Basement Speakeasy Grandma’s Secret Keeps Its Menu as Refreshing as Its Shadowy Parlor

Now that a real heat wave is underway, basement bars offer a cool retreat. Grandma’s Secret is one such speakeasy that keeps its menu as crisp and refreshing as its shadowy, generously air-conditioned parlor. The Alphabet District cocktail lounge is in the basement of the same repurposed house as Lela’s Bistro, a Vietnamese restaurant serving fresh standards like pho and banh mi. The businesses are distinct but share similar lore. Upstairs is where Nana feeds the neighborhood; downstairs is where she unwinds. The drink menu at Grandma’s Secret recently changed, but the new additions seem seasonally appropriate for scorching midsummer temperatures.

Guests joining on especially sunny days might need an extra second to adjust to the darkness when they first enter. Reemerging from the subterranean depths into the sunshine isn’t as jarring as in other dark bars I frequent, but as a man roughly six-and-a-half feet tall, I risk scraping my hairline on the ceiling if I’m not careful.

Given that the space can hold only a dozen or so guests at most, staff attentively cater to customers, providing both quick service and a sense that patrons need to bounce instead of linger, which makes sense and isn’t unusual among such intimate Portland venues. The room’s blue-green peacock jewel tone nods to France and Vietnam’s inextricably entwined cultures (the French held colonial control over Vietnam for nearly a century, in case nobody told you), which are also reflected in Grandma’s Secret’s cocktail menu.

The Saigon Fashioned ($16), carried over from the previous menu, is a regionally spiced old-fashioned, served with a cinnamon stick, that pours Oregon bourbon and brandy with an unspecified French herbal liqueur over lime oil and pho spices. It doesn’t taste as much like dinner as, say, Dirty Pretty’s pho-washed Vibe Check, but instead offers a complex yet sippable smoky-sweet profile.

The Rendezvous martini ($18) possesses a similar je ne sais quoi. I don’t dabble with gin and vermouth in my off time, but I couldn’t ignore the idea of making them right with lychee and a delectably savory fish sauce. Garnished with a Thai basil leaf, it wasn’t as tropically sweet as expected, nor did the exact umami from the fish sauce come through like I’d thought it would. Instead, it was a meeting of the flavors and minds.

Daisies, if you haven’t heard of them before, are naturally sweet cocktails without extra sugar. This is a major win for those of us hummingbirds who really ought to cut back on processed sugar but don’t drink enough alcohol to cut that out yet. Grandma’s Garden ($16) is a vodka and sake daisy enhanced with cacao, rhubarb and lemon. It’s served in a deceptively deep porcelain cup painted with delicate blue flowers. Garnished with a lavender sprig and a thick-cut cucumber “rose,” the daisy tastes surprisingly like an apple. That crispness likely comes from the cucumber slice’s chlorophyll leaking into the drink (get more by dunking it in; get less by taking it out) while a slightly tart bite could be how rhubarb activates everything around it.

When it comes to food, if you have time to go upstairs to Lela’s Bistro, you’ll get a more filling meal without taking up extra time at Grandma’s Secret. The food is nearly identical but smaller and more limited in the basement bar. That said, if you’ve already eaten or would rather have sliders than a whole banh mi, save Lela’s Bistro for another visit. I made the mistake of thinking the businesses were closely connected enough to order a full dinner downstairs, which is not the case. (Who really wants to carry a bowl of pho down Old Portland stairs?)

Grandma’s Secret is small enough that the staff needs its guests to come correct and get down to business. This is the spot for a date you want to impress or a quick after-work chill-out with one or two close friends. Big groups and loungers should move on or plan ahead. Three’s company and four’s a crowd, especially in a basement.

TRY IT: Grandma’s Secret, 1524 NW 23rd Ave., instagram.com/grandmassecretpdx. 5 pm–midnight Wednesday–Saturday.