The Back Patio Is Open in Portland

After two and a half years of work, preparation, and wrangling with City of Portland’s various processes, The Back Patio in Cully is open. Located in a former cannabis shop on Cully Blvd, this little local spot offers snacks, wine, beer, and NA drinks in what they call a “shabby chic” dining room; as well as an arcade, food trucks, and yes—a back patio. I sat down with owners Mike and Jennifer Usselman to learn more.

A Little Bit of Backstory

Back in February 2024 a reader emailed me with, “I’m sitting here at Bison coffee and just noticed this place across the street. Looks interesting. Wanted to put this on your radar if it isn’t already.” I reached out to Jennifer then, inquiring about their place and wanting to learn more. That started a months-long email exchange, and Jennifer offered to tell me more about The Back Patio after they were able to open.

Then in October 2024, neighbors in a private Facebook group started talking about The Back Patio. It was clear people were curious and were looking forward to this mysterious space to open up. I continued to check in with Jennifer and assured folks on Facebook that eventually we would see this place open their doors. Fast forward to November 2025, and the space was finally ready to welcome in the public.

The Owners of The Back Patio

As I mentioned earlier, Mike and Jennifer Usselman, both native to the Portland area, are the owners of The Back Patio. Locals might know Mike as the affable guy behind Appliance City, which is nearby.

They both started their careers in restaurants. Jennifer was a waitress and a hostess. “I did everything for this one little Chinese restaurant growing up, for years,” she said. Mike worked at the Italian restaurant Monte Carlo, one of Portland’s first Italian restaurants, which is no longer in business. He also worked at RingSide.

Connecting with the public has been a constant throughout their working lives, and The Back Patio embraces that in the form of hospitality. “We’ve been in the customer service industry all our lives,” said Jennifer. “And we’ve started our own businesses. Of course, customer service never ends because you’re always pleasing your clients and making it right if something does go wrong.”

She added, “And we love to eat! We love fun, beautiful places and we seek them out.”

The Back Patio: What’s in a Name? 

I knew it could be obvious why they named their place The Back Patio, but I asked Jennifer anyway. “We have a back patio at our house that looks out over our vegetable garden and the backyard, and that’s where I would always sit and read,” explained Jennifer. “And that was my therapy spot where I would just read and pray and relax and you know—just be. It was my happy spot.”

She continued, “And every time we had a house party with friends and family, that’s where we’d gather outside. And so we just thought, ‘Let’s make this a cool, casual, fun, family-friendly gathering place.'” A place where everyone is welcome.

This Location

I wondered why they chose this location, and they revealed that for them it’s close and convenient to their other business—Appliance City, just a hop, skip, and a jump away from The Back Patio. That business has been in Mike’s family for three generations.

Also, Appliance City had been renting part of the parking lot on The Back Patio property for over 20 years for storage and parking. So the connection has been there for a while.

“When the opportunity came, it wasn’t like we were actually looking to start another food cart pod or business,” said Mike. “It was an opportunity for the building and the property.” And the rent was a good deal, too.

They also wanted to do something unique and fun for the neighborhood, and this fits the bill.

Food and Drink at The Back Patio

To eat, they offer charcuterie boards: one with meat and cheese and one with just cheese. Both come with fig jam, crackers, grapes, olives, and savory nuts. They also a salmon lox plate that comes with dill and red onion, creamy cheese, veggie dip, crackers, grapes, olives, and savory nuts. That’s Jennifer’s favorite.

I also saw a display of cupcakes on their bar, and they have chocolates for sale, too, for their sweets offerings.

To drink they have wine by the glass, beer on tap and in cans, cider, hard seltzer, sake, and some NA options like NA beer, sparkling cider, and soda.

Food Trucks and Carts

But their main focus as far as food goes is going to be food trucks. When I was there they had a pizza cart, called Crust & Corner, which makes great Detroit-style pizza (and these crazy tasty brown sugar garlic cheese sticks).

I was not expecting to taste these but while they were sitting there on the bar—just made, so they were warm—Jennifer and Mike offered me a taste. They are as good as you’d expect: soft, warm dough topped with a mix of ingredients that are savory, salty, and sweet all at once. That frico edge is one of the best parts. 10/10 would eat again.

