For many Portlanders, strawberry season is the official kickoff to summer. Embracing the battle for flats of bright red Hoods at U-pick farms, they emerge with buckets out and gardening gloves on, ready to pluck berries fresh off the plant.

But for cutesy Montavilla cafe Zuckercreme, the strawberry frenzy is a year-round state of mind. Here, a collection of strawberry-themed items crafted by local makers and bakers decorate the petite yet packed retail space. Orchestrated by native Hoosier Brittany Sigal, Zuckercreme is an ode to the Pacific Northwest’s early-season berry in the form of a pastry shop and “museum,” which hosts a month-long schedule of strawberry-themed events each June. 

Even on a gloomy day in January, a stop into Zuckercreme could remedy seasonal depression. The ceiling is decked with string lights, a disco ball, and lined with pink tinsel curtains. The walls are covered in embroidery, punch needle, illustrations, and murals (painted by artist Brianna Vizcaino) dedicated to strawberries. When Sigal started personalizing the space, acquired in October 2021, she found herself in a bit of a rabbit hole. “I just started finding so much strawberry art,” she explains. “I had no idea how much cute strawberry art existed in the world, especially in Portland.”

Sitting on the back patio at the new 82 Acres on a lovely warm evening, I couldn’t help but think of the four delightful restaurants that tried to make it work in this very same spot on Southeast Clinton. In 2011, Block’s Café opened, then closed; followed by the beloved Tuscan ristorante, Burrasca; and most recently, the high-end prix fixe Quaintrelle. 

While 82 Acres and Quaintrelle share the same ownership, I still hope they smudged or otherwise de-jujued the kitchen.

Now it’s exec chef Will Preisch and his crew’s turn to make a go at it, choosing a PNW farm-to-table approach that brings in fresh produce from its sister farm and winery, Abbey Road Farm in Carlton. Preisch has been running the food program at Abbey Road since the 2020 closure of his much-lauded fine dining experience Holdfast. 

At 82 Acres, he takes those haute techniques to the masses, veering hard into zhuzhing up simple ingredients with all sorts of sauces, textures and treatments. This approach works–most of the time. The appetizers and sides skew veg-heavy, naturally, and it’s a good place to be. Tender early asparagus is served with gribiche, a French emulsified egg and mustard sauce, that gives richness and acidity. Hazelnuts and lardons add crunch and more fatty saltiness.

In early June, a new cafe in the Montavilla neighborhood will start serving breakfast pastries and coffee in the mornings and grab-and-go soups, sandwiches, and salads in the afternoon. Its offerings all sound pretty standard, but this isn’t the average Portland cafe. 

Behind the counter, Stone Soup PDX is helping the next wave of food industry workers find their footing. 

The cafe, which has been in the works for the last two years, is a public-facing initiative of Stone Soup PDX, a nonprofit culinary workforce development program that supports people seeking to enter the food industry. Stone Soup trainees also make free community meals, a weekly service that began at the beginning of the pandemic and has continued. 

Meech Boakye’s lush, organic, and often edible artworks find their footing in floral, fungal, and microbial relationships. The Portland-based artist, originally from Winnipeg, views these relationships as “armatures for learning how to be in a community.” This leads them to share everything from abundant “digital gardens” and recipes for nettle rennet and fig sap cheese to foraging walks and fermentation workshops. Boakye is also the co-founder of the annual Garlic Fest, a “community-rooted love letter to garlic” previously hosted at two urban micro-farms.

I chatted with the artist to learn more about their food-focused practice. This interview has been condensed for length and clarity.

MERCURY: Hi, Meech! I’d love to start by hearing about what you’re working on currently.

Meech Boakye: Well, I would say my practice is kind of nebulous. But at the moment, the one constant for going on three years is Garlic Fest, which I work on with local artist and dear friend, Jade Novarino. Its silliness is kind of its strength. It's inspired by [Les Blank's 1980 film] Garlic is as Good as 10 Mothers and modeled after the Gilroy Garlic Festival in California. We wanted to honor that legacy and bring it to Portland as garlic growers ourselves and as lovers of garlic.

One of Portland’s oldest and most culturally significant neighborhoods is on the cusp of a renaissance, thanks to a trio of redevelopment projects in Old Town that could be transformational for the neighborhood.

