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Brix Tavern is a restaurant serving American cuisine in Portland, Oregon's Pearl District, in the United States. The 150-seat restaurant was opened by Urban Restaurant Group in April 2011, offering a menu with wood-fired pizzas, rotisserie means, and other comfort foods. Brix has hosted and participated in a variety of special events, and has received a generally positive reception, with compliments most often given for happy hour menu options.

Description

Brix Tavern is a 150-seat restaurant serving American cuisine in downtown Portland's Pearl District. Portland Monthly describes Brix as a New American restaurant and the Pearl District's "game-time go-to", with 30 craft beers on top, 20 television screens, a billiard table, two dart boards, and a happy hour menu available for six hours each day. Erin DeJesus of Eater Portland considers Brix a lounge and sports bar. Snooker was available for free, as of 2015.

Menu

One restaurant guide of Portland has described Brix as a "warm, contemporary" restaurant and bar serving "a unique collection of enduring American comfort food and cocktails enhanced with only the freshest, locally sourced ingredients". The menu features wood-fired pizzas, rotisserie meats, and truffled macaroni and cheese. The brunch menu, available on weekends, offers a "slight Southern twist" and includes chicken and waffles, biscuits and gravy with maple sausage, Eggs Benedict, shrimp and grits, mimosas, and complimentary cinnamon sugar doughnuts drizzled with chocolate and raspberry.

The happy hour menu included calamari, Pizza Margherita, and seared yellowfin tuna with avocado, corn, tomato, and wasabi mayonnaise, as well as the "kicky" Brix Mule with bourbon or vodka, as of 2019. Brix offered half price on bottles of wine on Thursdays, as of 2016.

History

Brix opened on April 22, 2011, in the space previously occupied by Italian-Mediterranean restaurant Olea. Michael Gottlieb of Urban Restaurants, Inc. had applied for Brix's liquor license by November 2010. Brix's "sister restaurants" within Urban Restaurant Group include Bartini, Carlita's, Swank & Swine, and Urban Fondue, as of 2017.

Events

Brix has hosted and participated in a variety of special events. In 2016, the restaurant hosted a "Beer – Barbecue – Bourbon Buffet" featuring barbecue alongside beers by Ninkasi and bourbon whiskey by Elijah Craig. The 2017 "Whiskey Wash" invited local distilleries to pair whiskeys with Brix's "sweet-bourbon" rotisserie pork leg. For Thanksgiving in 2017, the restaurant served a four-course dinner with roast turkey. Brix has participated in Portland Mercury's Highball (featuring crafter cocktails), Burger Week, and Nacho Week events. For Burger Week in 2017 and 2019, Brix offered a burger called "The Norm" with sirloin steak, smoked Tillamook cheddar fondue, shredded lettuce, tomatoes, caramelized onions, and sauce, for $5. For Nacho Week in 2019, Brix offered the "Brix Chips" with braised roasted pork shoulder, Swiss cheese fondue, grilled tomato salsa, cilantro cream, and tortilla chips, for $5. For a Super Bowl viewing party in 2020, Brix served Buffalo wings, barbecue pork ribs, mini corn dogs, "lil smokies", mozzarella sticks, tater tots, and "tachos" (nachos in the form of chips and tater tots).

Reception

In her 2014 book Food Lovers' Guide to Portland, Oregon, Laurie Wolf wrote, "This is good American comfort food, with standout dishes including anything cooked on the rotisserie. The pizzas are good and the prime rib Cobb salad is hearty and different. I am a sucker for truffle anything, and their truffled mac and cheese is crusty and comforting... The rib eye is cooked well and the shared trio of beef platter is a great idea, very well executed." In 2015, Willamette Week's Matthew Korfhage said Brix has the city's "weirdest drink specials". Brix placed third in the "Night Light Lounge" and "Best Mimosa" categories of Willamette Week's annual readers' poll in 2016 and 2017, respectively. In her 2017 search for the best local wood-fired pizza, The Oregonian's Samantha Bakall wrote:

Somewhere, Brix went wrong with their "brick oven fired" pizza. The margherita that hit the table almost seemed slid out of frozen pizza box, with no char at all, save for a few spots on the bottom of the floury, cracker-like dough. But, buried under a heavy hand of both shredded and blobs of mozzarella was a very tasty, almost meaty roasted tomato sauce. We just can't get past the flavorless and chalky crust.

In a 2017 overview of brunch destinations for visiting families or children, the Portland Mercury said of Brix: "Bustling tourists surround the charming street-side tables in the Pearl, and their spacious, exposed brick dining room would be ideal for any stylish, slightly judgmental aunts who happen to be visiting Portland." In his 2017 and 2019 happy hour reviews, Wm. Steven Humphrey called Brix a "great pit stop after work", "slightly rambunctious, and with the possibility of live jazz". He said the "lengthy" happy hour menu complements Brix's "already lively" and "inviting" atmosphere, and features "inventive and unrelentingly fresh" cocktails. He recommended the seared tuna. In 2020, the newspaper's Jenni Moore recommended the shrimp and grits and mimosas, writing:

While I typically visit this Pearl District for their all-night happy hour on Sunday and Monday, Brix Tavern appears to be one of the few remaining places in Portland offering refillable mimosas as part of a stellar brunch experience. So it should come as no surprise that it's also the type of place where reservations (yes, for brunch) are recommended. Especially during high sportsball season, when everyone and their whole family intends to catch a game on one of Brix Tavern's multiple flatscreens.

