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PUB FOOD
the horse brass pub If it's new, exotic or just plain good beer, you'll find it on tap here, amid hand-hewn beams, rough plaster and shiny strings of horse brasses. Owner Don Younger fell in love with English pubs years ago and has plowed his revenues back into making this upper-Belmont mecca authentic. If you're going to spend the evening slurping your way through the extensive beer list, you'd be well advised to eat first. The menu, featuring English classics such as steak and kidney pie and ploughman's lunch, offers the right kind of ballast for a long session. This being Portland, you can get vegetarian gravy on your vegetable pasty, or a Gardenburger. (NJ) 4534 SE Belmont St., 232-2202. Open daily. 42 taps. kennedy school
Running around the halls of this renovated schoolhouse--the elementary school was erected in 1915--you'll find plenty to explore between beers: a soaking pool, basketball courts, the detention room and a couple of janitor's closets. Get out to the Kennedy School while it still has JJ's Golden Ale on tap. Possibly the finest beer ever brewed at a McMenamins, the ale's bitterness adds spirit without being as heavy as the ambers and stouts. Try it in the dining room with a grilled pork chop ($8.50) or a ham-and-havarti sandwich on molasses brown bread ($6.25). Beer with breakfast might sound excessive, but according to Sheryl Crow that's how they do it in L.A., and Terminator Stout flapjacks ($5.25), chicken fried steak ($8.75) and scrambled eggs and ham ($4.50) go down easy with a malty Hammerhead. (BD) 5736 NE 33rd Ave., 288-2192. Open daily. 40 taps. rose & thistle pub
They're not made with Maryland blues, but the crab cakes here are some of the tastiest this side of the Chesapeake Bay. Bacon-wrapped Scotch eggs are the only hint of Edinburgh in this spacious bar with high-backed booths and '70s easy-listening ballads wafting throughout. Dwell on the cheap pub menu offered after 9 or 10 pm, depending on customer flow. Choose from fries, melt-in-your-mouth scallops and fish bites. Delicately deep-fried, the fare here doesn't seem nearly as greasy as that at other late-night snack bars. The beer is above average, too. Guinness, BridgePort ESB, Strongbow Cider and forgotten ales Bass and Harp are all available. Pints of local microbrews are $2 on Monday nights. (CM) 2314 NE Broadway, 287-8582. Open daily. 13 taps. sweetwater's jam house
Caribbean cuisine may seem more conducive to rum than beer, but there are few treats as well-matched as deep fried alligator nuggets and a full-bodied Jamaica Red ale from Mad River Brewing Co. Other unusual snack-and-drink combinations to be had at the Sweetwater's bar include roasted corn-pepper fritters ($5.95) with a crisp North Coast Brewing Prangster ale or Pike Place IPA; and curried eggplant salad ($3.95) with a mug of Disorder Porter or Vodou Stout. Ten additional beers are available on tap for $3 a pint; 16 unusual island brews, such as Shandy Sorrel Beer and Carib Lager, come in bottles. Non-alcoholic ginger beer tastes better than O'Doul's, but the super-single and rowdy Belmont Dairy crowd would rather chase shots of Meyer's with Zig Zag Lager--hey, they're not driving. (BD) 3350 SE Morrison St., 233-0333. Open daily. 14 taps. |
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