Bible Club

By Matthew Korfhage

This Sellwood side-road speakeasy is a Prohibition-themed bar so oddly sincere and unhip in its dedication that it utterly flips the script on authenticity. It's a museum of bar craft with bartenders equally serious about housemade tonic and edible flower garnishes, plus a very serious chef—a slightly underutilized Anthony Cafiero, formerly of Ración—turning out amazing French onion soup and lovely potatoes with "melted leeks." Almost every item in the bar is over a century old, from great-grandma crystal glasses to the huge "Bible Club" meeting sign behind the bar to a sewing pinking device used to pretty up orange-peel fronds. And everything is wonderful and wildly expensive, made with ingredients that land on very few shelves, whether a $14 Acts of Contrition pisco drink that comes with floating edible flowers, to a balanced and deep $14 Dip the Bill made with bits of orange zest flamed into Prohibition Edition Cutty Sark, Italian-style bitter liqueur, genepy and curacao.

Entertainment: Reading every single vintage Prohibition protest.

6716 SE 16th Ave.,971-279-2198, bibleclubpdx.com. 5-11 pm Wednesday-Saturday, 4-11 pm Sunday.

Willamette Week

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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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