Merry Christmas! Each day in December, I’m celebrating the rest of the best bites (and sips) that I didn’t get to blog about in 2013, posted in chronological order. Browse all of this year’s Best Bites, or look back at 2012’s Best Bites.
Marshmallow latte with homemade vanilla bean syrup and toasted marshmallow
Why it’s another 2013 Best Bite: When I’m on my way to work and want a coffee drink that’s a bit of an extra treat, I now have a go-to: the marshmallow latte at Big Shoulders, complete with a freshly torched marshmallow that I tend to slurp down as soon as it’s handed to me. Swirled with homemade vanilla bean syrup, this latte is just liquid cozy. And it’s an added bonus that the baristas are always exceedingly friendly, even if I’m still a little sleepy.
This is part of a series of posts about my vacation to Portland, Oregon, in late February 2013.
Latte at Sterling Coffee Roasters
As is probably evident, my roommate/travel partner and I did a lot of research on the Portland food and drinks scene in preparation for our trip. Among the themes that quickly emerged: coffee and donuts, plus other artisanal sweets and breakfast items. With a little planning, we managed to hit most of the major places on our list. I knew we’d cover the classics – I’d heard about Voodoo Doughnut for years, and Stumptown is a well-known roaster whose brews I love when I can get them here in Chicago. But I didn’t expect another donut shop (Blue Star) to win me over with its brioche-like dough and bold-flavored glazes, or to taste such an outstanding bagel-and-cream-cheese combination at Bowery Bagels that I thought it could only exist in Sriracha-spiked dreams, or to have the best French macarons either of us had ever tasted at Ken’s. And as someone who loves spending time in coffee shops, I was thrilled by Stumptown’s wall of magazines to go with its impeccable cups (I paged through Barista and Imbibe) and the vastly different but equally enjoyable atmospheres at Extracto and Sterling. I could go on, but just see for yourself in the photos below.
Oreo-peanut butter “ODB” doughnut and apple fritter, Voodoo DoughnutBlueberry-bourbon-basil donut (and dulce de leche-hazelnut donut, not pictured), Blue Star DonutsThai chili peanut bagel with lemongrass cream cheese, Bowery BagelsBiscuit with pimento cheese, Pine State BiscutsAlmond brittle with salted ganache and Happy Birthday Elvis with malted banana, peanut butter, and marionberry jam, Salt & StrawMacarons in chocolate-mint, orange-ginger-chevre, and salted caramel-coffee, Ken’s Artisan BakeryChai latte, Extracto Coffeehouse & RoasteryCappuccino, Stumptown Coffee
