- 808 NE Dekum Street
- Portland, Oregon 97211
- 503.954.2412
- info@woodlawncoffee.com
- now open!
- mon to fri: 630am to 4pm
- sat and sun: 730am to 4pm
People
Gretchen Glatte
Gretchen Glatte grew up in Southern Oregon knowing that she could expect a great treat if she ate all her dinner. Both her mom and grandmother were accomplished bakers, so she never developed a taste for anything that came in a plastic wrapper. Later, while living in Taos, and looking for a way to fill the time when she wasn’t skiing (and a way to pay for her lift tickets), she started working in a scratch bakery where she honed her inherited skills.
She returned to the West coast, baking in San Francisco first at the acclaimed restaurant Firefly, and later, North Star Restaurant and Little Dipper Bakery. Oregon was calling her home, though, so she came to Portland, where in no time she was gobbled up by Wildwood Restaurant. Later she baked at New Seasons market, where she met Matthew Busetto. When Busetto left to open the Firehouse Restaurant, they asked Glatte if she would join him as pastry chef. She jumped at the chance to work with people whose attitudes about seasonal, local and sustainable ingredients matched her own. When they mentioned that the restaurant would be located four blocks away from her Woodlawn neighborhood home, the deal was sealed.
Woodlawn Coffee and Pastry was an opportunity for Glatte and Busetto to expand their collaboration a little further. While she will continue to be the pastry chef for the Firehouse Restaurant, this new venture will offer others –early risers, morning commuters, and afternoon noshers – the chance to enjoy Glatte’s sweet creations. The two strive to create a feeling reminiscent of Glatte’s childhood home - where the smell of fresh baked goods permeated the air - a place both welcoming and comforting. Her eclectic baking style includes German, Italian, and quintessential American treats, but with an underlying cohesiveness – that simple is always better than fussy, and the freshest, seasonal ingredients make the difference between pastry that will pass and that which will delight.
Matthew Busetto
Matthew Busetto learned to cook and tell jokes at roughly the same time. Raised by a busy single mother, he realized early on that laughter and a belly full of good food could cure a whole world of ills. He appointed himself the resident comedian and learned to whip up a mean after school snack sure to please his big brother. Mom did not leave the cupboard filled with store-bought treats, but there were plenty of fresh ingredients from which to make a healthy morsel. Despite her hectic life, his mother prepared all their food from scratch, mostly from ingredients grown locally. Matthew loved to read his mother’s cookbooks, recreating the recipes according to what was available in their kitchen. His mother loves to retell the story of when, at the tender age of 8, he called her at work as he was attempting to make his first cake ( a very simple concoction called a Crazy Cake) to ask if he could use 7-up if the recipe called for soda. How was he to know? Most 8 eight year old were playing with Lincoln Logs, not matches and a gas stove!
He may not have immediately appreciated this healthy approach to food, however, desperately wanting to trade his mother’s homemade lunches for the ones his friends brought to school filled with bright cellophane wrappers. To discover with one bite that their whizzy looks belied their artificial taste caused him enormous disappointment.
That disappointment is at the basis of his enduring food philosophy. Flashy flourishes, garnish fads - he is just not into them. Simple, fresh food from a local source, he knows, is best.
His restaurant, The Firehouse, helped fulfill part of his dream to serve his neighbors local, fresh fare, and now he gets to go a step further. Woodlawn Coffee and Pastry offers him the chance to fulfill the rest of that dream – to be a part of the bustling center of a vibrant community scene. Come in for a fresh baked treat, have a brainstorming session here, listen to a local band, read a book, meet your neighbors. Chances are that you’ll find Matthew here, too, pleased as punch to see you.
Justin Rideout
Justin Rideout, owner of the historic building that houses Woodlawn Coffee and Pastry feels about wood the way Gretchen and Matthew feel about food, except they use the freshest ingredients possible, and he uses wood that is seasoned and not seasonal. He is a builder with a particular passion for history, and a furniture maker who transforms reclaimed wood from around the state to create unique pieces with style that ranges from clean, modern lines to rustic folk art. Born in Portland, Justin learned the carpentry trade from his father but taught himself the craft of furniture making.
Magpie the Wonder Kat
About 7 years ago, shortly after moving to Portland with my wife Elizabeth, I had the most curious birthday surprise. Coming home that day I found sitting on our bed a paper bag, ordinary in every way except for the bow that adorned its face. Assuming it was a gift for me I opened the bag, peered inside and saw a bag of cat food. Elizabeth knows I’ll eat almost anything, but cat food? For my birthday?
Perhaps I should have been a little more keen as to the implications of the gift, but it took an explanation from Elizabeth once she arrived home that the food was not for me, but for a cat. Not any old cat, but OUR cat. The thing is, we didn’t have a cat. Then and there as the universe mustered up all of its powers, parting the clouds in my mind, it dawned on me: Elizabeth wants me to get a kitty. Apprehensive for a few moments, I quickly saw the beauty in this gesture and we were off to the Oregon Humane Society.
