FOOD STUFFS

Sugar is sweet and low priced

By Noah Bruce

If you heard that Commissary was opening a pastry shop/ desert bar, you might expect their sweets to be tasty, yet pricey. You’d be right about the tasty part.

Sugar, the next venture of Commissary proprietor Matthew Kenney, offers an array of treats at surprisingly affordable prices. “We’re priced to be competitive in Portland,” says manager Dwayne Martin.

Located next to Commissary in the Portland Public Market, Sugar offers, as far as I know, what is the first full-service desert bar in Portland.

And the fare is yummy. So far I’ve sampled the lemon sorbet ($1 a scoop), the pine nut almond macaroon and the double chocolate chip cookie ($.50 each), the almond bark (much like brittle at $12/ pound), and the zingy lemon polenta cake ($4). Everything was very good, but the bark and the double chocolate chip cookie were excellent.

The sweets are baked in the Commissary kitchen by Sugar’s own baker, Jill Marriner, with help from Commissary pastry chef, Ben Dinglasan. According to Martin, Sugar is in the process of expanding its menu and will soon offer baked-to-order pies and cakes.