Palio Dessert & Espresso House

Portland $ ****
This cozy, surprisingly large cafe would have been perfect if it hadn't been for a certain waitress (she was rude and messed up my friend's order!). Now that I got that out of the way, I can continue praising this place.
Palio is located in adorable Ladd's Addition. Even if you don't come to Palio, you should drive around Ladd's Addition in southeast Portland. Ladd's is a square made up of diagonal streets, tiny homes, and lots and lots of roses. This is why Portland is considered Rose City. Palio offers the typical cafe items: soups, sandwiches, coffee, and desserts - all moderately priced. What makes this place so great is coming up next.
There are three distinct sections at Palio: one is the main room where you purchase the food and can sit at some tables; another is a separate room that looks like a perfect study area with lots of large tables; the last section is the one my friend and I chose. In the back of the main room, walk up a few steps to an elevated platform. Here, there are about 3 tables, bookshelves full of random books, and games. Yes, board games!
So, instead of reading about families in the South, my friend and I played two rounds of checkers and one round of my favorite: Scrabble! It was wonderful. We had a variety of dictionaries to choose from to help us in our intense game. Ther were various magazines and poetry books that were fun as well. My ham and cheese sandwich with bar-b-que chips were delicious (although, our awful waitress took forever), while my friend enjoyed her meal even though it was the wrong dish.
For dessert, we both ordered the tiramisu, but their version of tiramisu is definitely not a proper tiramisu. It was more of a chocolate cake. However, it was a good chocolate cake, and so we were quite pleased regardless.
Palio is open late for Portland standards, and the atmosphere was great: cozy, laid-back, and I could definitely imagine coming back to study sometime. The waitress sucked, and two of our dishes were incorrect, but everything else was perfect.
Palio Dessert & Coffee House (Ladd's Addition)
1996 SE Ladd Ave
Portland, OR 97214
Mon-Fri 7am-11pm
Sat-Sun 8am-11pm

Pastini Pastaria

Portland $ ****
After a successful shopping day in downtown, my friend and I somehow thought we still deserved some dessert. Unfortunately, 7:30 pm is late in Portland, so we had trouble finding a suitable place. Finally, after roaming Broadway and a few more streets, we saw the neon sign of Pastini Pastaria. I had read about it before and had been on its website multiple times. It was a straightforward Italian place, not quite interesting enough to put it on my List. However, we were desperate, and so we walked in and asked to see their dessert menu.

Tiramisu AND chocolate tartufo - both for less than $6?! Okay, we're sold. The atmosphere was what I was expecting. Looks like a chain (because it is - there are 8 in total), and the crowd consisted of the typical annoyingly mainstream crowd with which I try not to mingle. But hey, we're here. Let's try their dessert.
I'm glad we did! I ordered the chocolate tartufo. Yummm. I'm sure all they had to do was microwave the cake and plop scoops of vanilla ice cream, but still. It tasted great. The warm center of the chocolate cake was oozing out and tasted great with the TWO scoops of vanilla bean ice cream and some whipped cream. Gluttony in a bowl. My friend also enjoyed her tiramisu, although she did admit that it did taste packaged and was nowhere near the authentic tiramisu we had at Veritable Quandary.
Service was decent, and the noise level was kind of loud because we were sitting next to two high school girls. Overall, I would recommend coming here when you, like us, are stuck in downtown craving dessert after 7 pm. Great price!
Pastini Pastaria (Downtown)
911 SW Taylor at 9th Avenue
Portland, OR 97205
Mon-Thu 11am-9pm
Fri-Sat 11am-10pm
Sun 3pm-9pm

Le Happy

Portland $$ ****
This place is very Portland, at least my image of Portland. Slightly grungy with a couple of hipsters working. This place has very good crepes, but I prefer to eat my crepes at cutesy faux-French places like Chez Machin instead of dark, oddly-decorated places. But that's just me.
I ordered the saumon fumé, which was great. It was a huge crepe with salmon, white wine gruyere sauce, and green onions. They have a crepe called Le Trash Blanc, which is hilarious. If I actually liked bacon, cheddar, and PBR (see, I told you this place is so Portland!), I'd order it. Sadly, like other things about Le Happy, it's just not for me.

So in conclusion, you should go to Le Happy because it serves very yummy crepes (and not because of the swanky atmosphere)!
Le Happy (Pearl District)
1011 NW 16th Avenue
Portland, OR 97209
Mon-THu 5pm-1am
Fri 5pm-2:30am
Sat 6pm-2:30am

Everett Street Bistro

Portland $$ *****
I'm actually not in the position to properly rate this place, considering I didn't have an actual meal, but my drink and free bread here have convinced me that I must return for a real meal.

My friend and I came here because she wanted a snack and I wanted a drink. We saw this place, and I had remembered being on its website, on which there were pictures of yummy breads. So in we went, expecting to buy a sourdough roll or something of that sort. It was only about 4pm, so we were the only real customers there. The setting is adorable - very understated yet elegant with large windows that allow you to check out all the cute (gay) guys walking around the Pearl District.
We ordered our usuals: my friend had her coffee, I had my hot chocolate. However, when I asked for a loaf of bread (don't judge me, that's really what I remembered seeing on ESB's website!), our waiter said that's not really what they offer here. So we looked at their menu. Eh. We weren't ready for a full meal. So we said never mind, we'll just have our drinks.
Despite not having a loaf of bread, our drinks were amazing. Their hot chocolate definitely rivals that of First Cup. In fact, I think it's better because it has a lovely aftertaste that I can't quite place my finger on.

The best part was when our waiter came out again and brought us some bread! I know that under normal circumstances, bread is complimentary with dinner (and sometimes lunch). But we had told him earlier we weren't interested in a full meal and just wanted our drinks. And he gave us a nice basket full of bread with olive oil and vinegar anyway. Yay!
So, Everett Street Bistro, we're going to come again when we're craving a large meal.

Everett Street Bistro (Pearl District)
1140 NW Everett Street
Portland, Oregon 97209
Mon-Thu 11:30am - 9pm
Fri-Sun 11:30am - 10pm

Marsee Bakery

Portland $ *****
I absolutely love this bakery, which is just a short leisurely walk away from my school. Friendly service, lots of tables and large windows. They offer sandwiches, soups, and fresh baked pastries.
I ordered the merendine bun and a small hot chocolate. Fabulous! The merendine bun is their signature pastry - "a flaky butter bun infused with high quality Mexican vanilla." I'm so glad I decided to try this instead of going with my usual chocolate croissant, which is also amazing by the way. They serve Stumptown coffee, so the drinks are great as well.
My friend and I are adding this wonderful little neighborhood bakery to our list of places at which we are going to become regulars.
Marsee Bakery (Sellwood)
1625 SE Bybee Blvd
Portland, OR 97202