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Portland Timbers midfielder Eryk Williamson has made it a point to soak in all the Rose City has to offer. He moved here from the University of Maryland when he signed with the team in 2018 at the tender age of 20. Since then, the self-professed foodie has developed a taste for the very Pacific Northwest pursuits of coffee, wine and hiking. He lives with his girlfriend, Portland Thorns defender Kelli Hubly, in the Northwest Portland hills, where they have taken up gardening. (Tomatoes and corn are going well. The watermelon could use some work.)
Williamson took WW along on an afternoon tour of some of his favorite spots, not including Providence Park, where he and the Timbers have only two more home games before the season wraps up. His new puppy, Duke, an 11-month-old, 130-pound Rottweiler and husky mix, came along for the ride.
Here’s how Williamson spends a day here in the city:
A Forest Amble: Williamson, 27, had already done his lifting at the Timbers training facility in Beaverton (it was upper-body day), so we met at Pittock Mansion (3229 NW Pittock Dr., 503-823-3623, pittockmansion.org), where he and Hubly like to take Duke on hikes on the Upper Macleay Trail that winds through Forest Park. “He gets us out, which is good,” Williamson says. “He’s the shot-caller right now.”
The crowds exploring the mansion grounds either aren’t aware that a Timber is in their midst or are giving him privacy. “This is one of the most respectful places,” he says. “Fans will wait for a while and then maybe say ‘good luck this weekend,’ or ‘beat Seattle.’”
If he sees a child, though, who obviously wants to say hello but is too nervous, he always goes up to that young fan himself, he says. “You can tell. They’re, like, hiding behind their parents.”
Williamson gets recognized more often at restaurants. His favorite is kann (548 SE Ash St., 503-702-0290, kannrestaurant.com). “It’s hard to not have kann as number one,” he says. His must-order is Haiti’s national dish, Griyo (twice-cooked pork). But the local soccer power couple is not immune to the notoriously competitive reservation system at Gregory Gourdet’s hotspot. “Kelli’s really on it, but we still get really random reservations. Like, 10 pm on a Wednesday? OK, I guess?”
Coffee and Kicks: During his first year in Portland, Williamson hated coffee unless it was essentially “a cup of sugar.” But he slowly broke himself into the pleasures of espresso, and now Deadstock Coffee (408 NW Couch St., deadstockcoffee.com) in Old Town is his favorite place to grab a cuppa. But it wasn’t love at first sip. “The first time I came, I was getting a weird vibe from the barista, like he was sizing me up,” he says. “But really, he was trying to see [my shoes]. ‘OK, he’s wearing Jordan 3s.’”
Deadstock is well-known for stenciling an image of the customer’s sneakers on top of the foam. At home, Williamson keeps all his approximately 100 pairs of shoes on a wall of individual clear boxes (with plenty of orange Nike boxes on the side containing new shoes ready for their permanent slot). “I wouldn’t say it’s an addiction, but my biggest hobby is collecting shoes,” he says.
Crepes with a Friend: L’Atelier Yaffe (111 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., atelieryaffe.com) is a new art gallery and café owned by former Timber George Fochive, who was manning the crepe station himself. “My family lives in France. I picked up a few things,” Fochive says.
Williamson entered the café with Duke and an armful of DJ equipment he had borrowed from Fochive a couple of years ago. Williamson got into DJing to pass the time while recovering from his two ACL surgeries in 2021 and 2023, and Fochive lent Williamson his deck. Williamson loves the chill music, original artwork, special events, crepes and wine at Yaffe. “I get caught here sometimes for way longer than I need to be,” he says.
Williamson’s rest time around town paid off two days later when the Timbers beat the LA Galaxy, 4-2, at Providence Park.
GO: The Portland Timbers have two more home games this season at Providence Park, 1844 SW Morrison St., 503-553-5400, timbers.com/providencepark. 7:30 pm Wednesday, Oct. 2, 4:15 pm Sunday, Oct. 6. $20 and up.