Bar Guide 2014: Oso Market and Bar

By Matthew Korfhage

Oso Market and Bar

726 SE Grand Ave., 232-6400, osomarket.com. 11am - 10 pm Tuesday-Thursday, 11 am-11 pm Friday-Saturday, 11 am-7 pm Sunday.

Just down the road from Hawks PDX sex club and My Father’s Place, Oso Market and Bar joins Enso, Clay Pigeon and Sauvage wine bars at the frontier of gentrification. But unlike those locally focused wine haunts, former House Spirits distiller Colin Howard takes his bottle bar on a discriminating tour of old Europe, and the well-selected beer case sports both Commons and VanderGhinste. The bar’s train-car space is a brightly lit, neutral-toned version of upmarket Portland—right down to the ubiquitous interior light-bulby “OSO” sign. Its market shelves are packed with three brands of local salumi, high-end vermouths and raw-milk cheese, and the menu runs from boquerones to the occasional 3-for-$5 oyster deals. The crowd toggles among North Facers, middle-aged doctors and the smarter end of the party set—whoever’s got good taste in drinks, I guess. MATTHEW KORFHAGE.
Happy Hour: 4-6 pm Tuesday-Saturday. $1 off drafts, bottle-beer specials, $2 off wine, food specials.    

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