Through it all, no group has wielded more influence over Old Town's growth and revitalization than the Old Town Community Association (OTCA). But lately, the group’s sway over the city’s economic development spending and its leaders’ financial ties to major projects have raised questions about the group’s power dynamics and sphere of influence.

Those dynamics are influencing current budget discussions at CIty Hall. Elected leaders are considering a substantial shift in Portland’s financial support for its economic development agency, Prosper Portland–a primary funding stream for OTCA.

Many themes in Happyness (The Wrecking Ball) can be found just outside its performance hall doors. Sidewalk-blocking tents, hundred-dollar dinners, visible homelessness, and blooming high-rise luxury condominiums are all part of the backdrop for playwright Carol Triffle’s engaging new work, currently being staged at the venue she and Jerry Mouawad co-founded, Imago Theatre. 

Happyness is absurdist in its delivery, but its subject matter is reflective of our time. Its characters ponder questions we all ask: How do I live when things are collapsing all around me? How can I sustain friendships and family? Do I need a gun?

If you’re a hardcore blues fan (or have recently had your love of blues music invigorated by Ryan Coogler’s new horror flick Sinners), you should check out the Waterfront Blues Festival’s lineup. The fest was recently augmented with artists including Oregon-based singer-songwriters including LaRhonda Steele and Ronnie Wright, Tahirah Memory and Arietta Ward, along with PDX Soul Collective, ZZ Ward, and singer/guitarist Tevis Hodge Jr. teamed with Johnnie Ward. Head over to the Blues Fest website to scope the full lineup. Other local music news to be aware of: Rontoms is discontinuing its Sunday Sessions—one of the few remaining free live music events in Portland, but not before throwing an epic mini-fest to celebrate the series. Tiff2Icy headlines the Thesis, and Night Heron’s new album, Escapism, is here! Get into all this music goodness happening right Hear In Portland. 

The Mercury provides news and fun every single day—but your help is essential. If you believe Portland benefits from smart, local journalism and arts coverage, please consider making a small monthly contribution, because without you, there is no us. Thanks for your support!

Good morning, Portland! It's gonna be cloudy and temperate today, in the high 60s. Perfect weather, if you ask me. 

Time for the news.

As I’m writing this, I’m still buzzing after seeing Lambrini Girls at Mississippi Studios on Sunday. Their politics are abolitionist, their energy was off the charts, and they cajoled concert goers into building a human pyramid with ten people that the rest of the audience then started a circle pit around. It was one of those shows that makes us remember why we see live music, why we make art: It’s for community. We keep us safe, we keep us healthy and happy—not the tech oligarchs, not the fucks in office… It's us. Lucky for Portland, Lambrini Girls are coming back in October to play Revolution Hall. There’re still tickets available, though I reckon they’ll be gone pretty soon after Sunday’s hootenanny.

 

 

 

 

 

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Speaking of tech oligarchy, we relaunched our Spotify yesterday with three heater playlists, and many more to come! Immediately our inbox was flooded with concerns about using Spotify—but here’s the thing: We’re allowed to exist (and forcibly we have to participate) in systems of oppression (namely capitalism) while also seeking their abolition. Follow our Spotify! Support artists more directly! Go to shows! Buy merch! My inbox is open and I’m so down to learn about new/better streaming platforms and alternatives to Ticketmaster and Live Nation. 

Lastly, a massive happy birthday to Jenna Fletcher! She’s written for the Mercury in the remote past, and has recently taken up the pen for us again. Her birthday party was this last weekend and—per always—her fit and wit were on point all night. Many happy returns to Jenna and keep your eyes peeled in June for our Queer Guide print issue to get hot tips (and hopefully some hot takes) from gal about town, J. Fletch. 

Following public outcry over leasing rates from tenants at Everett Station Lofts, Portland City Councilors Mitch Green and Candace Avalos have suggested a potential solution in the form of a rent subsidy. 

Everett Station Lofts has a unique agreement with the city that lies outside of the usual state and federal affordable housing programs, allowing the building owners to calculate rents using square footage rather than number of bedrooms, which has resulted in higher rents for tenants. Residents have questioned the validity of this agreement in recent years, including in an ongoing lawsuit brought by tenants against ownership. 

Green and Avalos’ plan, which comes as a proposed amendment to next year’s budget, would effectively lower rents for many tenants at the building. The news comes as a relief to residents at the embattled Old Town property, though many are still frustrated by the uncertainty and difficulty of the situation. 

