Bar Guide 2014: Sand Bar

By Matthew Korfhage

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Sand Bar

1035 SW Stark St., 226-4171, fishgrotto.com. 4 pm-close Tuesday-Friday, 2 pm-close Saturday-Sunday.

A beach-themed bar in Oregon, if wholly honest, would be cold, gray and so windy you couldn't open your mouth without spitting out grit. Sand Bar at the former Fish Grotto (R.I.P.) is more the stuff of theme-park fantasy. Hand-placed stones line tabletops, and a map made for Magellan adorns the wall. The cocktails are less "artisan" than tiki-fied Margaritaville, with local and fancy rums; from Dark & Stormy ($8) to the Long Island expressway of the Shipwrecked ($11). The friendly corner bar shines mostly for its happy-hour menu of $5 snacks and a $3 featured cocktail, which on a recent visit mixed peach puree and lemonade with a healthy serving of bourbon. This makes it a very welcome addition for the drunky after-office set in a West End neighborhood that otherwise picks your wallet or leaves you beached. MATTHEW KORFHAGE.

Happy hour: 4-7 pm Tuesday-Sunday, 10 pm-close Sunday-Thursday. Food specials, $3 featured cocktail.

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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