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Spints Alehouse 401 NE 28th Ave
Portland, OR 97232 |
http://ccole.info/aflyonthewall/?p=310
The cuisine will be have its main focus on traditional German food, but have some influence from Belgium and Northern France to add some lighter fare. Overseeing the management of the bar will be Ted Charak, formerly of Teardrop Lounge.
Count me in on that crawl! I am ravenously hungry all the time at this point.
I can even be designated driver if anyone needs!
Anyone know anything about the beer list, or even just the number of taps/nitro that they'll have? On the website it mentioned something about local and regional. I hope that they include beers from the same regions that they are cooking from.
Spints Alehouse willl have up to 12 rotating taps. We want to emphasize quality beers from the Northwest that may have a little bit of Northern European style to them, but also have a selection of unique beers from Germany, Belgium and France that are a little less common to see in bars in the NW. Ted's passion for beer will definitely help compliment the rustic food menu that will be coming from the kitchen. Also, we hope to have our cocktail menu posted on our website in the coming days. spintspdx.com !!! Thanks for the interest! Alyssa Gregg
I was at Spints tonight. Here's the current list of beer on tap:
- Trumer Pilsner
- Bayern Schwarz
- Reissdorf Kolsch
- Hacker-Pschorr Weissbier
- Heater Allen Dunkel-Weiss
- Aventinus Wheat Dopplebock
- Great Divide Hibernation Ale
- Fullers London Porter
- Ninkasi Total Domination IPA
- Double Mountain India Red Ale
- Oakshire Espresso Stout
- Fearless Strong Scottish Ale
- Duchesse de Bourgogne Flemish Red Ale
- Nostradamus Strong Dark Ale
Nice selection of bottles, too.
Thanks for posting that beer list, John. That was reason enough for us to head over there last night for dinner. Little did we know that the food would rock too.
I had a few beers, the Duchesse and a Nostradamus on tap followed by a Rodenbach Grand Cru in bottle. All great choices that went well with the food.
Speaking of which, we started with the chanterelle soup, and chicken fried chicken livers, and endive and apple salad. All are solid. I was thinkful for the big ole pile of frisee served w/the chicken livers, cause man those were rich. Same with the soup, a decadent puree of mushroom with hearty slivers thrown in for good measure. It was a perfect night for all the food we ordered. It's hearty food that goes well with beer and chilly temps. MB had a wonderfully smokey chicken paprikas and I was in heaven with short rib/spaetzle bowl. I could eat that again right now!
The place was quite full for a soft opening, but they handled the crowd with no problems. Service was ridiculously good and we never wanted for anything. There are familiar faces behind the bar and serving, so you are in good hands with a group here.
Dinner for two of us with drinks came to about $75, which is a good deal considering what we ordered. that being said, I would have winced at the $11 price tag for 16oz. Belgian pours were I not so tickled to actually have them available on draft.
Good food and good beer...they say it couldn't happen in Portland. Happily they're wrong.
My wife and I went in on Friday. Given it was their first week they seemed very together and not at all like they were figuring anything out. We did a scatter shot across the menu and split everything.
The highlight for me was the Chicken Liver schnitzel which is now on my must order list. In addition we had the Weisswurst made with veal and foie gras severed on maple beans with bacon, a smorgasbord of house cured meats, and as an entree sturgeon on a potato roti.
Everything was well executed and tasty although I got slightly over meated by the smorgasbord plate.
For drinks we had two of their house drinks which were fine but nothing I feel like I need to have again. I did have them make me a Old Tom Martinez which was maybe one of the best version of that drink I have had.
Angelhair, I had a taste of the Nostradamus Strong Dark Ale and it was good - very good, in fact. But the $11 price was just over my 'budget' for the evening. I've had the Duchesse de Bourgogne before, and it's definitely one of my favorites. I would pay $11 for that one, no question.
In the end, I went with the Aventinus Wheat Dopplebock - yumm! I only had one but it made me feel really good all over...
For dinner, I had the Smoked Chicken Paprikash which was delicious. Next time, those chicken livers sound great; also, the pork cheeks with rye bread pudding, apple & kummel butter.
I, too, thought the service was very good. It's always nice when the server tries to help you get the most out of your visit.
I thought I recognized a tall bearded guy there behind the bar and after re-reading this thread from the top, I realize I must know him from Teardrop.
It's a very comfortable space with a good feel, and I look forward to returning soon.
Best of Luck to SpintS!
I think Spints has hit a home run. The decor is so warm and inviting while also being just slightly quirky (I especially like the water spigots in the back room from which the light fixtures hang). The locker/mailbox theme is executed as a nice touch (the word for locker in German is spind), housing whiskeys behind the bar as well as steins along the wall. The hum of the room meshes well with the eclectic soundtrack, and the big picture windows looking out at the residential end of NE 28th offers a window to the world beyond all the dark wood.
The beer menu is well-curated, and the cocktail menu is playful without being esoteric, incorporating house made Grand Marnier as well as a spicy house made creme de cacao. This is, after all, a drinkers bar, reflecting the personality of Alyssa the owner and Ted the bar manager. ("I like to drink two things," Ted explained. "Beer and tequila.")
