This coming weekend will be a chocolate-lover’s dream: The very first Portland Craft Chocolate Festival starts on Friday and goes all weekend in Southeast Portland. It’s a great opportunity to taste products and treats from local makers, vote on your favorites, and more.
This year I ate at a variety of places—some fancy, some more modest. But they all served me excellent, tasty, wonderful food. Here are my favorite bites in Portland in 2024.
Bison Coffeehouse: Cafe Latte
Located in Cully on Cully Blvd, this is one of two Native-owned cafes in Portland (the other being All Your Heart Coffee in South Portland). I was there for a meeting with a neighbor and ordered a latte. One of the things I was offered by the barista was a choice of espresso roasts, and I chose a medium roast—this meant the Shoshone Blend, a coffee bean from Honduras medium-roasted by Native Coffee Traders. It was lovely, with notes of chocolate and nuts; plus expertly streamed milk. This is one of the best lattes I’ve had all year. 3941 NE Cully Blvd, Portland. Bison Coffeehouse website
You may have heard of Small Business Saturday, which is one of the three big shopping days of the early holiday season (the others being Black Friday and Cyber Monday). But here in Portland, there’s a local effort to encourage shopping at small businesses in Portland for a month, from November 14 to December 15! And that would be the Win Big campaign from Small Shops Big Hearts, part of Bricks Need Mortar, which supports Oregon’s independent retailers.