Seastar Bakery was a bakery in Portland, Oregon, United States. Annie Moss and Katia Bezerra-Clark owned and operated the business, which shared a space with Handsome Pizza in northeast Portland's Vernon neighborhood starting in 2015. Seastar served breads, cookies, pastries, and toast, among other baked goods. Despite garnering a positive reception and being deemed one of the city's best bakeries by Eater Portland and Portland Monthly, Seastar closed in August 2022.
Seastar's menu included breads (challah, rosemary cornbread,[4] rye, sourdough), cookies, English muffins,[5] pastries, buckwheat scones, and toast.[6] Toast toppings included fruit, coconut-honey butter, and honey-nut butter, as well as coppa, pickles, and fried egg.[7] In 2019, Willamette Week said, "Starting in the morning, Seastar Bakery makes pizza-dough-muffin breakfast sandwiches, plus obscure-grain pastries and fancy toasts so fancy they almost don't seem like toast anymore—using spelt and cornbread and rye and something called kamut-sesame, made with grain first discovered in the tombs of the Pharaohs."[8]
According to Eater Portland, Seastar used "Pacific Northwestern flours and Oregon produce in its flavorful breads, chewy cookies, and ultra-flaky cinnamon rolls", as well as herbs and spices in its baked goods, such as sage in a glaze for the molasses cookie and turmeric for muffins.[9] The bakery used Camas Country Mill flour for croissants.[10] In 2021, Seastar served chai lattes on weekends.[11] The drink menu also included coffee, hot chocolate, and tea.[4]
History
Exterior sign, 2022
Katia Bezerra-Clark and Annie Moss, who were friends and colleagues at Tabor Bread,[12] owned and operated Seastar with Will Fain of Handsome Pizza starting in 2015.[1][13][14] Fain had previously operated Handsome Pizza at the North Station food cart pod from 2011 to January 2015. Property development of the site caused him to relocate a few blocks east.[15]
In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Seastar stocked baking ingredients such as eggs, flour, and yeast.[5] The bakery reportedly sold 600 pounds of Camas Country Mill flour in two days in April 2020.[17] Seastar was open for take-out and outdoor dining during the pandemic, but owners did not allow indoor dining until all staff were vaccinated.[18]Face masks were still required, as of April 2022.[19]
In 2022, owners announced plans to close on August 14.[20][21][22] The pizzeria No Saint moved into the space which had housed both Seastar and Handsome Pizza.[23][24]
Reception
Interior display case, 2022
In 2017, Samantha Bakall included the fancy toast Little Beirut in The Oregonian's "cheap eats" list of "99 delicious dishes for $10 and under".[25] Michelle Lopez included the Patsy's Biscuit in Eater Portland's 2018 list of fifteen biscuits in the city "that would make any Southerner proud".[26] The website's Nick Townsend included the bakery in a 2021 list of eleven eateries for "charming" chai lattes in Portland. He described the chai latte as a "hidden gem on the menu" that is "distinctly peppery and restrained in its sweetness".[11] Lopez and Brooke Jackson-Glidden included Seastar in a 2022 list of "outstanding" bakeries in the Portland metropolitan area.[9]
Portland Monthly included Seastar in a 2022 "opinionated guide" to the city's best bakeries. Katherine Chew Hamilton wrote, "These grain-centric baked goods are part free-spirited Portland and part French finesse, united by a love for butter."[27] She, Matthew Trueherz, and Karen Brooks also said, "Restaurant industry burnout is a real thing... We'll remember [Seastar Bakery and Handsome Pizza] for pastries including the turmeric Zena cakes, cinnamon rolls, and apricot-cardamom tarts, while pizza toppings ranged from ricotta to za’atar, plus pay-what-you-can cheese pies."[13]