owners of Viridian Farms. But usually after the interview is completed and the piece is written, contact is pretty much done and I don't hear much, if anything, from my former profile subjects- which is completely understandable.

However, that has not been the case with one of my all-time favorite profile subjects, Laura Farina. I wrote about Laura and her nascent macaron-focused bakery last summer and was struck by her unassuming and thoughtful nature... and her amazingly delicious macarons.

My love for macarons is no secret and so when I was planning my wedding, it was a no-brainer that they would be part of my dessert table. And now a month after the wedding, I think it's safe to say that I've gotten more compliments on Laura's strawberry and raspberry macarons than I have about any other single element of my wedding. The mini raspberry and lemon cake she made for Doug and me to cut into was pretty amazing too.

So obviously, I'm a big supporter of Laura and her pastries and therefore was very excited to hear that the brick and mortar shop that she had been dreaming about when I first spoke with her last April has already become a reality.

Last night Doug, Kelly, Adam, and I drove out to Hawthorne to celebrate Farina Bakery's grand opening. Tomorrow is the shop's official first day, but we got to sample some of the delicious treats that Laura will be offering.

Macarons, of course, were on the menu (lemon was our group's top choice) but the shop will branch out with cakes, muffins, cookies, and other pastries as well. 

Aren't those macaron cakes the cutest things ever? Obsessed.

I can't wait to stop back in and check out the shop once it's in full swing. Congrats, Laura!!

More coverage of Farina Bakery's opening:

• Willamette Week
• Eater PDX

Portland Brunch: Sweedeedee

What: Sweedeedee
Where: 5202 N. Albina
When: Mon - Sat 8 - 4pm, Sun 8 - 2pm
Honeys Heart: All of it

Katie has been working on the Portland content for Urban Daddy's The Next Move, a national restaurant/bar recommendation app that has since launched. Woot, Katie! Also, download it here.

Here's how it works: select a day, time, part of town, type of food or ambiance, and who you're with and it suggests a list of restaurants that fit your criteria. We decided to test it for a Saturday brunch date and that is sort of how we ended up at Sweedeedee...

Well, first we looked at the list and selected Meztica, but it turned out they only serve brunch on Sunday. Since we were in North Portland we almost redirected to an old favorite, John Street Cafe, then thought maybe Podnah's, and as we drove in circles and continued to explore the knowledge of the app, we finally picked Sweedeedee.

It is so quaint and adorable. The pictures don't do the space justice, but the white interior with shabby chic accents, shelves of pickling jars, classroom style roll down paper with a handwritten menu, and unique mix-match of furniture make the space homey and inviting.

Since it had taken some time to arrive at a destination, Katie got the Whiskey Cake from the pastry counter for us to share while we waited to be seated. (Pro tip: order at the counter. It can be a little confusing the first time you come in.) The cake, accompanied by mimosas, was a great start.

(Update!: Sweedeedee was just listed as one of the 25 Best New Restaurants in the U.S. by GQ... so expect even longer lines than usual. We showed up around 9am on a Saturday after the article ran and narrowly beat the crowd.) 

The egg sandwich ($8.50), Katie's pick, was made with egg, bacon, and shredded lettuce. The cornmeal molasses bread was thick and tasty on its own and definitely the star of this sandwich.

I am a sucker for a breakfast burrito ($9, with bacon) and this could have easily been shared. Filled with egg, potatoes, bacon, lettuce, guacamole and more, it was definitely satisfying.

An out-of-character selection for Adam was the potato plate ($11), but it is quite possibly what I would order if we returned. The potatoes were topped with an over-easy egg, smoked trout and greens. 

From the looks of the menu posted on their website, there may be slight adjustments, which all sound worth trying. Definitely a place we would return to...actually I think Katie already has!