Colorful balloons welcome partygoers to The Cottage Pantry café for a first anniversary celebration Aug. 8. Photo by Tom Faulkner
By Susan Trabucco, CNews Managing Editor
The Cottage Pantry at 30th Avenue and Ainsworth Street celebrated its one-year anniversary with food and fun Aug. 8. The Concordia neighborhood coffee and baked goods café is the brainchild of proprietor and native Portlander Judy Louie, a self-taught baking aficionado who had always wanted her own restaurant. Now, with a year of experience under her belt, she’s feeling positive about her entrepreneurial adventure.
“I love the location and the people,” she said. “It’s awesome, and I can bike to work from where I live near Alberta.”
Judy also enjoys the café’s location near an English language school, which attracts students from all over the globe who are intent on learning English, which is required for local college enrollment eligibility.
“When I dreamed of opening my own place, I imagined I would do it in another country,” she explained. “With proximity to this school and the many types of wonderful people that brings to my café, I feel like I’m in a foreign land.”
Cottage Pantry is open 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays, and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sundays.