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The Pearl Tavern, the upscale sports bar co-owned by ex-Ducks quarterback Joey Harrington, is closing after less than two years of business.
Related: Former NFL Quarterback Joey Harrington Is Opening a Tavern in Portland.
As Eater PDX first reported, the restaurant's celebrity barman Ryan Magarian—co-inventor of Aviation gin—announced the impending closure Wednesday in a Facebook post.
Family and Friends! It's with a lot of sadness (on many levels) that my partners and I will be announcing the closure...
Posted by Ryan Magarian on Wednesday, May 23, 2018
"It's with a lot of sadness," he wrote, "that my partners and I will be announcing the closure of The Pearl Tavern effective June 5th."
Magarian could not immediately be reached for comment on the cause of the closure but added in his Facebook post that a deal had been made with a "really exciting group/concept," to take over the Pearl District space. According to Magarian, the new tenants will continue to offer "some rad beverage and food."
The Pearl Tavern opened in December 2016 as a posh-yet-cozy spot for low-brow averse Pearl District sports fans to get bottle service and nosh on spiced toffee beer nuts during big games.
"I'm at the age where I don't want to go to Buffalo Wild Wings," Harrington told The Oregonian when first unveiling the restaurant. "If I want to hang out and get a good meal, and maybe catch a game, where am I going to do that?"
In a 2016 review, WW lauded the place as an escape from the "ball-capped riffraff eating mini corn dogs over at Lloyd Center."
It's unclear if the bar will remain sports-centric under new ownership, but Magarian noted in his post that his "top priority right now is assisting [employees] in finding new professional homes."