In order to fully appreciate Thatch, Robert Voltz’s new lounge on NE Broadway, you need to know a little bit about the history of the tiki bar. While they’re now generally considered retro-kitsch, tiki bars were once known for skillful bartenders, well-made cocktails, and an ambiance that offered a fanciful escape from the daily grind. […]
Alison Hallett
Alison Hallett served nobly as the Mercury's arts editor from 2008-2014. Her proud legacy lives on.
Posted inTheater & Performance
The Thugs
Portland Center Stage (PCS) has been doing all right by me this season: I Am My Own Wife and Misalliance were solid productions, and there’s some interesting stuff on the horizon (The Pillowman, in particular). Their current late-night production of Adam Bock’s The Thugs, though, went a good distance toward squandering the goodwill I’ve been […]
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Pause and Smell the Meatloaf
Searching for Greatness at Pause Kitchen
Everybody loves the Low Brow Lounge—the smoky, divey little bar in Northwest that provides a welcome escape from the Pearl District’s chi-chi bar scene. The forces behind the Low Brow have recently opened another restaurant: North Portland’s Pause Kitchen and Bar, a more upscale outpost just off the Interstate MAX line. Pause is like the […]
Posted inTheater & Performance
Escape from Happiness
Theater Vertigo’s current “dramedy,” Escape from Happiness, focuses on one family—a mother, Nora (April Magnusson), and her three daughters—who have an ambiguous relationship with reality. Deserted for 10 years by Nora’s husband, Tom (Erik James), the women have been forced to find their own way in the world. Their coping mechanics include, variously, delusion, motherhood, […]
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Play by the Rules
Learning How to Eat at the Whiskey Soda Lounge
If you haven’t eaten at Pok Pok, odds are you’ve at least heard of it: In the past year and a half, the tiny shack with the modest menu has garnered enthusiastic props from every publication in town (including this one). Owner and head chef Andy Ricker churns out Thai cuisine with the attention to […]
Posted inBooks
About Alice
By Calvin Trillin
A columnist for The Nation and staffer at the New Yorker, Calvin Trillin is perhaps most widely known for his essays on food, which humorously describe his voracious eating habits and the great lengths to which he’ll go to find the perfect meal. Trillin’s wife Alice appears in many of his writings as a long-suffering […]
Posted inTheater & Performance
Number Three
Third Rail’s world premiere of local playwright Ebbe Roe Smith’s Number Three is funny, disturbing, and stylistically compelling: It takes a cartoonish, over-the-top look at a stereotypical 1950s’ household, in which Dad (Scott Coopwood) is a military man with a violent temper and Mom’s (Maureen Porter) attempts to keep up appearances are hampered by the […]
Posted inTheater & Performance
Vanya
Let’s just get this out of the way: William Hurt is a very talented actor and it’s fantastic to see him up close and personal in ART’s production of Vanya. He gives a magnetic performance as the eccentric-but-sexy Dr. Astroff, and it’s quite understandable why all the female characters in the play want to nail […]
Posted inTheater & Performance
Misalliance
George Bernard Shaw was a socialist vegetarian with feminist leanings and a strong sense of social responsibility. He was also known for his quick wit, brought equally to his writing and to his public life. Portland Center Stage’s production of Misalliance showcases both Shaw’s humor and his concern with issues of class and exploitation, via […]
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Third Time’s a Charm?
Searching for Consistency at 23 Hoyt
23 Hoyt is the reincarnation of Balvo, Kenny Giambalvo (of bluehour) and Bruce Carey’s short-lived Italian joint. Carey is still behind the scenes, but the split-floor restaurant has been utterly transformed— the bright lines of Balvo giving way to coats of gray paint, moody draperies, and flickering candlelight, and the menu retooled to included a […]
Posted inTheater & Performance
Can’t Say I Do
Can’t Say I Do is a musical comedy about how unfair it is that gays can’t get married. That opening sentence should’ve elicited one of two responses: Either it caused you to nod your head and say, “That sounds interesting,” or it made you want to rip your own eyeballs out. Unfortunately for Key Productions, […]
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Beer Me
A Beer Drinker’s Guide
Most of the country is a vast beer wasteland compared to this place—I’ve never missed Portland more than when I paid $5 for a Heineken in Washington, DC. While you can get a Full Sail Amber or Mirror Pond in just about every dive bar in town, there are a few establishments that stand out […]