A Look at Lafitte’s

Lafitte’s, a hidden bar located on the 2nd floor of The Waiting Room in NW Portland at 2327 NW Kearney Street, will be open Tuesdays through Saturdays from 7 PM – midnight beginning May 2nd (today!), and will feature a variety of bubbles, cocktails, and  absinthe. I was invited to attend a media sneak preview, and here’s a look at some of the tastes I shared.

Here is a look at the Victorian house home of The Waiting Room and Lafitte’s when you arrive – notice how this is going to be such the cool spot during the summer and fall – basically any time this rain stops (any time now Mother Nature!) – thanks to the wonderful porch seating downstairs at the Waiting Room and a small balcony upstairs at Lafitte’s.

Lafitte’s name comes from pirate Jean Lafitte who spent time in New Orleans, a nod to The Waiting Room’s Chef/Owner Thomas Dunklin (also working with Chef/Owner Kyle Rourke) roots in Louisiana. Downstairs, you’ll find The Waiting Room which has a larger food menu and offers dinner Tues-Sat, Sunday brunch 10 AM – 2 PM, as well as happy hours Tues-Fri 4-6 PM. The menu downstairs at The Waiting Room feature a mash-up of Northwest ingredients and Louisiana with example dishes like Cornmeal Hushpuppies with pimento cheese, Ginger BBQ Shrimp with sweet potato biscuit, Louisiana style Fried Chicken, a variety of oysters on the half shell, and intriguing to me an Uni Grilled Cheese with mojo marinated crab and miso butter. Brunch options include the hushpuppies and chicken already mentioned but also Fried Green Tomatoes, Chickpea-Brown Sugar Pancakes, Fried Oyster Hash, and Duck Fat Fry Omelete with confit duck and cheese curds.

Upstairs, Lafitte’s is run by Chazz Madrigal (cocktail program manager) and Becca June. Here in this cozier atmosphere, you’ll see a more intimate space, and a bar that has a lot of personal touches that includes Chazz’s own collection of glassware for your drinks and even the cake topper from his wedding cake.

Upstairs, the menu is smaller then the downstairs Waiting Room, focused on champagne and absinthe forward cocktails and more bite sized snacks. For a classic and classy cocktail, look to the Elizabeth Taylor cocktail with creme de violette, champagne, and house cherry – I love how it’s like a reward when you finish drinking the cocktail that you get the cherry at the end.

For something more herb forward, there’s the A Bourdreux State of Mind with herbsaint, lemon, lime, egg white, herbed honey syrup, house bitters blend.

Gin drinkers have options like the The Hanging Garden with gin, house grapefruit cordial, tarragon, cocchi americano, and lemon bitters (shown to the right in the shot of 3 cocktails, finished with tarragon garnish) or my favorite of the vening, the Deep Red Belle with smoked tea, gin, tawny port, aromatic bitters

If you like whiskey, then look to the Lafitte’s Lament with rye whiskey, lemon juice, nardini, amaro, maurin quin auina, hopped grapefruit bitters, lemon peel

One of the differentiaters for Laffitte is their absinthe program – you can order absinthe on its own, but also find touches in the cocktails such as the Corpse Reviver #2 with gin, house orange cordial, lillet, absinthe; the Gilded Splinters with gilded splinters, haint absinthe rinse, bitters, sugar cube, champagne, star anise, or Absinthe Frappe with absinthe, mint, soda water.

On the food menu, you can find bites just to snack on, like Crawfish Calas with creole tomato glaze or Deviled eggs with candied ham, pimento cheese, buttermilk dressing

One the more substantial side, there are great for summer Albacore Tuna Ceviche with leche de tiger, aji Amarillo and potato or these sticky but very tasty Lamb riblets with chili caramel and asparagus,

My favorite that I was able to try though were on the oysters side of the menu: the huge Oyster Casino with bacon, parmesan, benton’s ham (a bit salty but so wonderful paired with cocktails of course) and the delightful Cold Smoked Oyster with goat milk butter, saltines and hot sauce especially paired with the Deep Red Belle cocktail

As I mentioned, Lafitte’s opens today and business hours are Tuesdays through Saturdays from 7 PM – midnight.

Disclosure: I attended a complimentary media preview, but I was not required to write anything or otherwise compensated. I will always provide my honest opinion and assessment of all products and experiences I may be given. The views and opinions expressed in this blog are entirely my own.