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ARTEMISIA CAFE This cafe's small and elusive hours lend credibility to its name: a nod to the 17th century painter Artemisia Gentileschi. The much-maligned artist was surrounded by mystique as the first woman to be accepted to Florence's Academy of Design. Hollywood quickly helped to confuse matters with a contentious 1998 movie—good, maybe, to chase a mimosa after a lazy Saturday brunch.

But very little bad can be said about this unassuming bohemian restaurant that plays living room to the artist studios upstairs (with which it shares the Calderwood building). A calico of mismatched dishware and furniture outfit the space like a chic, improvised apartment. And the food is just as eclectic, from Southwestern omelets to a famed sweet potato sandwich replete with avocado spread, sprouts, and a tomato.

There are also excellent, if higher-priced, dinner options—although I'm a brunch girl at heart. But I doubt the lovely antiqued bar discriminates between day or night. You could sit here for hours speculating about the contents of a series of glass cookie jars that magnify what I can only assume are cooking herbs and barista toys but would be just as at home in some medieval science lab. Artemisia, haunted by the ghosts of artists past—it was previously the restaurant Zygotes, which proffered vegetarian fare and homemade paper—is a unique signature in Portland. A great place to eat up and use your imagination.

HOURS: Dinner 5 to 9 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday; lunch 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday to Friday; brunch 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday; and coffee, etc., 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. Monday to Friday. (207) 761.0135.