Oregon is home to a lot of restaurants, bars, wineries, and breweries, but there are tons of hidden gems that the majority of Portlanders just aren't unearthing. To help guide us to these potential discoveries, we've enlisted some of our city's many food luminaries to share their under-the-radar recommendations for a weekly feature dubbed Dining Confidential.
In less than a month, Petunia's Pies & Pastries' Lisa Clark will open her first brick-and-mortar retail location on SW Alder Street. It's a culmination of a dream for the pastry-maker, who hit the streets (in this case, Alberta Street's Last Thursday) with her own line of gluten-free and vegan pastries before expanding to the Portland Farmers Market and other outlets. As dedicated to working out as she is to baking, Clark recently discovered another sweet spot that hits the spot: Greenleaf Juicing Co.
"I'll admit, as a child, my mom used to make fresh vegetable juices and try to pawn them off on me as 'good.' I wanted nothing to do with them, yuck! Something strange happened to me last year, when I discovered that I LOVE, and may be addicted to fresh juices. The greener the better! I know I sound lame, right? But honestly, the feeling you get right after you have a good one is almost euphoric. I like to think of it as the 'juice high.'
I found Greenleaf Juicing one day last summer while leaving the gym in the Pearl District. I was in the mood for something good, refreshing, healthy, and delicious. One block down the road, there it was, calling my name! I walked in not sure what this place was, as it was pretty bare on the inside, not much going on, and I was confused. But, there were two very peppy, funny, helpful and charming young men (Matt & Garret) behind the counter who were ready to help! They introduced me to the Sweetleaf, my favorite thing in the world. I order this every time I go. Pear, kiwi, lime, spinach, kale, parsley, cucumber, and ginger, it's a perfect balance of flavor, sweet, tart, and not too heavy on the greens, with a pop of ginger to round it out. When you drink this, you feel a rush of blood and energy through your body, your mind clears, your eyes open, you smile, and you are ready to take on the day. These little gems help get me through my crazy work days, and help ease my nerves. They also sell them pre-bottled to take home now as well, so you can stock up for a couple of days. These guys are great, you've got to go check them out and try a juice!"
· Greenleaf Juicing Co. [Official site]
· All Previous Dining Confidentials [Eater PDX]
Image of Greenleaf Juicing Co. courtesy Matt T. via Yelp
