Americano Closes Three Months after Being Named the Oregonian's Bar of the Year

Maybe this is why the Oregonian is so loath to endorse: The local semi-daily paper's Bar of the Year did not quite last a year.

After being named the O's standout bar of 2016 in August, the bar—from Hale Pele's Blair Reynolds and Coco Donuts' Ian Christopher—unceremoniously closed eight months into its tenure, Eater reports. Reynolds cited insufficient sales as the reason.

In visits since our initial review in April, it seemed the bar had a hard time building clientele in a transitional East Burnside neighborhood, next to a seemingly forever vacant Chopsticks building.

Related: The Past and Future Chopsticks

As a high-concept, high-profile coffee cocktail and vermouth and press-pot bar in the somewhat unpopular Burnside 26 building, Americano faced more than a few uphill battles in garnering a steady crowd, compounded by the near-immediate departure of their head chef and steady losses among barstaff with impressive resumes.

As we noted in our initial review, however, it offered quite a few pleasures despite its sterile decor:

"Within, the cafe and bar looks like a cross between a hair salon and a Duran Duran album—sterile white-on-white, with a massive ornate mirror, marble horseshoe bar and '80s-style pop-deco coffee art spanning an entire wall. Such an apparent ode to false luxury shouldn't be any good, nor fun. But then you notice the sparkling gamay on the menu—a delightful quaff that might as well be Champagne jam—and the preponderance of wine bottles served for under $30."

Anyway, here's the goodbye message from the bar.

To our friends and regulars at Americano,

Thank you for the months of joy you brought through our doors, as we discovered, together, a world of coffee, vermouth, and joyous conversation. Unfortunately, due to difficult circumstances, we are announcing our official closure. Thank you again for the opportunity to entertain you.

– The owners and staff of Americano

Note: For those in need of a terrific coffee and vermouth bar, we very much like Locale: Expect coffee cocktails and a full liquor license in the next couple months, according to owners.

Willamette Week