The Pocket Pub

By Matthew Singer

In the beginning, there were two Slices—first, the pizza shop in this innocuous residential strip of the Eliot neighborhood, then the unrelated one still at the Zipper on Sandy. But apparently Northeast Portland isn't big enough to support two generically named pizzerias. And so the first Slice is now the Pocket Pub. Owners Kara Lammerman and Jennifer Cale clearly have modest intentions, but when you're working with a space the size of a studio apartment, "dreaming big" isn't a realistic option. But Pocket fills a niche the neighborhood desperately needs between blue-collar dive and something slightly more high-end. The Pocket Pub splits every difference. Cocktails are simple and fruity, the beer list is slight but won't insult snobs, and the pizza—12-inch pies, from margherita to blackened fennel, topping out at $15—is a respite from the grease bombs at Sparky's. It's middle-class but not stuffy, as comfortable as your living room, and just what the area needed.

HAPPY HOUR: 4-6 pm and 10 pm-close daily. $1 off draft beers, wines, wells, appetizers and select cocktails. $2 off pizza special. $10 off wine bottles to go.

2719 NE 7th Ave., 503-287-3645, pocketpubpdx.com. 4-11 pm Sunday-Thursday, 4 pm-midnight Friday-Saturday.

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