James Beard nominee for Outstanding Bar, 2025
Nestled across the aged Burnside bridge from downtown Portland lies an unassuming door that leads you to one of Portland’s best treats. At least, that’s what James Beard thinks.
My fiancée and I arrived a bit early for reservations and were greeted by an empty bar and restaurant before the noise and energy started to fill the small and intimate space. An open kitchen counter accentuates a beautiful bar equipped with a library ladder to retrieve the vast array of whiskeys, scotches, and other spirits available here at Scotch Lodge.
We were given our seat, a menu for food and cocktails, and a folder with multiple pieces of paper listing out their spirit offerings. From Pappy van Winkle to $250/oz pours of 26 year old whiskey; there’s something for everyone here. There are flights available for those wanting to try different things but we elected to order from the cocktail menu.
Once Upon a Time in the Rain—pineapple rum, smokey scotch, charred piña-campari, cacao nib vermouth, served with smoke. A total sensory delight. The overwhelming smokey smell bounced so well off of the sweet and smokey spirits with a roundness of the vermouth to balance things off.
Desert Island Mixtape—lemongrass tequila, corn liqeur, strega, lime, coconut milk, & thai basil. A very smooth and savory, not sweet, cocktail that was refreshing and a palate cleanser as well. Very unique and delicious with creamy subtle flavors to pick up on.
After browsing the menu, it was clear that oysters needed to be something to start with and we were not disappointed.
We love to eat oysters everywhere we go. These were out of the state of Washington and were succulent with a delicious texture. Three different granitas starred as the refreshing precursor to a mouth full of the ocean. Fruit, citrus, and floral notes were everywhere in these mouthfuls and the playfulness of the popping tobiko left in your mouth after swallowing the oyster was a fun touch.
To accompany the seafood, we thought some of the fries sounded delicious.
The description for these fries on the menu says it all:
“Dill, more dill, sour cream”
The fries were perfectly cooked and the dill powder added to them added precisely the right amount of fun and flavor one would hope for in something called “pickle spiced fries.”
We had so much fun enjoying these with big smiles on our faces.
After some fries and oysters, we were looking between the cheese offerings to decide what was next. Between the whipped ricotta and fried brie, we decided to go with the ricotta.
Served with some delicious bread, we added on finocchiona which came very thinly sliced; a perfect compliment to the divinely fluffy and succulent ricotta. All conversation stopped and we were focused on this dish and completing every last morsel of it as soon as it came.
By now, it was time for another cocktail so I went for the left side of the cocktail menu to go for something not as spirit-forward.
So Last Summer—Barbados rum, lime curd, vanilla liqueur, lime, pistachio.
If you even like the smell of Key Lime Pie, you owe it to yourself to try this cocktail. It has every bit the essence of a bit of that delicious pie with every sip. It was a wonderful accompaniment to the rest of dinner.
My fiancée decided to try something a little more refreshing than her last cocktail and went with something resembling a cosmopolitan.
Riding on the Metro—coconut milk-washed spiced vodka, lime, orange liqueur, cranberry, pomegranate.
Refreshing, crisp, and more complex than a cosmo. I would order this over a regular cosmopolitan any day of the week. Much deeper in flavor with more notes of the spiced vodka and pomegranate to set it off.
After so many appetizers, we decided to share our entree.
This dish right here was one of my favorites of the evening. The pasta was cooked to a perfect texture. The sauce—seaweed butter and grana padano with nira—was so delicate and yet rich at the same time. The candied duck added a perfect amount of texture, protein, and slight gaminess to the dish that lent itself to some really perfect bites with a bit of everything in it.
As if that wasn’t enough, we had been eyeing the chocolate cake for dessert before our meal even got started.
We don’t always order dessert but in this case I’m glad we did. My fiancée commented on how light the chocolate cake was and I couldn’t agree more. In a world where so many restaurants are trying to do super chocolatey dense cakes, it was nice to experience one that was fluffy and delicious. All of the flavors on the plate were delicate with nothing overpowering the other. It was fun to get a bit of everything together in a single bite for a really wonderful and light bit of dessert that didn’t leave you feeling overfull.
As we walked out of the bar, I took a look back down the hallway that has such a treat around the corner. It was a distinct reminder that good things come in small packages and often come in unassuming wrapping.
Scotch Lodge isn’t just a bar—it’s a love letter to Portland’s spirit.
This place was a quintessential Portland hole in the wall driven by a massive amount of talent for the menu, procurement of spirits and cocktails, and restaurant experience.
Everything was simply delightful. Would go back and would recommend to others as well, if you can get a table once it starts to get more popular.
⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
5/5 stars
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