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"Are you guys with Nike?" Nope.
"Oh, OK, because there's a group of like 40 Nike people coming in soon."
It's 8:30 on a Wednesday night, and when the corporate retreat arrives,
there will be approximately 42 patrons inside Chinatown's Easy Company (329 NW Couch St., 229-7468, facebook.com/oldtowneasycompany).
The narrow bar was carved from the back of the old Ping space, which is
now a commissary kitchen for the Lardo sandwich empire, which provides
its pork-belly sandwiches fresher here than anywhere. The bar has been
well-appointed with gorgeous wood floors, walls and stools, plus
on-trend wooden folding chairs, candles and two long, comfy banquettes.
The cocktail menu aspires toward upward mobility with a long slate of
original cocktails (avoid the Pilsner Vs. Aperol) listed on a menu that
doubles as a recipe book ("Fennel Fantasy: 1.5 ounces of Aviation gin,
1/4 ounce of Pernod absinthe, 1/2 ounce of fresh lime juice, 3 ounces of
fresh extracted fennel juice, 1/2 ounce of simple syrup"). It feels
like a place Beavertrons go for happy hour before taking the train home,
or a chic corporate events space designed to make visiting Nike clients
feel like they got the Portland experience without actually bothering
any Portlanders.
WWeek 2015