Jen K.
Yelp
Whizzzzzzz.... bonk!
"What the bleep?!?"
I love trees, but sometimes they fight back. You see, I had co-workers in from out of town who wanted to grab a quick drink and bite to eat before catching a flight out of PDX. Since it was a gorgeous sunny day, North 45 with its outdoor patio, seemed like a great choice. Besides, any place that bills itself as a traveler's pub is right up my alley.
The patio out back reminds me a little bit of Europe (so do the exorbitant beer prices). What I wasn't expecting was that most of the patio would be shaded by a large tree and awning so it got a little chilly back there. Still it was nice to kick back on the wood picnic benches and peruse the Belgian beer and food menus until I was hit, not once, but twice, in the head by nuts falling from the tree. My co-workers thought this was hysterical. Me, not so much.
They specialize in mussels and we ordered the Provencal style with sea salt herb frites. Since appetizers were half price (all day Monday), we added the Asian style calamari w/sweet chili sauce and sliders for half price. Of all the items, the calamari was my favorite, probably because I could bathe in sweet chili sauce, since I love it so!
The Orval beer and my White Cosmo were good, but as others have noted, their cocktails aren't heavy pours. What left a lasting impression, aside from the lump on my noggin, was the slow service. Nothing horrendous happened, but we certainly felt a bit abandoned multiple times during our visit. Also, the server had very limited experience with the Belgian beers on the menu, which is a bit surprising since that's their specialty. I'll be back, with a hat, to give it another try.