barnacles and burgers. the oldest bar this side of the rockies and proud of it; portway is a 'take it or leave it' dive with a healthy mix of life preservers and bras adorning its ceiling and walls. i presumed the preservers were to save you from drowning in your drink while the bras were left for the imagination to run away with. anyhow, we went here twice. first for drinks, and then, the next day for lunch. the lady tending bar warmed up to us on our return visit, after giving us a little taste of the tourist indifference on our first go around. the reason we came back was for their burgers, which we were assured by a couple of local gals the evening before, were probably the best in town.
having our drinks before us, we set task to the menus. after discovering they were a third pound of hand pressed chuck, i went straight for the jalapeno pepper jack burger with waffle fries($9), while the wife kept it simple with a straight up cheeseburger and house made potato chips ($7.50). i'll cut to the chase; damn good burgers. charbroiled, cooked to medium, this was a honest to goodness, straight up bar burger like they used to make them before everyone started switching over to frozen patties. it reminded my wife of theburgersshe would get in bars in michigan when she was growing up. we have goodburgersin portland too, dont get me wrong, but it was nice to order one that didnt come with a pedigree and a certificate of eco-friendliness. their chips were pretty tasty as well. overall, we were happy campers and glad we came back.
grade: b (sign says the grill closes at 9 pm, so hurry up!)