Thrillist said, "Brix cracked our list of Favorite 5 Sports Bars due to its rarified Pearl Dist. atmosphere, which allows you to knock back rotisserie meats and brick oven-fired pizzas at fancy table-clothed four-tops and still scream at the games playing on their many, many flatscreens, all before holding it down at the pool table or on arcade games like Buck Hunter, aka, you, after you lose your wager at the pool table." Zagat gives Brix ratings of 4.3 for food, 4.4 for decor, and 4.4 for service, each on a scale of 5. The guide said, "This Pearl District find leads a double life as a classy modern restaurant with a well-executed menu of American comfort favorites and also as a large TV- and game-filled bar; service is friendly, prices are generally low and insiders suggest brew fans get the surprise beer in a paper bag (bartender's choice)".

References

1. ^ DeJesus, Erin. "Brix Tavern in Olea; Jonny Ericsen at Little Bird; Whiskey Soda Lounge Adds Happy Hour". Eater Portland. Vox Media. Retrieved November 24, 2020.
2. "Brix Tavern". Portland Monthly. Retrieved November 24, 2020.
3. ^ DeJesus, Erin (April 22, 2011). "Inside the Pearl's New Sports Bar, Brix Tavern, Open Today". Eater Portland. Retrieved November 24, 2020.
4. ^ Korfhage, Matthew (March 17, 2015). "Cheap Life: Free Pool..." Willamette Week. Retrieved November 24, 2020.
5. Where to Eat Guide Portland – Spring Issue 2014: Dining Guide, Portland, Oregon, Restaurant Guide. Where to Eat Guide & Associates. 2014. p. 54. Retrieved November 24, 2020.
6. ^ Wolf, Laurie (January 14, 2014). Food Lovers' Guide to Portland, Oregon: The Best Restaurants, Markets & Local Culinary Offerings. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 100. Retrieved November 24, 2020.
7. ^ "Finding the Perfect Brunch for You: Visiting Families or Kids". Portland Mercury. July 12, 2017. Retrieved November 24, 2020.
8. ^ Moore, Jenni (March 12, 2020). "Basically Bottomless: Five Brunch Spots with an Everflowing Array of Mimosas". Portland Mercury. Retrieved November 24, 2020.
9. ^ Humphrey, Wm. Steven (March 28, 2019). "100 Portland Happy Hours: Northwest". Portland Mercury. Retrieved November 24, 2020.
10. Korfhage, Matthew (September 21, 2016). "Ridiculously Cheap Thursday Food and Drink Deals in Portland". Willamette Week. Retrieved November 24, 2020.
11. Bamman, Mattie John (February 9, 2017). "Southwest Tacos and Whiskey Will Replace Streetcar Bistro and Taproom". Eater Portland. Retrieved November 24, 2020.
12. Ross, Thomas (December 6, 2017). "Carlita's Screaming Happy Hour Saves the Day". Portland Mercury. Retrieved November 24, 2020.
13. Bamman, Mattie John (June 15, 2016). "5 Epic Food Events to Consider This Week". Eater Portland. Retrieved November 24, 2020.
14. Lassalle, Janelle (July 12, 2017). "Rosé, Cats and Drinking, Tastes Of Spain and 14 More Portland Food Events for the Week of July 13-18". Willamette Week. Retrieved November 24, 2020.
15. Russell, Michael (November 1, 2017). "Portland restaurants that serve Thanksgiving dinner". The Oregonian. Retrieved November 24, 2020.
16. "The Portland Mercury's Highball Is This Week! 7 Days of $5 Cocktails!". Portland Mercury. March 6, 2017. Retrieved November 24, 2020.
17. "The Portland Mercury's Burger Week Is Here!". Portland Mercury. August 2, 2017. Retrieved November 24, 2020.
18. "Burger Week 2019". Portland Mercury. August 1, 2019. Retrieved November 24, 2020.
19. "Nacho Week 2019". Portland Mercury. October 10, 2019. Retrieved November 24, 2020.
20. "The Portland Mercury's Nacho Week! All the Places You Can Get $5 Nachos, Oct 14-19". Portland Mercury. September 13, 2019. Retrieved November 24, 2020.
21. Frane, Alex (January 30, 2020). "Where to Watch the 2020 Super Bowl in Portland". Eater Portland. Retrieved November 24, 2020.
22. "Best of Portland Reader's Poll 2016: The Complete List of Winners". Willamette Week. July 18, 2016. Retrieved November 24, 2020.
23. Kilts, Alie (July 12, 2017). "Here are the Winners of the Best of Portland Readers' Poll 2017". Willamette Week. Retrieved November 24, 2020.
24. Bakall, Samantha (May 18, 2017). "The search for Portland's best wood-fired pizza: 22 shops and counting". The Oregonian. Retrieved November 24, 2020.
25. Humphrey, Wm. Steven (March 15, 2017). "Happy Hour Guide: Northwest". Portland Mercury. Retrieved November 24, 2020.
26. "Brix Tavern". Thrillist. Retrieved November 24, 2020.
27. "Brix Tavern". Zagat. Retrieved November 24, 2020.

External links

• Official website
• Brix Tavern at Zomato

• 2011 establishments in Oregon