Drink 2011: B-Side

B-Side might be the punkest bar in Portland. I mean that in a very loving way. It has absolutely no frills, unless some nice garage-sale paintings and garage-rock posters on the walls count as “frills,” and little to do except drink pints of Ninkasi and plot the revolution. Though it’s perhaps best known as a nice, sleepy alternative to the increasingly modern/fashion-forward Rontoms down the street, B-Side has its own cozy charm, especially out back on the heated mini-patio and up front in the plywood booths that come complete with a partially poster-obstructed view of Burnside. It’s almost as if the entire business plan was to repel douchebags, and it worked: The folks at B-Side built a club so devoid of flash and pretense that it’s basically the anti-meatmarket. If some member of the sparkly-toothed, flashy-shirted Chinatown dance cabal were to stray from the herd and happen through B-Side’s front door, I imagine they would melt down to a pile of goo while screaming, “NOOOOOOO! NOOOOOOO!” I get the impression that’s just how the management likes to keep things. Good for them—the good people of Portland need a place to go and just, you know, be sad. CASEY JARMAN.
What to drink: A pint of Ninkasi.
Happy hour: There’s an “unhappy hour” with discounted microwave burritos and beer 4-7 pm daily.
Entertainment: Pinball!