I’m pretty particular when it comes to cats, but my hopes were high and I was excited that I might have a cat again. It had been almost 20 years since my last cat and I wasn’t ever sure I could go through the life and death of a feline friend again. But that day, for some reason, perhaps the move to a new state, the beginning of another chapter in my life with Elizabeth, or just sappy sentimentality, I was ready for a new cat.
When we arrived at the Oregon Humane Society’s facility on Columbia Blvd we were led through an area that housed all of the cats. There were so many beautiful little tigers to choose from that I wasn’t sure how to go about picking one. So Elizabeth started picking. Ugh. She chose a few that we would then meet in the facilty’s “Get Acquainted Rooms”. What I noticed about Elizabeth’s choices was this: they were mellow and pretty. Mellow and pretty doesn’t work for me. Independent, freaky, quirky, spastic, unpredictable does.
So I gave it a shot and decided to pick out a kitty myself. I came across a pen that had a few black kittens in it, all about 8-12 months old. They were distinguished from one another by different colored bandanas around their necks. They were all very adorable, two of them that Elizabeth would definitely like and then one that was just little different. While the two sat there looking mellow and pretty the other had three of her little paws under her green bandana trying to get the thing off. I thought to myself, “Damn straight, what self respecting cat would wear a bandana?”. She was the one I thought I wanted to meet. I looked down at her info card to check out her background, sort of her kitty rap sheet. “Not very social, not good with children” is what it read…she was definitely the one I wanted to meet!
As we sat in the room waiting to meet this cat Elizabeth was questioning my judgement…nothing new. She rolled her eyes when asking for an explanation as to why I would ever want a cat that was so scraggly, hyper, and nether social or good with children. The answer came when they brought this cat in and set her down. Meowing the whole way down the hall coming to the room and struggling to get out of the assistant’s arms, her four paws touched the floor and she went silent. She looked up at me, meowed once more, and then jumped in my lap and began to purr. The deal was done, we had our cat.
And that’s the story of Magpie the Wonder Kat. She has lived up to my expectations of being quirky and independent, but she also relies on us for love and attention. We recently had our first child and were concerned about how Maggie would react, not just because of her rap sheet but because over the years she has made it plainly obvious that she wants all of our attention and love. But she was pretty intuitive the whole time Elizabeth was pregnant and realized that she would be sharing our time with someone else. And sure enough, once our son was born Magpie took on the role of protective older sister, always looking out for little Calvin. She is family, that is for sure.
Penny
Woodlawn Coffee & Pastry’s Gretchen Glatte is the property of a black-and-white, yellow-eyed female feline who goes by the name of Penny (full name: Penelope Maybelle Nudibranch) and bears a striking resemblance to a skunk personified with a white Wilford Brimley moustache. It is estimated that Penny entered this world sometime in the late spring of 2008, and as a result of unclear circumstances she took up residence deep inside the unwelcoming woodpile in the shed outside the Firehouse Restaurant across the street from Woodlawn Coffee & Pastry. Although this tiny kitten was quite reluctant to make contact with humans at that point in her life, the Firehouse staff nevertheless took a liking to her timid presence and often fed her small morsels of fresh salmon from the restaurant – which she preferred to eat unobserved; it was clearly evident she preferred her existence to stay that way. One day that ensuing summer during yet another attempt by Firehouse personnel to make friendly contact, Penny wasn’t pleased with the attention and decided it was time to move on. She instantly dashed out from within the woodpile and sprinted away toward busy NE Dekum Street. Sensing a looming tragedy, several concerned Firehouse folks (including Gretchen and chef Matthew Busetto) took off in hot pursuit. Chef’s apron waving behind him, a sprinting Matthew caught up with her in the middle of Dekum and was able to whisk her to safety before a passing car could change the outcome. Sensing the time was right for an impromptu adoption – her longtime feline companion Maybelle had passed away the previous May, and this as yet unnamed kitten obviously needed to upgrade from the woodpile and hazards of street life – Gretchen had her partner Travis come and take Penny back to their nearby home, where she has been and thrived ever since. Back then, Penny was small enough to fit in the palm of Travis’ hand. These days, she’s a rather large cat who has a voracious appetite for birds and butterflies; a glamorous tail and thick furry coat that doubles as a magnet for leaves, twigs, spider webs and other backyard debris; a fondness for sleeping on her back in the bushes and rolling in gravel; and an insatiable curiosity for the outdoors and the world beyond the woodpile. She can often be found lounging or wrestling in the backyard with her good pal Watson (brother of Crick and shown below), a mischievous shorthair from across the street.
