The Best Bar to . . . Hang With Hipsters: Teardrop Cocktail Lounge This Portland, Ore., nightspot is an island of modernity in the city's retro hipster Pearl District.
By Paul Clarke
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Teardrop Cocktail Lounge | Portland, Ore.
While Portland has its share of old-school, leather-and-oak business bars where you and your clients can talk serious shop, the city has also carefully nurtured its credentials in cool. Portland offers plenty of opportunities to impress, but Teardrop Cocktail Lounge is a top pick for a place to show off the city at its most with-it.
Located in the recently revamped and über-hip Pearl District on the north side of downtown, the Teardrop is an island of modernity in Portland's burgeoning sea of retro hipsterdom. Sleek and contemporary in design, with concrete walls hung with artwork or lit with a digital projector, the lounge has attracted a trendsetting crowd of regulars since its 2007 debut. The bar's aesthetic sensibility isn't limited to the décor, either; the menu is filled with some of the country's most imaginative culinary cocktails, many created by owner Daniel Shoemaker.
The atmosphere is mellow during early evening, making it a good time to chat with a client over a round of conversation-piece cocktails. Or head in after dinner when the place is coming alive and grab seats at the teardrop-shaped bar for people-watching. With a tasteful vibe and upscale drinks designed for grown-up palates, this is an ideal place to experience Portland at its barroom best. You'll burnish your business relationships without it appearing you're even trying--which, come to think of it, is what being hip is all about.
Order like a regular: Unfinished Business, a lightly bitter mix of Martin Miller's gin, French and Italian aperitif wines and boutique bitters.
Go: 1015 NW Everett St.; (503) 445-8109; teardroplounge.com
