Roman Candle (Portland, Oregon)

Coordinates: 45°30′17″N 122°37′48″W / 45.504861°N 122.629868°W / 45.504861; -122.629868
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Defunct bakery and pizzeria in Portland, Oregon, U.S.

Roman Candle Baking Co.

The bakery\'s interior, 2016

Restaurant information Established

June 2013 (2013-06)

Closed

April 2018 (2018-04)

Owner(s)

Duane Sorenson

Chef

Joshua McFadden
Chris Robertson

Pastry chef

Dan Griffin

Food type

Italian

Street address

3377 SE Division Street

City

Portland

County

Multnomah

State

Oregon

Postal/ZIP Code

97202

Country

United States

Coordinates

45°30′17″N 122°37′48″W / 45.504861°N 122.629868°W / 45.504861; -122.629868

Roman Candle Baking Co., or simply Roman Candle, was a bakery and pizzeria–restaurant in the Richmond neighborhood of Portland, Oregon. Duane Sorenson opened Roman Candle in 2013, with a menu offering wood-fired pizza and other Italian cuisine, including sandwiches, breads, green salads, pastries, and baked potatoes. Dan Griffin and Joshua McFadden served as the baker and chef, respectively. The bakery started supplying select menu items to Sorenson\'s Stumptown Coffee Roasters locations in late 2015. Roman Candle received a generally positive reception, with the pizzas and kouign-amann receiving the most praise. The restaurant closed in April 2018 for renovations, ahead of a rebrand as a gluten-free and vegan cafe called Holiday, which Sorenson launched one month later.

The pizzeria\'s wood-fired oven, 2016

Travel + Leisure said, \"You won\'t have any trouble feeling at home with a cup of Stumptown cold brew and a kouign-amann pastry.\" Condé Nast Traveler also recommended the \"glistening\" kouign-amann. Following the launch of the pizza menu in October 2013, Eater's Amy McKeever included Roman Candle in her list of the \"24 hottest pizzerias across the US right now\". Thrillist has described the pizzas as \"tasty\" with a \"crust to filling ratio on lock\".

Michael Russell of The Oregonian gave Roman Candle a \'B\' rating and preferred the \"morning offerings\" over the pizza, which he said had \"unimpeachable\" toppings but \"unsatisfying\" bread. He advised, \"Walk directly to the counter and order the kouign amann, the sinfully good layered pastry\", then consider the \"good-to-very-good rustic breads\". Russell called the evening salads \"less inspiring\" but the arancini, prosciutto, and burrata \"excellent\". He opined, \"A stroll down Division, a perfect macchiato, a quick kouign amann, eaten alone or with a friend: I can think of little better.\" In 2017, he ranked Roman Candle twelfth in his list of \"Portland\'s 17 best sandwich shops\". Portland Mercury's Courtney Ferguson called the Loaded Baked Potato a \"crew favorite\" and wrote:

Like a pizza mashup of your favorite cozy moments, your mouth will feel like it\'s sitting by a crackling fireplace in a ski lodge from your youth. Your stomach, meanwhile, will feel so full that you\'ll have to catch a cab home. For a mere $2 you could very feasibly stretch this rectangle of mashed potato-goodness into two separate meals, like back in the days of collegiate yore when even buying ramen seemed like an insurmountable challenge.

Willamette Week's Martin Cizmar included Roman Candle in his 2014 list of his \"favorite pies and wedges sized for one and priced under $8\". He described Roman Candle as \"bright\" and \"clean\", and credited Sorenson for popularizing fancy toast locally. Cizmar said of the bakery\'s avocado toast option called the No. 2: \"I\'m not sure I could make this for cheaper than $7 at home, and I know I couldn\'t make it better.\"

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