{"id":164705,"date":"2023-09-21T03:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-09-21T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sunset.com\/?p=164705"},"modified":"2023-09-19T20:29:06","modified_gmt":"2023-09-20T03:29:06","slug":"portland-pacific-standard-cocktails-and-bar-bites","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sunset.com\/food-wine\/kitchen-assistant\/portland-pacific-standard-cocktails-and-bar-bites","title":{"rendered":"These Are the Best Mussels We’ve Ever Had (Plus, More Snacks from Portland’s Best Bar)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Jeffrey Morgenthaler can get pretty philosophical when it comes to bar food. \u201cThe West Coast has its own special food language, and I think there is a larger conversation in there about classic West Coast gastronomy that is deeper than the typical farm-to-table discussion. Pacific Standard<\/a> isn\u2019t Alice Waters<\/a>; it\u2019s James Beard.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/a> <\/span>\"Jeffrey<\/div>
Jeffrey Morgenthaler<\/figcaption>

Thomas J. Story<\/p><\/figure>\n\n\n

There aren\u2019t a lot of bartenders working these days who name-drop deceased East Coast culinary lions when riffing on the inspiration behind their latest project. But then again there aren\u2019t many bartenders like Morgenthaler. He\u2019s the guy who put Portland<\/a> cocktails on the map, first at Clyde Common at the Ace Hotel, then at P\u00e9p\u00e9 le Moko. He\u2019s written two books on the subject. He\u2019s an excellent maker of drinks with some 30 years behind the bar. And Pacific Standard at the KEX Hotel<\/a> in Portland is his longtime dream.<\/p>\n\n\n

<\/a> <\/span>\"Pacific<\/div>

Thomas J. Story<\/p><\/figure>\n\n\n

Pacific Standard is, as Morgenthaler explains it, somewhat confusingly, \u201ca restaurant bar without a restaurant.\u201d Morgenthaler was tired of the 4 a.m. closing times, the rowdy clientele, and the limitations of simply making drinks in the bar world, and gravitated toward the refinement of a restaurant setting: well-behaved clientele, access to great produce and product, good food to keep people grounded and lingering. Pacific Standard has all of those things, but unlike a restaurant bar, as Morgenthaler likes to point out, the bartenders are running the show. Yes, there\u2019s food, but instead of coming from a culinary mind, it\u2019s a bartender\u2019s menu. So the food is hearty and drink-friendly, personal, and reflective of Morgenthaler\u2019s pan-Western tastes, not with hyper-regional specificity but in a meandering greatest-hits, road-trip sort of way: artichokes<\/a> with dip as a nod to their spiritual home of Castroville, a drive-through burger with a hat tip to In-N-Out, a spiked date shake boozily saluting Palm Springs<\/a>, or a Caesar salad from Tijuana<\/a> with an optional Pacific Northwest Dungeness crab<\/a> supplement.<\/p>\n\n\n

<\/a> <\/span>\"Pacific<\/div>

Thomas J. Story<\/p><\/figure>\n\n\n

The drinks are equally classic, though less overtly Western: subtle spins on old fashioneds, gimlets, and negronis, but all with a welcome twist\u2014their ABV percentages are listed so customers know exactly what they\u2019re getting into; a 37-percent ABV Old Fashioned, say, or a 9.99-percent \u201cAll-Day Bloody Mary.\u201d It\u2019s a brilliant public service that all bars would be wise to adapt. And for those who aren\u2019t imbibing the hard stuff, he offers well-crafted zero-ABV drinks, such as the Tiger Balm, made with a nonalcoholic spirit infused with bay leaf, pepper, and lime, which we have included here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Try These Drinks and Snacks at Home<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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