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1. Baby Ketten Klub
2433 SE Powell Blvd., 503-444-7903, babyketten.com.
After a decade of transience, Portland's cult-favorite karaoke night—once called the best in the country by The New York Times—has put down roots on Southeast Powell. While the food and drink choices revolve around fryer-friendly practicalities and sugary cocktails, there's a singular joy to reading lyrics off the wood-framed flat screens hung about the bar—and the private rooms designed to accentuate sepia-tinged '70s swank or '80s chrome-chic aesthetics linger as impossibly lovely make-out rooms.
Read the full review: After a Decade of Transience, Portland's Cult-Favorite Karaoke Night Baby Ketten Puts down Roots on Southeast Powell.
2. Misdemeanor Meadows
6920 SE 52nd Ave., 503-206-8556, misdemeanor-meadows.business.site.
If you've been missing the Know, then consider Misdemeanor Meadows your new home. Comic book pages are lacquered into the bartop, images of idols like Lemmy and GG Allin hang on the walls, and at any given moment you're likely to hear the Misfits, Minor Threat or Dead Kennedys on the house speakers.
Read the full review: If You've Been Missing the Know, Misdemeanor Meadows Welcomes You Home.
3. Shine Distillery & Grill
4232 N Williams Ave., 503-384-2585, shinedistillerygrill.com.
It was probably only a matter of time before Williams Avenue got a shiny new two-story bar that looks teleported from the Pearl. While most distilleries are boutique affairs relegated to minimal storefronts or corners of industrial spaces, the menu and ambience at Shine should give brewpubs like Breakside and 10 Barrel a run for their money.
Read the full review: Shine Distillery Applies the Brewpub Formula to a House of Spirits.
4. The Automatic
3652 SE Division St., 503-206-5371, theautomaticbarpdx.com.
Replacing one of Portland's most distinctive bars is tough, so perhaps it's good that the Automatic—which moved into the space abandoned by Victory Bar in June—is doing something different. It's aiming to be the opposite sort of bar: the bright, comfortable neighborhood hang, with good food, good cocktails and minimal aesthetic distractions aside from a lovely mural stretching across the back wall.
Read the full review: Victory Bar Is One of Portland's All-Time Great Bars. The Automatic Is…Well, a Bar.
5. Ancestry Brewing
4334 SE Hawthorne Blvd., 503-764-9574, ancestrybrewing.com.
Ancestry Brewing dropped anchor in a beer desert three years ago, and has been throwing out life preservers to parched neighbors ever since. Now the company is docked in the far reaches of Southeast Hawthorne Boulevard, in a sprawling ground-floor space beneath three stories of apartments. You'll find generous pours in a sampler that arrives on a steel tray shaped like the metal flank in the logo. Take your 10-pound drink holster to the hidden patio and it might motivate you to look into locking down a lease.
Read the full review: Ancestry Brewing's Third Taproom Docks Along Southeast Hawthorne.
