In Beaverton, co-workers have been telling me what a great happy hour Decarli has. It wasn’t until yesterday though that I finally got to experience it. Since I knew Saturday I was going out for cocktails, I became one of the ladies who drink wine by the glass, which apparently is a popular choice here and I can see why- they offer more then a dozen wines to choose from. We got there right on the dot when it opened, and within 10-15 minutes the bar area filled up on this Friday evening and it was buzzing, a fun vibe filling the large lofty feel of this place that would fit right in with other restaurants I’ve seen spring up in Chicago’s meat packing district. Well, except since this is in Beaverton, the crowd is a little older- but that doesn’t mean they aren’t entitled to go relax with friends at a happy hour.

The waitstaff was efficient, and another peer joining us (doing several event-hopping that evening so pressed for time) easily) slid up to the bar, was recognized by the bartender, who then poured his regular Fred’s Red into a glass for him. It wasn’t on the board so when we asked for it at the table she was taken aback, but she took it in stride and walked away to check on it instead of rejecting our request yet admitted it in a friendly way when she returned later with it and explained her surprise.

They have small fancy bites (like the fancy version of bar peanuts) on the menu, as well as appetizers and burgers, but also a few paninis and intriguing personal sized thin crust pizzettas (basically the size of the pizzas you commonly see at California Pizza Kitchen). When I saw the portobello mushrooms, sweet onions, gorgonzola, sage-walnut pesto pizzetta when it arrived at the table (not pictured), I was very jealous and tried not to stare. Next time, pizzetta.

The paninis come with a salad that I ignored because the amount of bitterness in the mixed greens with vinaigrette was too much counterpoint against the sandwich, which already had oil cured olives and sopressetta inside the crunchy doughy bread. In the end I was just picking out those olives because they were overwhelming the poor sopressetta. I also wished they had included a hardy cheese with it, like asiago or pecorino. The melted mozzarella offered ooze but no flavor- maybe if it had been cold.

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My friend’s burger looked evilly rich and delicious though the fries looked a poor comparison to my polenta fries with gorgonzola butter (which I even dipped ripped bite size pieces of panini in, super yum). My polenta fries were perfectly fried to a crisp shape and texture perfectly echoing a crisp fry (but on a gigantic scale up- these were longer then my hand and as thick as a finger), but with that rich polenta denseness inside instead of the emptiness you would find in a potato fry. I didn’t really need the gorgonzola butter with it- which is why it helped my panini out instead, and I was scraping for that gorgonzola. Who wants potato fries compared to this? Ok, the presentation is bizarre (ran out of dishes?), but as something to eat it definitely delivered.