Neighborhood:
Mississippi Graffiti-stained walls and the odd shoplifter remind visitors that this burgeoning pocket of Portland is still in conflict with its gentrified frills. (read more) But the local indie boutiques and farm-to-table eateries keep on coming despite the quiet unrest. Find your happy place at Gravy (3957 N Mississippi Ave., 287-8800), where pancakes are the size of your face, or down inventive cocktails come dinnertime at the ever-charming Lovely Hula Hands (4057 N Mississippi Ave., 445-9910). Shop until your pad is full at whimsical boutiques like Flutter (3948 N Mississippi Ave., 288-1649), then explore tiny but spiffy Video Vérité (3956 N Mississippi Ave., 445-9902), which houses an exhaustive selection of indie and foreign flicks. If you’re on the resourceful side, the ReBuilding Center (3625 N Mississippi Ave., 331-1877) will be a regular haunt—this temple of salvaged building components is always bustling with worker bees. And speaking of bees, Pistils Nursery (3811 N Mississippi Ave., 288-4889) not only supplies local and sustainably grown flora, it also holds workshops on everything from urban chicken farming to beekeeping. Then again, North Mississippi is sooo 2005; a newer crop of businesses is sprouting on its even rougher neighbor, North Williams. The one-two sweets ’n’ suds punch of Pix Pâtisserie (3901 N Williams Ave., 282-6539) and Fifth Quadrant brewpub (3901 N Williams Ave. # B, 288-3996) delights revelers nearly every night, while construction on The Hub building project nearby will add a new Ristretto Roasters outpost and fine-dining restaurant Lincoln to a block that already houses vegan-central Nutshell (3808 N Williams Ave., 292-2627) and a yoga studio. —Elianna Bar-El.
Featured in Cheap Eats 2007
An eclectic collection of paintings hang from the walls modern pop plays softly from the speakers and the dull clatter of dishes can be heard as you make your way over to the long stretch of inviting wooden benches lining the walls. The menu offers up a bevy of down-home dishes from banana-chocolate-chip short stacks ($4.75) to biscuits ($5.75) covered in—you guessed it—gravy. The French toast a $1.50 sub side with omelettes ($7.75-$9.75) is perfectly sugary and dense. (AS)
