Drink 2011: Yen Ha Lounge

By Matthew Korfhage

6820 NE Sandy Blvd., 288-3698, yenhapdx.com. 11 am-2:30 am Sunday-Saturday.
Yen Ha Lounge would maybe be just a poor man's acetone-stiff-drink dive bar—which it is, anyway, in the daytime—were it not for some serious perks. Its association with the eponymous Vietnamese restaurant there-adjoined offers it, until 11 pm, perhaps the most extensive menu of any bar in Portland, with over 150 items, including broiled escargot, whole crab, marinated goat, liver porridge and bird nest. The bar is best known, however, for its truly unhinged weekend karaoke—from side-wing party boat to degenerate loner to lonely oldster—with precious few concessions made to accuracy, decency or sobriety. MATTHEW KORFHAGE.
What to drink: Drinks whose ingredients are also the names of the drinks. Expect more whiskey than Coke, more vodka than soda.
Happy hour: $1 cheap domestic, $3 micro, $3.50 well, 3-7 pm.
Entertainment: Karaoke Thursday-Sunday, occasional mustache contests.

WWeek 2015

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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