CAPS & CORKS - IMAGE: rosnaps.com
The prospect of a new bottle shop and pub in Northwest Portland got us excited. The Alphabet district desperately needs someplace like Saraveza, Bottles or BeerMongers—a chill spot with a well-curated collection of bottled beers, salty snacks and comfy chairs. Unfortunately, Caps & Corks (1000 NW 17th Ave., 222-6435) isn’t it. Not yet, anyway. Taking over for Emanon Cafe, Caps has an ambitious menu and a number of beers, but it’s still got some kinks. It’s a pretty place—polished cement floors, exposed pipes, wood-topped tables—but not especially cozy. The collection of cooler beer is a bigger bummer: plentiful but not diverse, with a grab-baggy feel, as though someone loaded up a shopping cart with random bottles at a distributor’s warehouse. (Food Front grocery still has the quadrant’s best selection and advice.) Lunch didn’t wow us either, as our bourbon fried chicken ($9) came out bright pink in the middle. Caps is targeting the right niche, but the approach is clumsy.
