Biwa (late night)

Biwa is a fantastic Japanese restaurant in SE Portland. It specializes in yakitori and ramen, not sushi, and does it well. The interior has a classy SE “industrial” aesthetic, but the atmosphere is more relaxed than many of your comparable fancy restaurants.

Prices can get high on the main dinner at Biwa, but it’s worth it, and they have a great happy hour and late night menu. We went for a late dinner last night after the opera. Sadly they’d stopped serving ramen at 10pm, but we were still able to get lots of tasty treats at happy hour prices: Kim chi (they make it with several types of pickled things, not just cabbage), miso soup (stuffed full of tofu, clearly their own miso paste), and delectable beef burgers with a patty of pork on top that is apparently a new addition to the menu. We also got a carafe of Jinro, which is reminiscent of Pim’s, but not. It’s Sho Chu (a Japanese and Korean distilled liquor often made from potatoes or barley – like Asian vodka) in a carafe with ice and lemon and cucumber slices. Refreshing, light, and tasty.

Ten01

Ten01 is a very “it” spot in the Pearl, with good reason – the food and cocktails are amazing.

They’ve got one of my favorite downtown 4-6 happy hours, and you can even get happy hour on Saturday. I’ve never had bad food or a bad cocktail there. The cheese plate’s always good, they do pâté really well, their beef carapaccio is amazing, the grass-fed burger is great if you’re looking for something more filling, and the fries with truffle aioli are heavenly. As usual, I can’t remember the names of the cocktails I’ve tried for the life of me, but they were always flavorful and interesting. And I hear the wine list is good too, although I usually stick to liquor here.

Spint’s Alehouse

Time for bar/restaurant review catch-up time too! Starting with Spint’s Alehouse, a hip new spot on NE 28th & Flanders. And by hip I mean it just opened last November and everybody’s raving about it – the atmosphere is actually very mellow Portland.

I went for happy hour and had a great cocktail… Sadly, I can’t remember the name of it and nothing on their online cocktail list looks familiar. Suffice it to say, their mixology is clever and leans more toward the complex than the foofy/sweet. The happy hour red wine was good too, and their wine list wasn’t huge but was still fairly impressive.

The happy hour menu was delicious. They lean toward hearty peasant fare – we had a cheese plate, a charcuterie plate, and an incredible lamb-stuffed pastry, the name of which also escapes me and I can’t find on their online menu. (I really, really need to do these updates sooner.)

Their main menu is definitely in the $$$ range, but from what I tried at happy hour, it’s worth it. I’m especially looking forward to summer when they can put tables outside.

Gold Dust Meridian

One of my favorite Hawthorne area bars is Gold Dust Meridian. I brought a visiting friend there last night to enjoy the relatively late happy hour (until 8pm, mostly food oriented) and fancy cocktails.

They feature a variety of champagne concoctions that range from foofy (fresh strawberry) to bitter and complex. Their “mixology” – aka deliciously bougie – cocktails are also pretty impressive. I enjoyed a berry bourbon hot toddy last night that was quite subtle, and I’ve had a killer fancy mojito there in the past. Of course they also have their fair share of totally made-up and intriguing creations.

The happy hour food menu is also pretty decent, although the full price one isn’t much bang for your buck. Favorites include the bar olives (that come with fruits and nuts), artisan cheese plate, “trio” (sandwich/soup/salad), garlic artichoke dip… Standard northwest barestaurant fare.