Wednesday, April 2, 2008

JO BAR ~ NW 23rd, PORTLAND, OR.

Not many things beat a good mac & cheese in my book!  This was as good as it looks.

I have a lot of favorite places in Portland, but Jo Bar has always been in the top 10. Their drinks are fantastic, and they make all their food in a brick oven, which just makes everything so darn tasty! It's not super-fancy, but it's definitely stylish. Just a comfortable place with good food and drinks. 

My all  time favorite dish was their free range roasted chicken, and it was served very simply - over baby greens and the "dressing" was the drippings from the moist and flavorful chicken. Sigh. I didn't see it on the menu this time however, so we opted for a few other choices. Try something new. 

This was the fondue. Can't complain, it was great. I also got the mac & cheese though (seen above) and I think it was the same cheese "sauce" so it was a little like having 2 versions of the same thing. Good thing I like cheese.  That mac & cheese also had mushrooms in it by the way, which really added another depth of richness to the already over-the-top yum factor.

This was the Cuban sandwich my brother got. How GOOD does that look! I think it was probably the best thing on the table that day. Tender pork with enough fat to make it deadly delicious, a wee bit of cheese, some hot peppers and toasted french bread. 

Theo's seafood plate. I didn't get too good of a look at this, because the portion was so small that Theo scarfed it within no time. He said it was good though. Just not nearly enough of it. Come on Jo Bar, clams aren't that expensive. You need to beef up this portion a bit.  (UPDATE: Theo informed me that this was off the Happy Hour menu so it was only like $3. In that case - the portion size was more than acceptable.)  



They display art on their walls, and if I'm not mistaken, I think it's for sale. If you see something you can't live without, like this ..... whatever it is ..... maybe you can own it!