La Moule’s Backroom Bar Is Surrounded By Giant Shellfish-Blue Hearts and a Bartender Cast as Poseidon

Well-heeled bivalve enthusiasts are drawn to the sunny restaurant side of La Moule for meaty bowls of plump, spiced mussels.

(Thomas Teal)
By Parker Hall

2500 SE Clinton St., 971-339-2822, lamoulepdx.com. 5 pm-midnight daily, 10 am-2 pm Sunday. Happy hour 5-6 pm and 10 pm-midnight daily: $4 drafts, $7 select cocktails, $11 mussels.

Established: September 2015

Well-heeled bivalve enthusiasts are drawn to the sunny restaurant side of La Moule for meaty bowls of plump, spiced mussels ($20) during normal eaters' hours, but the bar crowd should wait until 10 pm, when happy hour cuts that price by nearly half. Step over the perilous partition between checkered floors to the backroom and you'll find a bar surrounded by giant shellfish-blue hearts and a bartender cast as Poseidon amid the shimmering sea of bottles and flickering candlelight. Sip on a pour of the Belgian-leaning bistro's adopted house beer—-crisp Bavik Pilsner ($4)—or a delightfully citrusy Sazerac ($7) while munching on dollar oysters and P'tit Moules Frites ($11).

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Parker Hall

Parker Hall

Parker Hall is a writer, musician, and home brewer from Portland. He is a graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Ohio, where he studied jazz percussion with drum legend Billy Hart (Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock). Now a freelance writer and professional member of the city's jazz and indie rock scenes, he spends most of his days writing, playing music or drinking brews in his spacious North Portland basement.

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