In my fight against these tough economic times, I’m going to give you a two-fer post today. It’s true. And this is no Nigerian scam.

Item #1: Cool design, cool music, good food
If you’re looking for a great place to catch some live music, you’ve got to check out Doug Fir. This bar/lounge/restaurant is really a one-of-a-kind spot. The décor is sort of 50s modern meets fur trapper’s cabin. There are clever touches everywhere, including a great patio.

And they get top acts. Upcoming bands range from Clinic (May 18) to Foals (May 28) to the Detroit Cobras (June 16).

Bonus item: Doughnuts!
A lot’s been written about Voodoo Doughnut, and it’s all true. Sample doughnuts on the menu? Dirty Snowball, the Arnold Palmer and the Memphis Mafia. I recommend the one with Cap’n Crunch and those ever-loving crunchberries on top.

Cheers,
Keith

Speaking of classy upgrades and posh VIP stuff. Or at the very least opportunities to drink. There are two events coming to the Pearl on May 2 that you should be aware of. The first, as Keith surely already knows, involves the opening of the Deschutes Brewery pub in the Pearl (NW Davis and 11th).

The second is a little thing we like to call the Portland Independent Wine Festival. The festival runs from till the 4th and gives you a great chance to taste the wines and meet the winemakers from more than 30 small craft wineries throughout Oregon.

It all makes me wonder about our fascination in these parts with the act of drinking. Coffee, beer, wine, distilled spirits, we don’t care. You’d think with as much rain as we get we’d favor a specialty in something dry, like crackers or Bundt cake.

Cheers,
Emily

Went to not one but two great bars last Friday that I’d never been to before. I don’t think it was just the weather, but these are important discoveries I’ll get back to.

So after work I went to meet a friend at this other place and he called and said, “Let’s meet at the Green Dragon.” “Is it karate school?” I asked. It wasn’t. It is actually a great spot in S.E. on 9th with an incredible beer selection. They have mead! Who serves mead! And they’ve got pinball.

Just up the street the Roadside Attraction doesn’t have the same beer selection, but it’s just plain cool. Like a New Orleans bordello mixed with a junk yard. It’s like a bar in a Quentin Tarantino movie. I want to live there. Great patio and more personality than three other places combined.

Later,
Keith

I guess I need to get out more often. One of the first places friends took me to in Portland when I moved here was the Virginia Café. It’s just old school hipster cocktail lounge. They aren’t stingy with the pours and have a great happy hour.

The other thing is it was right downtown, but didn’t seem like a downtown place. And it wasn’t too expensive. Key for our group. Get the most for your moolah. So a couple of nights ago we head over and ― what?! ― the place is gone! It was heartbreaking.

Until we got wise. Worry not, VC fans, the place has dragged itself a bit further east to a new location over on 10th and Main. The new digs are now right across from the main library.

All’s well in liquorland.

Later,
Keith

If you know Portland, you know that what is now called the Pearl District used to be an urban blight. It was a graveyard of old warehouses, vacant storefronts and overgrown lots.

What a difference a couple of years and can make. These days it’s a happening neighborhood with some of the city’s best stores and restaurants. Every once in awhile you get a glimpse of how it happened to work out that way.

The NeighborhoodNotes blog mentioned that the Centennial Mill, a century-old former flour mill and longtime waste of space, was destined for the wrecking ball. But here’s what I love about Portland: Apparently, the 12 buildings are going to be converted into a complex of restaurants, shops, entertainment and green space. Bravo, Portland.

So keep an eye on this spot along the Willamette on the northern edge of the Pearl.

Cheerio,
Emily

About this place Henry’s. If you haven’t been there you have to know they have more than 100 taps! It’s got to be the widest selection of beers in town. It’s like a forest of taps in there.

They separate out the different style on the menu for you, which is nice. From ales to lagers to stouts and whatever. There are even half a dozen fruit beers! And about 20 seasonals. Most from the west and NW. It’s like some kind of beervana in there.

Apparently it used to be the old Henry Weinhards brewery. It’s more of a pick-up sort of place than I usually go to. But man that selection… Oh, and get this, they even have a frozen strip on the bar to set your beer on to keep it cold! Beervana indeed.

Cheers,
Keith

Keith, that is uncanny! A friend and I were just talking about how she’d seen a story in the Willamette Week about bars in town that have trivia nights. Now we know. I really want to do that.

But ever since seeing Spellbound (if you haven’t seen it you have to rent it), I’ve been meaning to get over to Mississippi Pizza over on, well, Mississippi Ave. for their … weekly spelling bee. Don’t you love it?

Let’s just say that I’m an orthography from way back. I actually won my 6th grade spelling bee. Alas, poor April Vandergraff experienced some vowel vexation (more a 10th-grade spelling word) with the word “separately.” It was her undoing, I’m afraid.

Supercalifragilisticexpialidociously yours,
Emily

Hey, had to share a cool discovery. Some of you may already know about this but The New Old Lompoc Pub right over on 23rd does a trivia night every Tuesday. We went last Tues. and had a bleeping great time.

We didn’t even know about it. Just went because they’ve got an awesome beer selection, and well, they’re close to Hotel deLuxe. Funny how I cut class in college to drink beer, and now that I go to drink beer I’m reminded of why it was bad to cut class in college.

Anyway, I did a little looking into it and there are some other places that do trivia nights. Here are the ones closest to Hotel deLuxe:

Thursdays – Gypsy (N.W. 21st)
Mondays – CC Slaughters (N.W. Davis)
Also on Tuesdays – Bridgeport Brewing (N.W. Marshall)

My advice? Play first, and then sample the beers.

Later,
Keith

On this we agree, my dear Keith. The McMenamins’ places really are distinctive. And I of course love that they commission original art for all of them. Kennedy School, for example, is full of paintings, mixed media pieces, mosaics. Everywhere you look there’s something.

But you forgot to mention that they also make their own wine, distill their own spirits and roast their own coffee. Their pinot noir is quite good. Even their table red, Black Rabbit Red, is quaffable, as we say. I’ve never tried the whiskeys, brandies or gins. I don’t know why.

And of course they brew their own beer, though I’m admittedly not much of an aficionado. If I’m having their pizza I might combine it with a pint of their Ruby (made with raspberries!) but that’s about it. Next time: brandy.

Prost!
Emily

In the upcoming presidential election I’m voting for the McMenamin brothers. They’re Oregon’s own brewpub barons and renaissance men, with some of the coolest places anywhere.

Start with the Bagdad and the Mission, their two theaters. Both serve up second-run movies accompanied by beer and food. I’m not going to lie, when I first came out to Portland they were one of the things that got me thinking of moving.

My favorite of their places is Edgefield. It used to be poorhouse. Seriously. Now it’s got a par-3 golf course. And then there’s the Crystal Ballroom. And all their places have these really creative touches you just have to see. Oh, and if that weren’t enough a lot have live music, too.

Later,
Keith