I recently came home from a short meeting to find my husband in the bathroom with the door locked — locked to keep the kids out — meaning that he was secretly jerking off to porn while I was out. This has happened a few times before while I was home or out briefly and I’ve tried to explain how hurtful it feels to me. If he’s that interested in sex while I’m away briefly, I would rather he ask me to have sex, include me in watching porn, or even tell me his plan so it doesn’t feel like a secret. I have nothing against him watching porn and we sometimes do so together. It’s the idea of him doing it at home secretly when I’m out briefly that upsets me. It makes me feel like he is waiting for an opportunity alone and jumping on it as soon as he can, and that he prefers this to sex with me. And though he insists that watching porn doesn’t mean he isn’t also attracted to me, the secret nature of this makes me feel unattractive. He says that the secret nature is not part of the desire for him. Rather, jerking off is more akin to boredom/enjoyment, like deciding to “eat a bowl of ice cream.” He travels a good bit for work, and I’ve encouraged him to watch porn freely when he’s away. He insists that he’s satisfied with our sex life, including how frequently we have sex. He says that his interest in porn is just something fun that he — like most men — likes to do, and that it’s an entirely different category than our sex life. But there’s something about looking at women with perfect/fake bodies while I’m out briefly that feeds into my insecurities as a middle-aged woman and makes me extremely angry. Am I being unfair in asking him to stop jerking off to porn secretly when I could walk in on him easily? What else could we do to solve this problem?

 Porn Over Reality Needles Offended Spouse

 “Any time porn use is causing problems in a relationship, it is important to assess whether it’s actually the porn use that’s the problem or the masturbation,” said Dr. Eric Sprankle, a professor of clinical psychology at Minnesota State University and the author of DIY: The Wonderfully Weird History of Science and Masturbation. “How would PORNOS feel if her husband wasn’t watching porn and was just masturbating to a fantasy while in the bathroom? Would there still be concerns that he’s dissatisfied in the relationship? Would there still be feelings of insecurity and anger over the thought of him fantasizing about other women?”

The Mercury provides news and fun every single day—but your help is essential. If you believe Portland benefits from smart, local journalism and arts coverage, please consider making a small monthly contribution, because without you, there is no us. Thanks for your support!

Good morning, Portland! Expect intermittent sunshine and rain showers today, with a high of 61 degrees and a low of 46.

Let’s jump right into the important stuff.

In Local News: 

• Did you vote yet? Reminder, today is Election Day. Multnomah County voters have until 8pm to get their ballots dropped off. We compiled a few helpful links to help you fulfill your civic duty and win the day.

Multnomah County voters have until 8 pm Tuesday, May 20 to get their ballots dropped off. Mailed ballots postmarked on or before Election Day will be counted.⁠

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— Portland Mercury (@portlandmercury.com)May 19, 2025 at 3:52 PM

Morning Star Missionary Baptist Church had a pavement problem. The church, located in Northeast Portland’s Cully neighborhood, was surrounded with space for car parking—well beyond what congregants needed or wanted. And the excess blacktop had consequences. 

In the summer, the unused parking lot on the south side of the church trapped and radiated heat into the sanctuary. During the rainy months, the church basement was prone to flooding, owing in large part to a lack of surrounding green space to soak up the water. Plus, the pavement was less than ideal as a playground for the kids at Pequeñitos Childcare, which shares the church building with Morning Star. 

But that was then. After almost two years of work led by Portland nonprofit Depave, the formerly unused south parking lot is now a green oasis, complete with garden beds, a picnic area, play structures, and more. At a grand opening party for the newly-depaved site on May 16, kids ran around the playground area with minimal risk of scraping up their knees on a rough blacktop. Adults admired the freshly-planted trees and garden beds, which were built at several different heights to be accessible to people in wheelchairs and those who can’t crouch in the dirt for long periods of time. 

Howdy, dear voters. Just dropping a reminder that tomorrow, Tuesday, May 20, is Election Day! That means you have until 8 pm Tuesday to get your ballot in. Ballots postmarked on or before May 20 will be accepted.

This season's special district election will decide who gets elected to local school boards for Portland Public Schools, Parkrose, Centennial, and David Douglas school districts. Don't forget about Multnomah Education Service District and depending on where you live, you might be asked to choose directors for your local community college board of trustees.