Sunday brunch can be a beautiful thing. The end of a hard week, the day of sleeping in, followed by a casual meal filled with comfort food you never seem to have time to make during the week. Friends, good conversation and maple syrup…
However, one South East Portland eatery is now challenging our affinity for the reliable by introducing a new variation into the equation: brunch, Middle Eastern style.
Located in the center of SE Portland on 18th and Hawthorne Blvd., Café Castagna originally opened as an offshoot of its main restaurant, Castagna, and quickly established a reputation for premier dining for the more casual (and slightly cheaper) audience. Café Castagna contrasts its sister restaurant in appearance with a more down to earth feel—concrete floors and straight-forward seating, but keeps the elegance and demeanor of a quality restaurant with passionate creative minds at its back. Staples for the Café come from the dinner menu, which offers a variety of Italian-French cuisine covering the spectrum from braised lamb with chickpeas and saffron-poached quiche, to braised greens pizza with sujuk (spicy sausage, usually made with beef) and Parmesan.
However, what sets this restaurant apart is their brunch menu.
This past summer, Castagna owner Monique Siu left more then a few spectators questioning, when she chose a relatively unknown new head chef to take over the kitchen duties of the Café. Although keeping the dinner menu more or less the same, 29-year-old chef Wesley Johnson quickly exclaimed his artistic expression in a new brunch menu that features a European-Levantine mash-up. Despite initial hesitation, patrons have been coming out in droves to experience the unique take on the Sunday classic.
The brunch menu features a wide selection of locally sourced delicacies, light and brimming with nutrients (so we don’t have to feel bad about going back for more). Delicate and creative, this brunch menu encourages you to reconsider your preconceptions, and try something different. Where an ordinary brunch menu might read pancakes, at Café Castagna there is hummus msabbaha with fresh pita. Frosted and overly sweet donuts are replaced with an airy, brioche donut, lightly sprinkled with sugar and cardamom, served with a fruit compote for dipping purposes. And a bowl of fruit comes instead as a grilled peach, sprinkled with feta, Serrano pepper and pistachio.
The hummus with sujuk sausage and pita offers a spicy substitute to the traditional bacon and eggs. Even a familiar name like eggs Benedict arrives at your table with house made lamb ham, emanating smoky goodness from a last minute sear on the grill. While the shakshouka, if you need another reason then just the name, is a dish of eggs poached in a sauce of tomatoes, chili, goat feta, add in the sujuk sausage and a side of pita, adds up to a succulent and extreme experience for your taste buds.
And then there’s the breads. Rather then sticking with the tried and true, chef Johnson offers customers the rarely seen malawach, a Yemenite fry bread. Somewhere in between a cracker and buttery croissant, this bread features nearly five layers of dough, fried together to give a crisp and refreshing crunch with every bite. On the side, hard-boiled egg and a variety of condiments including spicy harrissa, za’tar spices and green herbed zhoug.
If you’re looking for an afternoon desert option, look no further then the gelato affogato, a vanilla ice cream drowned in espresso with whipped cream and cookies. Seeking something a little different? The almond frangipane with peaches and berries offers a delicious and nutty tart-like experience, served with labneh ice cream.
Whether you’re in the mood for a Sunday feast, or a light and nutritious start to your week, Café Castagna offers a refreshing take on this American staple. Skeptical? Try it once, and it won’t be long till your thinking of going again. Just remember, Sunday only means Sunday.
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