A hand-painted chapel, a vermouth-focused bar, and a wood-fired cedar sauna out back are now all part of the same address on Southeast Belmont Street. Patufet, opened October 8 by Madeline Kenney and her partner Chris Perry, has turned a pink Craftsman-style house at 2511 SE Belmont into a Barcelona-style bar and cafe where the point isn’t dinner — it’s lingering.
From Barcelona Bars to Southeast Portland
Kenney and Perry spent time quietly renovating the space before opening, working to make it feel like a Spanish-style cafe/bar rather than a traditional restaurant, according to Portland Mercury. Kenney has said she wants Patufet's menu to shift with the seasons and her own interests, and the Patufet website lists its offerings. The concept traces directly back to Kenney's own discovery of vermouth bar culture in Barcelona, Spain, a connection that shaped the bar's entire identity, as Eater Portland reports.
The name itself is a nod to that heritage: Patufet comes from a Catalan fairy tale about a boy the size of a garbanzo bean, per the bar's own site. Patufet is open Thursday through Sunday, from 4 to 9 p.m., and the Mercury describes it plainly as a beverage-forward place for a snack or a treat rather than a full meal out.
Vermouth, Wine, and a Menu Built for Grazing
The drink list leans into Spanish and Catalan tradition, with fortified wine served neat or in a spritz, and wines by the glass that include Catalan producers, per Eater Portland's reporting. Vermouth pricing starts at $12, wine by the glass runs mostly $13 to $14, and craft beer is priced at $5, according to the same report. Among the standouts is Alma Quinquina, a cider-based vermouth bottling from Asturias that the Mercury also highlights as an Asturian apple cider-based pour.
Food is built for grazing alongside the drinks. The menu includes maritozzo mini sandwiches with Normandie butter and anchovies, French potato salad, and meat-and-cheese spreads from Cowbell, per Eater Portland. On the sweeter side, Kenney bakes pizzelle cookies and Galician almond tarts, with food pricing starting at $2 for a pizzelle cookie.
A Hand-Painted Chapel and Catalan Details
Patufet's back room, which Kenney affectionately calls the chapel, carries the bar's Catalan theme into its decor. The Mercury's reporting describes an herb mural on the walls, while Brianna O’Brien painted gold-leaf stars on the ceiling. Eater Portland reports that artist Emily Parkinson painted lime-wash illustrations of those herbs, while Brianna O’Brien created a blue ceiling dotted with gold stars overhead.
The space wasn't always destined to become Patufet — Eater Portland notes the concept was previously planned for a different location and under a different name before landing at 2511 Southeast Belmont Street.
A Sauna Hidden on the Back Patio
Perhaps the most unexpected addition is tucked behind the bar entirely. Patufet has partnered with Secret Sauna, which operates a wood-fired cedar sauna on the property's private rear patio, according to Secret Sauna PDX. The setup includes a cedar sauna built around a wood-burning Narvi stove made in Finland, plus outdoor showers and a lounge area.
Per Eater Portland, Secret Sauna will run the mobile cedar sauna on Patufet's sheltered patio through April 2027, with showers and changing rooms housed inside a converted greenhouse on site. Sessions are bookable in advance, and Secret Sauna's own site notes that guests can order straight from Patufet's menu — vermouth, wine, beer, snacks, and cakes — without leaving the patio.
Joining a Crowded Portland Vermouth Scene
Patufet enters a Portland bar landscape that already has no shortage of vermouth devotees. Dame pours five vermouths, including Muz, a Spanish vermut made from grapes grown in abandoned Catalan vineyards, with glasses ranging from $8 to $10, according to Willamette Week. Urdaneta offers 10 vermouths rooted in Spanish tradition, including a three-pour flight for $14, while OK Omens rotates five options at $8 a pour. Cooperativa runs a World Vermut Tour flight of three 3-ounce pours for $12, and Midnight Society mixes two secret-menu vermouth blends with glasses priced at $6, per the same Willamette Week roundup.
Against that backdrop, Patufet is staking its claim less on volume of options and more on atmosphere — a cozy, neighborhood-feel space built for drinks, food, and conversation, as described on its own website. Whether paired with an almond tart inside the chapel or a round of vermouth after a sauna session out back, the bar is betting Portland has room for one more place built for lingering.
