First Tastes: Breakfast at Steeplejack

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The stunner of a stained glass window at Steeplejack.

Over the weekend I stopped in at Steeplejack for breakfast before taking care of some errands in the general area. I got a tip off their Instagram page, where they posted “we are slowly rolling out our breakfast program” and I found that hard to resist. I arrived around 8:30am on a Sunday and had a satisfying and tasty breakfast in a beautiful space.

The Space

Last time I tried to enter this renovated space I was deterred by a long wait and a feeling of genuine hunger, so I had to take a pass before I got hangry. I had heard a lot of good things about Steeplejack’s interior space and it really looks great—I like that they reused much of the wood they removed during construction.

It warms my heart that this old church was not bulldozed down, and I was happy to see so many details were left from the original church’s interior design. You can see what the church sanctuary looked like when it was operating as a church, on Doug Decker’s excellent Alameda Old House History blog. I really like the side where these wooden arches, screens, and columns are.

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Formerly the altar.

You know, I used to work as a church musician and have seen a lot of pews in my days, and the pews they chose to use for some of the seating are really beautiful in their simplicity. There’s even hymnal racks on the back of them! Nice. And of course, that big stained glass window with the doves, pictured at the top of this post, is just plain gorgeous (there’s better detail on its heart and doves in this photo).

The Food

I stared with a latte that was quite good and I liked the swan design in the latte art (count me in as someone who enjoys latte art). The espresso was strong enough for me and the milk was creamy, buoyed by the desirable microbubbles in the foam. It felt kind of retro to drink it out of a ceramic cup; the COVID-era has done a lot for the prevalence of disposable coffee cups.

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I chose the veggie breakfast tacos (three of them on a plate, very generous) because 1) I wasn’t craving bacon (I know, what?!?) and 2) the veggie tacos had winter squash and I like to eat a lot of that this time of year. The official description of this dish is “scrambled eggs, roasted honeynut squash, hazelnuts, spicy maple glaze, spinach, whipped goat cheese with honey on corn tortillas.” Overall, I found the tacos were full of flavor, nicely balanced between sweet and savory, and a great combo of protein, veg, and fiber. I’d definitely get them again.

A few quibbles: I would have liked the spinach chopped up in smaller pieces, since with one bite the entire amount of spinach went in my mouth, leaving me with no more spinach for the rest of the meal (sad—I love spinach). I could have done without the extra salt at the end. And I think they replaced the hazelnuts with pepitas (I love pepitas, too, but did miss the hazelnuts). These are minor issues and preferences on my part, and the tacos were still great.

I didn’t detect an excess of maple glaze or honey, either, which is a plus for me. I absolutely loved the whipped goat cheese—its tangy flavor and creamy texture was fantastic. I’d love to see this trend out to more places around town. The firm yet soft texture of the scrambled eggs was also highly pleasing.

It was really chill and quiet when we arrived; it got busier as we hit the 9am hour. I understand it can get loud in there, and while that it a non-issue for many people, I have a hard time when it gets too loud, so I was happy to be there on the quieter side. Hats off to the staff person who helped me with the pay process—my phone was not behaving with the Toast ordering website, and she was really patient and helpful, and we were able to pay for our breakfast.

I’d definitely recommend checking out Steeplejack for breakfast—they start things up each day at 7am. And if savory breakfast tacos aren’t your jam, there’s french toast and beautiful pastries from Roseway’s own Bee’s Cakes there. I almost got the orange chai scone but was enticed by those tacos. Next time.

Steeplejack Brewing Co
2400 NE Broadway, Portland
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