Stumptown

This place is so good, Nickel Creek's mandolin player Chris Thile wrote a song named after it! I'm always excited to go to Stumptown. Today, I was going to go to VooDoo Doughnut, but the line was longer than Crystal Gale's hair, so I skipped out (for today, that is!) and went to Stumptown down the street instead!

Stumptown refers to Portland's old nickname from the late 1840's, when the city was growing so fast that the trees cut to make way for roads remained as stumps until things slowed down and they could be removed.

The atmosphere at Stumptown is great (I've been to the one on Hawthorne and the one in NW PDX) - the people are unique and polite. I don't fanny around with Stumptown - no mochas or syrupy drinks. Just unadulterated espresso. Today I ordered a macchiato. My barista poured a perfect milk heart right into it - no tricks, no sticks. That deserves a round of applause.

I also got a pastry (I justify this by telling myself that it's for the sake of my blog). Stumptown's Berry Brioche is pretty tasty. It's a very moist cake, and the berries (black, rasp, and straw) are really tart. I would recommend sharing -- I could hardly finish the whole thing!

Also, they have the cutest little brown cups!

Macchiato: 3.5
Berry Brioche: 3