The Fixin’ To Is a Little Bit Outlaw Country, a Little Bit Rock N Roll

8218 N Lombard St., 503-477-4995, thefixinto.com. 3 pm-2 am Monday-Friday, 1 pm-2 am Saturday, 1 pm-1 am Sunday. Happy hour 4-8 pm daily: $5 veggie Frito pie, $3 crafts and wells, $5 boilermaker, $1 Old German.

Established: February 2010

North Portland's Fixin' To has always been a little bit outlaw country, a little bit rock 'n' roll. The food menu is all Southern comfort (vegan Frito pie!), the cocktail names reference the Ramones and Kiss, and a portrait of a young Bill Clinton is on prominent display. But the new addition to the playfully ramshackle, vaguely Southern-themed St. Johns bar—a self-contained, 100-capacity appendage built out from the main room—has finally made good on the bar's honky-tonk aspirations.

The decor mixes Elks Lodge kitsch with handsome newness. Antlers, a taxidermied boar's head, framed black-and-white found photographs and a majestic deer tapestry line the unscuffed blue-green walls. A velvet painting of Elvis sits behind a surprisingly spacious shin-high wooden stage, and the window at the back of the room assures you won't have to leave mid-set to restock on Hamm's. Since opening this summer, the calendar has filled with emerging local indie acts, a weekly Sunday karaoke night and even a little hip-hop, filling a void in North Portland music venues that seems especially crucial these days.

Bar story: Beloved former St. Johns food cart Pizza Contadino, original oven and all, is now living inside the Fixin' To's kitchen: Whole pies made with sourdough starter dating from the Alaskan gold rush are available for eat-in or takeout until 10 pm.