Bar Guide 2015: Jimmy Mak's

BARBAR
By PARKER HALL

211 NW 10th Ave., 295-6542, jimmymaks.com. 5 pm-midnight Monday-Thursday, 5 pm-1 am Friday-Saturday.

Most of the world's best jazz musicians have taken their souls for a walk in front of Jimmy Mak's red velvet curtain, provided they haven't been dead for two decades. In the 19 years since Portland's finest jazz club opened its doors across from its current, larger, Pearl District location, the vibe has remained resolutely classy. It is still a well-decorated, clean-cut, medium-sized room with a large stage and upper balcony, and it still has a small corner bar, with a restaurant that serves budget-unconscious jazz patrons a tasty $24 seafood linguini while they listen intently to the sounds emanating from the mouths, hands, and sometimes feet, of their musical heroes. You don't really have a choice. Other jazz clubs dart in and out, but this is Portland's only enduring jazz club experience—right down to the Sazerac, which they expertly rinse with Pernod in true New Orleans fashion.

Happy hour: 5-6:30 pm. Ten percent off all purchases. 

Entertainment: Live jazz, funk, soul.


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WWeek 2015

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