The twee, Craftsman-style house at 2511 Southeast Belmont Street has lived many lives over the years. It was a Foreland Brewing taproom, a popular neighborhood cafe known as the Rocking Frog, and, most recently, the address was the home of Lucky Cup Coffee.
It’s a cute little button of a house — wood-accented rooms, a brick fireplace, elegant built-ins — in a prime location, so it was only a matter of time before it found its next thing. That next thing is Patufet, a dreamy bar and cafe that’s been stoking anticipation for months among Portland food circles.
“That’s what happens when you paint a house pink!” says owner Madeline Kenney with a laugh, referring to the buzz that’s been building around the new establishment.
Along with partner Chris Perry, Kenney opened Patufet on Thursday, October 8. From the name to the drinks, Patufet draws inspiration from Catalonia in Spain — Barcelona in particular — where Kenney discovered a love for the city’s vermouth bar culture while touring as a musician.
“Any European tour, I would stop through Barcelona. I loved the food but also mostly I really loved the service. I love how it’s like ‘we make what we make’ and you’re gonna get really good service and have really good food but we’re not gonna change what we do,” says Kenney. “If you are willing to play along, you’re gonna have a great time. And I really liked that. It’s a no-BS approach.”
With Patufet, Kenney and Perry hope to create a similar space where Portlanders can have their own version of Barcelona’s fer el vermouth (doing the vermouth) tradition: gathering with others for a sip of something delightful, partaking in small snacky plates, and enjoying good company to go with the food and drink. Currently open from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. Thursday through Sunday, it’s not meant to be a place for dinner but a layover for lingering.
This being a bar inspired by the vermouth bars of Barcelona, fortified wine takes a starring role on the curated menu, alongside wine, beer, cider, coffee, and a few nonalcoholic options. Depending on the type, it can be enjoyed neat or in a spritz. Evocative tasting notes accompany each listing: the Alma Quinquina, a cider-based bottling from the Asturias area, is described as “autumnal and romantic…served blessedly neat.” By-the-glass wines run the gamut from Catalan producers to whatever fun bottles have struck Kenney and Perry’s fancy. Kenney’s after a well-rounded selection of natty and “conny” (conventional) wines: “…Something that’s interesting for the wine nerds and something my mom could order,” she says.
The food is similarly free-wheeling, falling under a “pan-European” umbrella. There’s sweet — delicate pizzelle cookies and sugar-dusted Galician almond tarts — and savory: maritozzo mini sandos with Normandie butter and anchovies, herby and salty French potato salad, and snacky meat and cheese spreads from Cowbell. Nothing is set in stone, either, so what’s there one week may be gone the next.
“I want to make what’s interesting and fun and delicious,” says Kenney, who doesn’t want to pigeonhole the offerings and enjoys the freedom to experiment and swap things out. “I don’t want to choose ‘oh, we only do one thing.’ I would love people to expect the menu to change a lot based on the season and change a lot based on what I’m interested in. I want it to be flexible and approachable.”
Approachable also applies to pricing; by-the-glass wine pours are mostly in the $13 to $14 range, vermouth starts at $12, there’s $5 craft beer, and food starts as low as $2 for a pizzelle cookie.
Patufet was originally supposed to have a different location (as well as a different name), both of which changed right around the time Kenney and Perry came to Portland to create and open their bar. But the new space seems a better fit for the concept. A brick fireplace flanked by bookshelves greets guests when they walk in the door. Just past it is the standing bar that ends with an upright piano. Peeking into the kitchen, a blue-tinted mural of dangling garlic, fish, knives, and other cooking paraphernalia adorns the walls; a nod to Portuguese azulejo tiles. Inside an apothecary-esque room dubbed “the Chapel,” intricate lime-wash illustrations of herbs used in vermouth, painted by artist Emily Parkinson, line emerald-green walls under a blue ceiling dotted with gold stars created by another artist, Brianna O’Brien. Whimsical touches pop up everywhere, from painted floral motifs to stylish light fixtures. It all feels very fanciful and fun and fits the house’s vintage bones.
“There’s always something for your eye to land on and for you to talk about,” says Kenney. “Wanting to host people in a cozy, safe space was the goal anyway.”
The name is even a good fit: a character from a Catalan folktale, Patufet is a small boy about the size of a garbanzo bean, who sings to alert larger folks to his presence and avoid getting stepped on. Like Patufet, the house may be small but it’s outsized in terms of character and charm.
Patufet also promises to be an especially snug place for a cozy winter evening out thanks to its partnership with Secret Sauna. Through April, the sheltered rear patio will be hosting Secret Sauna’s mobile wood-fired cedar sauna for bookable sessions. The patio has been fully outfitted for the occasion: sauna-goers have everything they need for the full experience, from showers and changing rooms inside a converted greenhouse to a chair-surrounded firepit. With ample fairy lights, the subtle smell of burning wood, and music spilling out of the house, it’s downright enchanting.
Interesting vermouth, good wine, fun treats that make casual nights out feel fancy, and artfully designed spaces straight out of a fairy tale: That’s the Patufet way.
“I hope that people come and enjoy it as a comfortable space but also, hopefully, most of the time there’ll be new things and be like ‘hmm, I want to try that,’” Kenney says.
