PDX Adventure - reviews

2 SE 18th Ave
Portland, OR 97214
(503) 236-2876
www.theeastburn.com
Hours: Mon 11:00 a.m.-2:00 a.m.
Price: $$
Rating:4 stars

Trivia and movie nights, ski-ball, slot car racing, swinging chairs that hang from the ceiling, fantastic happy hour (that lasts till 7!!!), mountains of boardgames and bar tenders that are uber cool but don't give you that "why the fuck are you bothering me" eye roll when you order. That's pretty much all I could ever possibly ask for in a bar, and The Eastburn has it.

Lest I forget to mention the pocket conscious happy hours, or recess as they call it. ( $2.75 Drafts, $2.75 Wells, $5.00 House Cocktails, $1 PBR tall boys, buy 1 get 1 drafts and well drink Mondays, $2 pint tuesday all day, as well as Whiskey Wednesday and Tequila Thursday specials)

One of the things I love most about this bar are the small, seperated spaces each with a slightly different feel. Walking in through a fairly non-discript front door you find yourself standing in what feels a bit like an upscale restaurant and you wonder to yourself "is this right? Where's the ski ball?" Then you notice some of the tables are made of miniature 1950's style surf boards, and things start to make sense. This would be the 'annex'.

Downstairs is the 'taproom'. If you had a really awesome buddy who won a couple grand playing the lotto and decided to use it to acquire some rad garage sale finds and turn his basement into a sweet bar/game room it would look like this. A fun little bonus is finding out that downstairs has a different set of beer on tap than upstairs, so it's kind of like a booze scavenger hunt.
One thing to note about the Eastburn is that it's not your typical barfood. A) It's a little more spendy than most bar food. B) it's a lot fancier than most bar food. C) it's incredibly more tasty than most bar food.
Aside from serving a full menu of food downstairs, they have a "Recess" and late night menu which is noteably more "bar food" like with things like their delicious Mackin’ Cheese (Fresh Penne Pasta with 4 Cheese Cream Sauce) for $6 and Trinity Fries (A Blend of Russet and Sweet Potato Fries, Topped with Fried Leeks) for $5. They have several veggi options (yay!) and I was even eyeballing our neighbors' plate of pasta and some kind of meat that looked amazing.

The "patio". Open air with exposed beams, high walls and a swing set style row of hanging benches, I loved the patio. It seems a bit small, as do all the spaces at The Eastburn but it didn't bother me at all. There is some outdoor seating in the front if I remember correctly so those who want to smoke but find the back patio too crowded have options.

All in all I really enjoyed this place. I look forward to returning on Sunday to check out movie night. I'd highly recommend the drink specials but stay away from Candyland. It's not nearly as fun as you remember!

Jam on Hawthorne
2239 SE Hawthorne Blvd
Portland, OR 97214
Phone: (503) 234-4790
Hours: Mon-Fri 7:30am-2:30pm, Sat-Sun 7:30am-3pm