IMAGE: vivianjohnson.com

If you go to North Portland’s North End Pub (3011 N Lombard Ave.), I can predict the exact course your eyes are going to follow: They’ll start in the long, bare entrance hallway, move over the colorful abstract paintings lining only the east wall, hop back to the huge bar in the middle of the room (which looks like a collaboration between IKEA and Fred Meyer’s garden department) and then stick to the big-screen TV hovering awkwardly in the back corner. See, there’s not much else to look at. The North End Pub—while featuring a finely curated selection of regional brews like a smoky Tomahawk Brown ($4) and Firestone Walker Porter ($5), as well as an elaborate menu (including 12-inch pizzas running between $9.99 and $14.99)—might need a couple more months to get its own house beers on tap and spruce up the place, as the bar just opened in November. Besides, that big, boxy space—once a Pietro’s Pizza—would give Martha Stewart nightmares.