Homey Bar Mad Hanna is Like an Old Portland Cookout With Friends You Haven't Met

6129 NE Fremont St., 503-288-2944, madhanna.com. 11-2:30 am daily. Happy hour 3-6 pm weekdays, noon-3 pm weekends: $1 off drafts and domestics, $1.50 domestic drafts.

Established: January 2013

Mad Hanna is not for the surly at heart. If your preferred bar experience is slumping in a dark corner with a gradually warming bottle of swill while avoiding all attempts at eye contact, there are plenty of above-ground sewers in this town for you to crawl into. But if you want to go where everybody may not know your name but is willing to learn, well: Hey, buddy, welcome! With the loss of Dean's Scene, Mad Hanna is now the homiest bar on Northeast Fremont Street, with a nook arranged like a retro furniture display and a backyard you'll swear you visited for a barbecue your first summer in town. "Have a Drink, Meet a Friend" is the unofficial motto—that's what's painted into the Oregon Trail-themed mural out back, at least, along with a notice that owners Crystal Maddix and Elizabeth Hanna have died of dysentery. The bar offers many reasons to stick around and chat awhile: a shelf of classic board games, screwdrivers made with fresh-squeezed OJ, Jell-O shots laced with Pop Rocks, and alcohol-infused pudding shots. A crowd-pleasing jukebox is stocked with everything from Weezer to Biggie. You can also buy a drink for a friend who's not there, and their name will go up on a board for future redemption. But don't forsake those around you. After all, a stranger is just a BFF you haven't taken a pudding shot with yet.

Bar story: Like the framed chalk art displayed in the artfully defiled restrooms? Leave a note with the bartender and they'll email you a print, so you can spend every dinner party explaining to your guests what "I'm in Love With Massachusetts Pickles" means.