Today, a friend asked me what it’s like to come from a city that tourists flock to. “Do you explore new things or just stick to familiarity?” And that was an excellent question.
Proud Mary Café immediately rose to my mind’s surface. Proud Mary made a bold leap across the Pacific Ocean from Australia to dwell on a rainy street on NE Alberta. It softly opened its doors in the summer of 2017, right in time for my month-long visit at home.
I loved it so much the first time that I have tucked it away in my book of PDX restaurant favorites. This is one of the places that I have dubbed as a familiar haunt, but it also remains as a destination to continually explore. I would highly recommend tourists and locals alike to poke their heads inside this lovely café.
Inside it, a large skylight carves into the high ceiling and lets loose a pool of natural light on patrons as they chat at slender wooden tables and chairs. At the bar, baristas are barely visible over stacks of cerulean blue coffee cups and saucers. House plants peek out from corners as the source of minimalist décor, and around the corner of the restaurant is the kitchen, noted by wafts of steam.
When I went the first time, it was a slow summer brunch. When I came again in November, I barely grabbed a seat at the counter. The menu draws people in; concise descriptions of the dishes are hardly satisfactory preludes to their stunning, almost ethereal presentations. One such beautiful dish is the vanilla hotcake.
I thought that “hotcake” just represented a fancier term for pancake, but apparently Australians define it differently. Their version is a mound of fluffy dough reminiscent of thick Japanese pancakes, and it’s infused with drips of vanilla and lemon curd. But the hotcake’s toppings really make a statement – vibrant edible flowers scatter around a dollop of ricotta cream adorned with cinnamon-flecked meringues. It’s truly a work of art, a vision of flower power.
Besides sweet options, the menu features hearty dishes like a rich pork belly potato hash and delicate strings of mushrooms paired with corn bread. I’ve also tried the sticky beef rib roll, which honestly doesn’t equal the hotcake, but it’s a pleasantly spicy thing. (Just rather hard to eat.)
The next time I come back to Portland, you can find me lounging at Proud Mary drinking a classic flat white and munching on some breakfast sashimi.
weathering your appetite 