Portland Bar: Angel Face

What: Angel Face
Where: 14 NE 28th Ave
When: 5pm-midnight Sun-Thurs, 5 pm-1am Fri-Sat
Honeys Heart: Fish Board

Kel and I have been on a kick of hitting up new-to-both of us bars on Monday nights. While perhaps not the ideal night of the week (read about last week's debacle here), its fun to have a standing HHH date night again.

This week, we headed off to Angel Face, sister bar to Navarre. I've heard good things about Navarre (they serve small and large plates with Italian, French, and Spanish influences), so I was excited to see what Angel Face had to offer. Also, check out these walls:

Not wallpaper, fyi. All those flowers were hand-painted. But seriously, how fun is that? Plus, Kel and I had read that there is no cocktail menu at Angel Face. Instead, you just explain to the bartenders what you like- and you know that's like Kel's and my favorite thing to do (sorry, annoying like that).

Kel and I first grabbed a seat at the slightly awkward lower bar in the back before making the switch to the horseshoe-shaped main bar as soon as a spot become available. When the bartender asked what kind of cocktails we were looking for, we gave her the usual requirements: "gin, citrus, not too sweet." I threw in "floral" too, for good measure.

We ended up with a Jasmine made with gin, Cointreau, Campari and lemon for Kel and a Pegu Club made with gin, Cointreau, Angostura bitters, and lime juice for me. Classic and tasty.

For our next round, we told our bartender we wanted to try some cocktails with a little something more going on. Don't get me wrong, the Jasmine and Pegu Club were very good, but Kel and I do like to be a bit more experimental when we're out.

The bartender suggested a Last Word for Kel. It's made with gin, Green Chartreuse, maraschino, and lime, which seemed perfect since Kel chose Chartreuse as her SALEP topic back in July. I got a Chamomile Sour. Couldn't tell you what was in it, but I did like how the strong chamomile flavor paired so nicely with the citrus.

We also tried Angel Face's Fish Board ($12/$18) which, as far as I can tell, features a rotating selection of seafood deliciousness. Our board included pickled mussels, smoked trout, pickled shrimp, a cod spread, and capers.

I think it was the Fish Board that really made our night. While the cocktails and service were good, there just seemed to be something missing at Angel Face, like it wasn't fully finished yet. But with the arrival of our food, I suddenly felt much happier with our choice of bar. Each item on the board was well-crafted, delicious and, equally important for us, interesting.

Angel Face opened recently, so it's certainly understandable that the best part of our experience came from the seasoned restaurant next door. I don't think Kel and I would be opposed to checking back in a few months from now to see if Angel Face has grown into its skin a bit more.

Portland Bar: The Richmond Bar

What: The Richmond Bar 

Where: 3203 SE Division St

When: 4pm - 2am every day, 4-6pm HH ($1 off every item)

Honeys Heart: Justin, our bartender

Lesson learned: Monday night is not the best night to explore new bars. Katie and I planned a date night to Expatriate for cocktails. We double-checked that they would be open and after reading their assertion on their website that they're "open 8 days a week", we thought we were good to go. We stopped at Life of Pie to share a Margherita pizza ($10) and then headed to Expatriate. Upon arrival we discovered a "Closed for a Private Event" sign. Shit. 

Back in the car we did some quick searches and settled on Oso Market and Bar, open until 11pm. As we drove by Oso 10 minutes later we were again confronted with a "Closed" sign. Feeling a little defeated we headed to SE Division determined to find an open bar that we hadn't tried. Katie suggested The American Local, but of course it was also closed. Don't worry though, Katie's knowledge of the Portland bar scene is vast and she suddenly remembered wanting to try The Richmond Bar. It might have been our fourth stop in a driving night tour of Portland's eastside, but our rocky road lead us there and we were thankful. 

We sat at the bar and started with cocktails off the menu. I went for the Beet Down ($9) with gin, beet, lime, simple syrup, and bitters while Katie chose the Juice Box ($9) with vodka, grapefruit juice, orange juice, cherry heering, and grapefruit bitters. So far we were off to a good start.

 

With our empty glasses on the bar, Justin, our trusty bartender, asked if we wanted to stay on menu or go off. We declared that off menu sounded like more fun...for us. Some bartenders act inconvenienced when you say things like "I like boozy drinks with gin and savory flavors" and then expect them to craft the most delicious drink ever. Luckily for us Justin had the opposite opinion. With abundant enthusiasm he encouraged us to go off menu because it's more fun for him too! 

He stayed on the grapefruit route with Katie's next cocktail but took it a little more bitter and used gin versus vodka. We preferred this variation to the first. For my cocktail we went more boozy and he made a Martinez. Predecessor to the martini, it's made with gin, sweet vermouth, maraschino liqueur and angostura bitters. Justin used Old Tom gin which is aged in barrels and that definitely gave the drink a deeper flavor, more reminiscent of a whiskey cocktail. Garnished with an orange twist and a giant ice cube, I was feeling pretty fancy. My tendency would be to order a cocktail more like Katie's so I appreciated the nudge to try something classic.

Following our libations Katie had to pick up Doug at the airport so we accompanied our cocktails with a snack. Though the Cheese and Toast ($5) with white cheddar cheese spread, toast, and red onion marmalade came highly recommended, we opted for the Nº2 Hand Pie ($7) with butternut squash and goat cheese.

The hand pie was definitely sharable and was served with pickled veggies and two sauces: spicy mustard and a homemade malt sauce. The sauces were good, but we concluded they probably go better with the meat hand pies. 

Cool ambiance, great cocktails, and a totally affordable and (from our minimal experience) tasty food menu. Plus, The Richmond has a great happy hour too. $1 off all items from 4-6pm everyday. We'll definitely be back!