Pdxguide

The Blackwood is the current incarnation of coffee shop that’s occupied this house for several years. Replacing the venerable Touchstone, the short-lived Mountain Home, and the shorter-lived (and abominably named) Brews Brothers, the Blackwood gets the small homey coffee shop thing right. Unlike many coffee shops staffed by hipsters, the Blackwood is run by an honest-to-god rockabilly dude, which reminds me of a past life when I saw the Royal Crowns (the Providence version, not the lesser SoCal charlatans) a healthy number of times. And despite the stereotype, the veggie/vegan sandwich selection is quite decent and imaginative. Sure, they got hummus like every other place, but they make the hummus themselves! And I’d like to see more places attempt something like their excellent marinaded sesame carrot sandwich. The coffee (from Cellar Door) is great as well. It’s good to see off-the-map neighborhoods like Montavilla get good coffee shops.