Blazers star and hometown hero Damian Lillard is bringing Dame Time to the local food and drink scene. On Friday, March 6, Lillard and his business partners officially opened Honorable Mention, a sports bar—actually, it calls itself a luxury sports lounge—in the basement of the historic Benson Hotel in downtown Portland.
Honorable Mention features vaulted ceilings, round banquettes, cozy couches, tucked-away tables, and cushy bar seats. Behind the bar and along the walls, TVs play not just sports, but black-and-white photos and video clips of trailblazing (!) Black athletes. The menu features beer, wine, and over a dozen cocktails, plus fancy versions of classic sports bar snacks, tavern fare, and steaks.
“Portland is my home,” Lillard said in a press release. “When I think about helping build this city back up to what made me and many others fall in love with it, I know that starts with presenting people who come here with an experience we can all share—fellowship, fun, good food, and safety. I look forward to building on this as we continue to lift Portland back to what it once was.”
The food served at a recent press event was a slam dunk—highlights included corn ribs, beet-pickled deviled eggs, buffalo wings, braised beef nachos, fried chicken, charred cabbage and broccolini, and steak with brown butter bearnaise. And the cocktails we tried, from a rum, lime, and orgeat number topped with coconut whip to a figgy Manhattan, were nothing but net.
Honorable Mention is the third restaurant inside the Benson Hotel, joining steakhouse and cigar bar El Gaucho and lobby bar and restaurant The Palm Court. Along with Lillard, its owners include JR Duperrier, who works in marketing for Adidas and is also a restaurateur (he’s a partner in Janken, the vibey Asian fusion restaurant in Northwest Portland); David Lucas, son of former Trail Blazers star Maurice Lucas who leads a nonprofit named after his father; Moda Health president Dr. William Johnson; and Mark Byrum from Urban Restaurant Group, the folks behind several spots around town including Fuller’s Coffee Shop and Fuller’s Burger Shack, Brix Tavern, and the Benson’s own Palm Court. Behind the food is chef Bobby Brown, Urban Restaurant Group’s culinary director. (A LinkedIn search reveals that Bobby Brown is a former chef de cuisine at Los Angeles’s uber-pricey grocery store Erewhon, famously home of the $20 smoothies.)
There’s nothing else like Honorable Mention in Portland, where sports bars aren’t a huge part of the local scene, let alone luxury sports lounges. But maybe it’s just the assist Portland needs.
Honorable Mention, 309 SW Broadway, Sun-Thurs 4 pm-11 pm, Fri-Sat 4 pm-midnight, honorablementionpdx.com, IG: @honorablementionpdx