The Liquor Store: House of Blue

THE LIQUOR STORE
By MARTIN CIZMAR

There's something bittersweet about a shiny new bar naming a drink after the previous occupant. In the case of the Blue Monk, doubly so. Formerly a jazz club, it ran into problems after hosting a hip-hop show in a city where police don't cotton to that sort of thing. So the Blue Monk is now a cocktail with housemade blue curacao and lime served in a bar that spins LPs from Bob Dylan's acoustic years.

Let’s not hold it against The Liquor Store (3341 SE Belmont St., 421-4483, theliquorstorepdx.com). On Saturday nights, the basement is a cramped dance club. But on weeknights, the homey upstairs bar joins with Aalto Lounge across the street to create the best living room/den combination you’ll find outside a Hillsdale split level. The Liquor Store’s walls are lined with shelves holding a collector’s stash of vinyl, everything from the Hornets’ Motorcycles U.S.A. to David Bowie’s Scary Monsters. There’s a DJ spinning as the bartender pours the Blue Monk into a coupe. The balanced cocktail is just a little on the sweet side, but with an acidic bite from lime juice. On another wall hangs an old rack with yellowed newspapers from the days after Lennon was shot, Nixon resigned and Neil Armstrong walked on the moon. “They’re meant to be read; check them out next time,” says the bartender. “It’s pretty cool—like, remember newspapers?” Sigh. 

WWeek 2015

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