Bar Guide 2014: The Richmond Bar

By Matthew Korfhage

(NEW!) The Richmond Bar

3203 SE Division St., 208-3075, therichmondbar.com. 4 pm-2 am daily.

The Richmond Bar has honed the refined, unshowy comforts now expected of a Portland bar—a model bar co-owner Nate Tilden helped create at Clyde Common. The Richmond's drinks skew to the sweetly medicinal, especially in the herbal Sassafras ($10), named after the dominant note in the Root spirit mixed with tequila, mezcal and Cynar; it's like sarsaparilla with some heat in the nose. The beer list is deep with offerings from Oregon and Europe, the wine is refreshingly far flung, the crowd is a dead-even mix of creative class and service industry, and the food is upscale-casual, from beef tongue pasty ($7) to double-digit burger. The cozy, tasteful little bar does absolutely nothing wrong—except, perhaps, do nothing wrong. MATTHEW KORFHAGE.

Happy hour: 4-6 pm daily. $1 off everything.

WWeek 2015

Matthew Korfhage

Matthew Korfhage

Matthew Korfhage has lived in St. Louis, Chicago, Munich and Bordeaux, but comes from Portland, where he makes guides to the city and writes about food, booze and books. He likes the Oxford comma but can't use it in the newspaper.

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