More recently it looks like they have a Mexican food truck, too, called Poblano Pepper. Any future trucks there will involve no duplicates (so, for instance one one pizza truck, not more than that). They’d love to have a burger truck, in particular.

The plan is to have a total of five or six trucks on site. They’ll be positioned in the back, right off the back patio.

Also, minors can be in the dining room and outside, they just can’t be at the bar.

The Back Patio Space

They didn’t have to do much as far as any serious construction/demo work on the interior. “The only thing we did was to take down a non-load-bearing wall right there,” said Jennifer. She motioned toward the back by where the arcade is. “It was a little partial wall so we could open up the game room. Everything else was ready to go.”

That game room has foosball and arcade-style video games. The games are serviced by Ground Control.

Repurposing

When the cannabis shop closed they left a bunch of shelving units behind, so Jennifer and Mike took advantage of that. “We did a massive repurposing,” said Jen. With the abandoned glass shelves they clad it with what they call shiplap (to me it looks more like wainscoting). They put on a fresh coat of paint, then added a bar top.

The ceilings were open rafters, so they closed that up, putting in the ceiling piece by piece using furring strips, which you can see in the photo below.

There was another counter, a “beat up piece of ugliness,” that they also covered, added a bar top, primed and painted (you can see it in the far corner in the photo above). “It’s mainly made to hold our album drop when we play vinyl for a theme for vinyl night,” explained Mike. They can also use it during their bingo, karaoke, or live music nights.

They wanted to reuse/repurpose as much as possible, which saved money and time.

Excited About the Transformation

I asked Jen, who has worked most recently as a designer, if there was something she was really excited about in preparing this place to open, especially early on in this project.

“I think it’s just the overall transformation of what it was, to what it is,” she explained. One of the first things she put her attention toward was paint color. What the previous tenant used was a bright bumblebee yellow color on the walls (“Yellow and black stripes everywhere!”). It was sensory overload.

She wanted to tone it down, change the brightness level, but at the same time bring in some warmth. “Bright white doesn’t feel warm and welcoming, either” she explained. “So if we wanted white it had to have a little bit of yellow in it—just a little bit, to warm it up.”

She continued, “So once we did that and then picked the green, because the floor was here. We didn’t have to change the floor. It was our daughter who did the butterfly. She’s an artist.”

The Back Patio Logo

Their logo, which is a butterfly (or a moth, depending on who you talk to) is about transformation. The transformation of a dispensary to a taphouse. The transformation of the in-your-face wall color to something warmer and friendlier. The transformation of the vibe into something relaxing instead of visual sensory overload.

Outside

When you go out to the actual back patio, you’ll see fire tables surrounded by outdoor seating. “Somewhere comparable could be the Atomic Cheese style,” said Mike. Atomic Cheese is in Blackbird Wines on Fremont. There’s cornhole, a gas fire pit, and plenty of room for future food trucks. Here are some photos from that back area. Click to enlarge.

A Cozy Vibe Sets Them Apart

“I think what makes us different is that it’s more of a cozy vibe here than a big expanse,” said Jen. “You know the bar—“Cheers”? Here, people will know your name. Come in and it’s a little more chill.”

She added, “It’s a little more family-friendly of a feeling, too.” They’d like it to feel more like a home than like a business. “We’d take that as a compliment because it’s like, ‘Just come on over to our place!’ you know?”

Watching the Game

Along with being cozy, this is a place where you could come by to watch the game. That means football (the Ducks game was on when I was there), basketball, and baseball. And if there are things you might want to see on the TV, you can always make a request.

“When it’s a small group, I would put on whatever they request,” said Jennifer. “If they didn’t want the music and we had someone say, ‘Can we put the game on?’ we can do that.”

Personally, I’d like to see if they’ll show grand-slam tennis or the upcoming Winter Olympics in Italy, too (Jennifer mentioned her ministry groups and Mike mentioned his snowboarder bros when I brought up the Winter Olympics).

Thanks to Jennifer and Mike for sharing their time and telling us about The Back Patio and their plans going forward with it. Wishing them all the best and I look forward to stopping by soon!

The Back Patio [opened November 15, 2025]
3944 NE Cully Blvd, Portland
The Back Patio website | Instagram