Having failed spectacularly as a publicly financed City
Council candidate in 2010, Jesse Cornett has turned to a second
affiliation as a publican—like Bud Clark, if Bud Clark never won
anything. It is difficult to enter Cornett's new Rocket Building bar, The Guild Public House (1101 E Burnside St., 233-1743, theguildpub.com),
without entertaining visions of fiasco: the server pouring scalding
soup into your lap, say, or the bartender squirting vodka into her eyes
while her hair catches fire. In fact, nothing like this happens. The
Guild is a handsome if anodyne space, a bit like Grand Central Bowl
condensed into a storefront, serving a fine grilled cheese with Granny
Smith slices, a downright stellar chicken chowder (together for $7) and a
strong if not well-mixed Old Fashioned ($7.50). There's even a hangover
cure called the Corpse Reviver ($8), and seeing Cornett beaming happily
at the till, you hope he may have a second act in him yet.
WWeek 2015