Entry No. 58 — the Portland file — filed under: pie
Bipartisan Cafe
Peter Emerson had been collecting American political memorabilia since 1980 when he and Hobie Bender turned an old Montavilla hardware store into a coffeehouse in the mid-2000s, and the collection went straight onto the walls: campaign buttons, pins, bumper stickers and ballots, framed posters of Buchanan, Van Buren, Nixon and JFK, portraits of Geronimo, Harriet Tubman and Dr. King, Norman Rockwell's Four Freedoms, and a voting machine pulled from Palm Beach, Florida, that was actually used in the 2000 presidential election. The stated curatorial rule is to include "both flattering and unflattering reminders of who we are as a nation," which is why the Confederate material is on the wall too, arranged chronologically from the east side. The reason to come is the pie — handmade daily, with a family-recipe marionberry that AAA named one of the ten best regional dishes in the West in 2022, plus cherry, sour cream apple, banana cream, key lime and chocolate peanut butter cream. It sold to a longtime employee, Josh Pangelinan, in 2023 and kept running exactly as it was. A slice, a coffee, and a hanging chad machine three feet away.
→ Three more weird eats & drinks in Portland — never the same twice
The story
Hobie Bender and Peter Emerson opened Bipartisan Cafe in 2005 in a Montavilla storefront that had spent its previous life as a hardware store. Emerson's pitch was a place where people holding opposing views could still have a civil conversation, and where the neighborhood could meet itself — an ambition that reads as naive now and that the cafe has stubbornly kept honoring. Candidates work the tables, civic groups book them, and election nights get watched here in a room full of strangers rather than alone.
The walls are Emerson's collection, started in 1980 and hung the moment the doors opened. Campaign buttons, pins, bumper stickers and ballots; framed posters of Van Buren, Buchanan, Nixon and JFK; portraits of Geronimo, Harriet Tubman and Dr. King; Norman Rockwell's Four Freedoms; and a voting machine pulled from Palm Beach County, Florida, that was in service for the 2000 presidential election. The hang runs chronologically from the east side, and the stated rule is to include both the flattering and the unflattering reminders of who we are as a nation, which is why the Confederate material is up there too.
The other reason to come is pie, handmade daily from what the cafe calls Hobie's grandma's recipes: marionberry, cherry, peach, strawberry rhubarb and apple on the fruit side; banana, coconut, chocolate, chocolate peanut butter cream and key lime on the other; pecan, pumpkin and sour cream apple only when the season allows. AAA named the marionberry — a family recipe — one of the ten best regional dishes in the West in 2022. Coffee is Coava, tea is Spirit, bagels come from Bowery, pastries are baked in house. In 2023 the founders sold to Josh Pangelinan, a longtime employee, who still personally signs off on any order of five pies or more.
What it's like
You order at the counter and find your own table, and the room fills the way a neighborhood coffeehouse does — laptops and meetings in the morning, strollers around eleven, retirees and after-school kids by three. Nobody hurries you out, so the honest move is to eat the slice first and then get up and walk the walls, which reward it: the chronology starts on the east side, and the Palm Beach voting machine stands close enough to read. Talking about the exhibits is fair game, since the room was built for exactly that and the staff have heard every take already. Doors close at 6 p.m. and the pie case thins well before then, so mid-afternoon is the safe window if you have a flavor in mind.
The move: Late afternoon, before the 6pm close: two slices — one marionberry, one cream — and two coffees, then walk the walls east to west in order like a gallery and make each other guess which president each poster belongs to. Cross SE Stark afterward for the Montavilla blocks and dinner.
📍 Before you go Open daily 6:30am–6:00pm — this is a daytime and early-evening date, not a night out; phone 503.253.1051. Whole pies need 48 hours' notice by phone, email or in person, and each tin carries a $2 deposit refunded when you bring it back. Fruit flavors rotate with the season and pecan, pumpkin and sour cream apple are seasonal only, so the marionberry is the safe standing order. Orders of five or more pies need approval and more lead time. Montavilla street parking on SE Stark is generally easy.
- 📍 Portland
- 💸 $
- ⚡ Up for anything
- 🌗 Indoors
Where: 7901 SE Stark St, Portland, OR 97215
Hours: Added 2026-08-26 — confirm current hours before you go.
⚠ Seasonal or scheduled — always check before you go.
Pair it with
- The Zymoglyphic Museum — A mile west and one street over on SE Alder: the other one-person collection in this part of town hung for public viewing, except everything in it was invented.
- Joseph Wood Hill Park at Rocky Butte — About ten minutes north, and the natural sequel to a 6 p.m. close — pie first, then the WPA stone overlook on top of the cinder cone for whatever the light is doing.
- Space Room Lounge and Genie's Too — Bipartisan is a daylight room that locks up at six; the Space Room is a couple of miles southwest, open until 1 a.m., and lit like a different planet.
More weird in Portland
Good to know
Can we make this an evening thing?
No. It's open every day 6:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. and that's the whole window — this is a breakfast, afternoon-coffee or early-dinner-adjacent plan, not a night out. Getting there by mid-afternoon also improves your odds on any specific pie, since the case works down through the day.
Do we need to order a whole pie ahead?
Slices you just walk in and buy. Whole pies need 48 hours' notice, placed by phone at 503.253.1051, by email, or in person — not through a food order. Each whole pie carries a $2 tin deposit that comes back when you return the tin. Orders of five pies or more need the owner's approval and more lead time.
Will the marionberry actually be there?
It's the standing flavor and the one AAA singled out in 2022, so it's the safe order. The rest of the fruit list rotates with the season, and pecan, pumpkin and sour cream apple are seasonal only. The cream pies — banana, coconut, chocolate, chocolate peanut butter, key lime — are the reliable counterweight if fruit is sold out. Gluten-free pie is available; ask when you order rather than assuming a given flavor.
Where is it and is parking a problem?
7901 SE Stark St, at SE 79th in Montavilla's business strip on the east side. Street parking along Stark and the side streets is generally easy, which is not something you can say about most Portland cafes worth driving to. The Montavilla blocks are walkable from the door if you want to make an afternoon of it.
Is it going to be an argument?
It's a working neighborhood coffeehouse, not a debate club. The collection is historical and deliberately includes material that doesn't flatter anyone, arranged chronologically rather than by side. People do talk about it — that was the founding idea — but the default volume in the room is coffee-shop, not cable-news.
Plan a visit & invite your people →
Further reading: Official site · Wikipedia
last checked: 2026-08-26