Sellwood's Buttercraft Wine Bar Eyes Mid-May Opening

For the last 10 years, Milla Woller, a native of Memphis, Tenn., has been kicking around in the front of the house at a handful of local restaurants, including Serratto, Genoa and Hurley's, with the last three years spent making and selling her own heritage pig bacon by the pound, as well as BLT bocadillos, from her and her husband's Maialino Bacon stall at the Lake Oswego Farmers' Market.

Though she's left the bacon behind, bocadillos will play a role at Woller's soon-to-open small plates joint. But the real star of the show will be her eight sweet and savory homemade butters that she'll use in the sandwiches, as well as sell by the block. Think butters flavored with cilantro, roasted garlic and sriracha, as well as a rotating series of culinary-craft butters, which Woller will make in collaboration with local chefs and food cart vendors.

When we asked her why the special attention to butter, Woller listed a pair of reasons. Since she and her husband liked entertaining, she decided to start experimenting with using her own homemade butters in dishes. That's how it started. In fact, when her friends would arrive, they would ask, "So what kind of butter are we having tonight?"

But she admits that she was also feeling a little professionally lost, so she decided to re-examine her roots. In the south, she says, no one eats bread with olive oil — it's always butter.

When it opens, Buttercraft will seat only eight (in addition to extra outdoor seating), but the counter-service eatery will have a pair of standing tables with room for as many as 14 guest looking to get a snack and a glass of wine.

Speaking of which, there will be about 200 bottles to choose from, in addition to a handful of red and white pours and a trio of craft beers on tap.

Rounding out the menu will be Farina Bakery macarons, cheese plates, Olympia Provisions and Provvista charcuterie plates and four butter-centric bocadillos, which Woller has redubbed, for their smaller size, "pocabocas," made with pairings like country pâté and oregano butter or bananas and chocolate butter.

You can check out a sneak peak of her menu from Buttercraft's Facebook page.

If all goes according to plan, Buttercraft's doors will open the second week of May. Stay tuned.

Buttercraft, 6664 S.E. Milwaukie Ave., 503-260-4628