The American café is all about coffee and pastries, and increasingly, a pleasant place to plop your laptop. The European café is a place of socializing, eating, and drinking, but almost never a workspace. By providing an airy, comfortable lounge-like space where laptops can coexist with cocktails and candlelit tables, The Press Club straddles this line with ease. Plus, it boasts Southeast Portland’s most extensive selection of retail magazines and journals, from lit mags like Tin House to popular biker rags, and a slew of indie zines.

Large glass doors and skylights bring plenty of natural light into this high-ceilinged room, and the work of local artists hangs on the walls and changes every now and then. The free Wi-Fi invites hours of hanging out and working, and the magazines mean that dining alone in a somewhat romantic space never means feeling lonely. Local bands often play, and great old movies play once a week. Sometimes, in fact, it seems there’s no reason to ever leave.

And you’ll be kept plenty fueled, between Stumptown coffee and pretty good sandwiches made on breads from the excellent Pearl Bakery. There’s a limited menu of sweet and savory crêpes, which are prepared carefully, neither gummy nor crunchy. A plate of decent meats and cheeses is a worthwhile companion to a glass from the surprisingly extensive wine list (which is delightfully weighted toward the cheaper, but still well-made, end). Salads are also a good bet, like a delicious version with salty slices of cured salmon atop field greens.

There are also many beers in the bottle, and okay cocktails. The vibe here is totally relaxed, within reason—you can hang out forever, but you should have the decency to be eating or drinking most of the time. We’d venture to guess that that’s not going to be much of a problem.