The food menu reads like the other Euro-centric gastropubs here in town, namely Clyde and Beaker, and yet there's a homestyle approach that makes it a marked departure from those two. It just comes across as more hearty, more Alpine refuge than city destination.
As many of you know, I like to employ a one month moratorium on recommending or un-recommending any restaurant, on account of allowing a business to find its identity. I'd like to think my track record speaks for itself when it comes to making exceptions to that rule, and I'll put that on the line again here with Spints.
Spints Alehouse is highly recommended.
Some photos from last night.
chicken liver schnitzel and the smorgasbord
beef stew and pretzel with cheese
smoked chicken paprikash
seafood bourride
pork cheeks
As good as the pork cheeks were ("like the best carnitas you've ever had") the croquette next to it was even better. I was so lost in ecstatic enjoyment that, even after asking twice, I still haven't quite pinned down what's in it. Regardless, this was one of those components of the dish that could stand out on its own. It had the deep-fried exterior of an arancini or falafel, but instead of a dense interior it's surprisingly light despite possessing a deep meaty flavor. Add in the fact that you've got succulent pork and pickled cabbage and you've got an excellent dish, an early front-runner for 2010 Plate of the Year.
If someone would, enlighten us as to some of the prices of these dishes?
TIA
I can't remember the plate prices, but MB and I ate there with two apps, lots of beers and two entrees for about $75.
Another cool thing they did, though we didn't ask, was to divide the check by seat.
I thoroughly enjoyed myself at Spints. When we were getting ready to leave, I was shocked to see that we had spent almost 5 1/2 hours there. It was that comfortable. We racked up quite the tab after that many hours, but mainly because their beer selection was so great.
Most small plates were around $7, but you could easily call them a small dinner. Entrees were more around $13-14. Cocktails were very reasonably priced. Beers were all over the map because, well, the beers are from all over the map.
I just returned from a very pleasant dining experience at Spints. My wife, son and I first enjoyed happy hour drinks in their cozy atmosphere, followed by several dinner suggestions from our attentive waitress. I ordered the braised ribs, which I can honestly say are the best I've ever had. My wife and son had the chicken paprikash, which they also said was excellent. I will make a point of returning, and would highly recommend this new restaurant to anyone.
Steve J.
Renamed the old "[AFOTW]" thread to just "Spints Alehouse" and moved it from "In the News" to "Portland Restaurants". Also grafted on the newer comments with the older comments.
Finally, I added @SpintsAlehouse to the Twitter page.
http://www.oregonlive.com/dining/index.ssf/2010/02/platter_spints_alehou...
Gregg had no idea that her comfortably casual, dark-wooded space along the Northeast 28th Avenue restaurant row near Burnside Street would open barely a month before Gruner, a publicity magnet with the same culinary focus as Spints and helmed by a high-profile local chef, Christopher Israel. Not to worry. Spints is quickly carving its own neighborhood niche -- and deservedly drawing devotees from around the city.
http://www.portlandmercury.com/portland/of-cephalopods-and-sauerkraut/Co...
Traveling through the keyhole of Spints Alehouse will find you in a territory where these moments aren't uncommon. It's a peculiar place, though I suppose no more than any other pan-German cocktail lounge boasting a mystifying menu and robust tap and bottle list. Still—the rock-decorated bar, the screened stein lockers, the claustrophobic back dining room, the wine bottles hanging off the wall like weird green glass fruit—it's disorienting.
Really like Spints. They're really going slow and steady into this space. They added Sunday nights a month or so ago and have been building steadily a nice sunday crowd. They've talked about adding lunch in a month or two and they're working on getting a great bar staff who can do more than just the beer. I know Jake Grier has been subbing in there and he does some fantastic stuff behind the bar.
Happy hour specials are solid and I've really enjoyed the cheese board with the drinks I've had there. They also have a good price on George T Stagg bourbon. A full $5 less a glass than some other bars I've been to.
To be fair, HTB and I had the Reuben DP(dirty pretzel, you sicko!
) and although I am willing to chalk it up to it perhaps being ill prepared that day, I have to say it's the most unsuccessful Dirty Pretzel to date. Starting at the pretzel itself, it was overly stiff and seemed either old or over reheated. The pastrami was lacking smoke and the fat wasn't rendered well. The 1000island was the most disconcerting part....really weird sweet/sticky taste and no real tartness.
Oh well. As I told someone else recently, this brings my experience at Spints to a ratio of about 22/1 great/bad. I'll take that....
Went in on Friday and Sunday. Friday was dinner and Sunday was a post dinner drink.
On Saturday we went for the bar menu items that included the Sloppy Joe Dirty Pretzel an the Chicken Pot Pie. I devoured both of them although the sloppy joe was perhaps a tad salty.
Sunday drinks were low key but I think I freaked the kitchen out when I asked for a pickleback. Given some of the pickled items on the smörgåsbord they have I hoped they have some high quality pickle juice lining around but I ended up getting some juice out of a jar of cornichons which was quite nice but I was hoping for some house made items.
Nice! I'm excited to see what Alyssa and Ted come up with. For those not clicking through, the location is 401 NE 28th, by Ken's Artisan Pizza. Definitely some wine and even sake destinations near there, but not really beer.