Chopsticks

Chopsticks II on Burnside—a grimy karaoke bar that was technically a Chinese restaurant with cheap beer and a crowd made up of regulars, just-out-of-college kids and the possibly homeless—was a fixture of my 20s, even though I spent much of that time living abroad, in California. Whenever I was in town, it was the place we would gather in amorphous friend groups, getting wasted on cheap beer—or, if someone else was buying, well drinks. On Sept. 19, Chopsticks II closed its doors for good. But because old friends in Portland don't disappear, they just move farther from the river, David Chow opened a new Chopsticks a week later on Sandy Boulevard. In many ways, it's an upgrade. It's cleaner, there's no Chopsticks carpet, and since it used to be a strip club, there are roomy side areas. Outside, a spotless patio looks out over Sandy. The drinks are still cheap—a stiff well whiskey ginger was $4.50—and the food is still basic mall Chinese that comes on big plates. For $6.50, you get enough sweet, crunchy mandarin chicken with mounds of white rice to soak up the booze.

Entertainment: Discovering your singing voice at the bottom of a stiff gin and tonic.

3390 NE Sandy Blvd., 503-234-6171, chopstickskaraoke.com. 2 pm-2:30 am Monday-Friday, 5 pm-2:30 am Saturday-Sunday.

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