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2605 E Burnside St., americanopdx.com. 7 am-midnight daily.
It would be so easy to hate on Americano—the new vermouth and coffee bar from Hale Pele's Blair Reynolds and Coco Donuts' Ian Christopher located in gentrification flashpoint Burnside26. But it'd be wrong to do so. Sure, it looks like a cross between a hair salon and a Duran Duran album—sterile white-on-white, with a massive ornate mirror, and marble horseshoe bar. But then you notice the delightful sparkling gamay that might as well be Champagne jam, and the wine bottles served for under $30. The vermouth and amaro selection—French, Italian, Spanish and local—is impressive. And those press pots are brilliant, made-to-order liquor, spice and fruit mixed with soda water and split among at least three people for $30, including a Starry Night made with blessedly old-fashioned Cocchi Vermouth di Torino, plus fresh strawberries and bourbon and quinquina. Americano may look like it belongs in an upscale shopping center, but its fine points are both more rarefied and more approachable than you'd expect, not to mention a hell of a lot smarter.
Entertainment: Asking the bartender about each and every obscure vermouth, amaro and liqueur behind the bar.
Willamette Week