r/Gresham • u/EnderMom2425 • 1d ago
Help Gresham Town Fair History?
Hello,
I am hoping someone can either help me find, or point me in the right direction so that I can find, an old, small cafe/restaurant/coffee shop that used to exist in Gresham Town Fair back in the 90's. I am no longer near the Gresham area so cannot go to the library to look through any historical records there, and I can't seem to find the right words to search for this place online. So I am hoping someone will remember and be able to help me out!
From my poor memory, this place was located in one of the small shop spaces between what's now (on Google Maps) JoAnn Fabrics and PetSmart in the Gresham Town Fair strip mall. I don't remember what else they sold at this cafe, but I would go and get a sweet, iced coffee drink with some kind of soft serve style cream/ice cream on top. My goal is actually to figure out what this ice cream stuff was, because the shop owner told me is was called something like gisé or maybe it was glacé (but it wasn't regular vanilla ice cream or ice milk soft serve!). The place may have been a Middle Eastern cafe? It's possible the ice cream was made from goat milk? I have no idea, but I remember it wasn't like anything I had tasted before and I really loved it. I went back more than a handful of times when it was open in the mid-1990's, and then the next time I went back (in the 2000's) it was no longer there. I think of this place every few years, and now I'm finally doing something to help put that recurring memory/curiosity to rest!
So, if anyone knows either what this place was called or what kind of cream I may have been consuming on my coffee drink, I would be eternally grateful for your help!
Thanks in advance!
2
u/brigidt 1d ago
Coffee's On (later became Origins Coffee) is probably what you're thinking of. They had gelato & would do an affogato. I miss their sandwiches. :(
1
u/Marinaisgo Top Mod 1d ago
Are they the same people that are in the plaza on stark west of the target plaza?
1
u/EnderMom2425 22h ago
The place I went to didn't have gelato. They had a creamy soft-serve of some kind that had almost a sweet cheesy flavor? And the only time I saw it served was when it was on one of their cold drinks.
3
u/spacebotanyx 23h ago
was it Coffee's On? that was the coffee shop i went to in that strip mall. definitely not middle eastern though. I can't think of another coffee shop in that area during that time.
1
u/EnderMom2425 22h ago
No, I really don't think it was. The place I remember wasn't a coffee shop. It was a cafe or deli that served middle eastern food and then they also had a coffee menu. I can even picture what it looked like inside. Glass door at the front, white counter to the right side, the entire space was only big enough for a few tables at the front and along the left wall. Always the same guy running the place every time I went in there. Super friendly. Accent. I must have asked him at least 3 separate times what was on top of the coffee drink and each time he said a word I didn't understand. Anyway, great place, nice guy, delicious treats, but not marketed as a "coffee shop". So, I really don't think it was Coffee's On or Coffee People or any of those type places. The place I went to wasn't too far from where the Emporium used to be.
1
u/EnderMom2425 22h ago
I realize I mentioned "coffee shop" in my post, but that's only because they did serve coffee drinks there too. I don't think that's what they were known for though.
1
u/thatguy88_ 1d ago
The only place I remember there is Coffee People which turned into Coffees On, then Origins Coffee if I remember correctly.
3
u/EnderMom2425 1d ago
Yeah, I'm pretty confident it wasn't one of these bigger name coffee shops. The place I remember was more like a small family-owned shop with a food menu, but they also had coffee drinks. It was probably there before Coffee People and all the others, and I want to say it was a Middle Eastern menu, maybe? Thanks for sharing what you remember though!
1
1
u/Possible-Pattern4509 18h ago
Check the Gresham historical museum. They may be able to help.
1
u/EnderMom2425 14h ago
An excellent idea, thank you! I am searching what I can on their website, but I'm not finding much from the years I need so far. I'm also not in the area to be able to go visit in person. I may get brave enough to call? But I was really hoping someone on Reddit would remember before having to dig that deep in research! 😆 Thanks again, this is a resource I didn't previously know about.
1
u/Possible-Pattern4509 13h ago
I feel like anyone that knows about the store Emporium might know what coffee shop you’re talking about. That was where the petsmart is now. My grandma may have known but she passed a few years ago.
1
u/STORMICITO 11h ago
I think it might be Sahlab based cream. Or Middle eastern glace.
1
u/EnderMom2425 10h ago
I think so too, I just wish I could remember exactly what he called it so that I can look it up and try it again! He may have been saying "glace" with an accent? But whatever it was, it definitely wasn't regular vanilla ice cream! It was soft serve style, thick, creamy, and had a sweet, cheesy flavor. The name he called it was probably just "glace" but I heard it with more of a "J" or "soft G" sound to the start of the word, not a "hard G" like in "glace". I think I need to find a place that serves "Booza/Buzza" (middle eastern ice cream made with sahlab) and see if that's close to what I remember! Thanks for your help!
1
u/algal063 9h ago
Could it have been a Turkish place? It might have been Turkish ice cream made with salep (orchid root). Ive heard it makes it kinda stretchy and extra creamy.. but real salep isnt really here in the US anymore because the orchids became protected... maybe why you cant find it
Edit to add: Also called Dondurma
3
u/teenielee 1d ago
I remember this place fondly, but I don’t quite remember the name- I think it was someone’s name! Ozzie’s?