The original plan was to go to Bailey’s Taproom for Friday, and then the Spring Beer and Wine Festival on Saturday. I had been ancticipating the Spring Beerfest for a while, but not really for the beer. Instead, it was the Tour de Cheese that excited me, where five cheese companies and Whole Foods knowledgable cheese peeps would spoil me with slivers of cheese. All of this still occured, but as a bonus, I got an email from Saucebox the day before touting their new drink of the season. I couldn’t help but add to my plans with a stop at Saucebox after their advertisement.

“Saucebox Innovation brings ETERNAL YOUTH

Introducing the new Saucebox GojiBerry cocktail:
Eternal Youth made with sun-dried, all-natural goji berries from Heaven Mountain in Central Asia. This delicious “super-fruit” is the world’s most-powerful anti-aging food, rated #1 on the ORAC (Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity) scale. We muddle housemade Goji-ice with kaffir lime infused gin, lilikoi and lime for the perfect drink you can enjoy while treating yourself well. This specialty cocktail is exclusive to Saucebox and is available in limited quantities.”

What better way to celebrate a birthday (not mine- mine is April 29, so still a couple weeks away). I grabbed a table when they opened, and started the celebration. Though the drink pictures looks red in the email campaign, it was orange when I received it.

It is an excellent drink, with a refreshing taste, some nice texture with the crushed ice, and packs a nice alcoholic buzz with it, so food was needed if we were going to make it to Bailey’s across the street. Hello $1-5 happy hour menu of perfectly crispy and salted frites in a generous bowl, crispy Sweet Potato Spring Rolls with lettuce, cilantro, and sour lime dipping sauce that more than made up for the perfectly cooked but blander rolls, peanut noodles, and the super flavorful pulled pork udon noodle with egg. The amount of fries you get for $1 puts McD to shame, and that udon is perfect drinking food.

And that food was needed, because besides the Kickboxer drink I had last time (with the Thai chile vodka with passionfruit puree and citrus juices, topped with raspberry puree- still a great drink, but shouldn’t be had with the pulled pork noodle because it’s too much flavor for any tongue to handle without being overwhelmed), we continued the birthday celebration after the Eternal Youth with the ridiculously pretty and fruity pineapple for two. Admittedly, I would never come here and pay full price for entrees here though- these happy hour prices and offerings are all you need to accompany the real reason to be here, the drinks!!

I have found my favorite happy hour in Portland so far. At Saucebox, their happy hour from 4:30-6:30 T-Fri and 5-6:30 on Sat, boasts a 2 page menu of bites from $1 to $5, ranging from taro chips and spring rolls to udon noodles, burgers, and spare ribs. They also have a lot of really interesting drinks. I went for the Kickboxer- house infused Thai chili vodka with passionfruit puree and citrus juices and then topped with raspberry puree was delicious! Your first mouthful gives the sensation of delightful fruit juices, but then you get kicked by the chili! I loved it, it is my new favorite drink in Portland.

Their happy hour menu is incredibly impressive- three $1 items, three $2 items, six $3 items, eight $4 items, and four $5 items does not leave you wanting for what to order. The food is most Asian, though they also offer some normal bar favorites like a whole deep cereal bowl full of fries, and quarter pound sized burgers. They have a dozen really interesting signature cocktails, or you can go for the house red or white for $5, or a small little carafe of warm sake for $4. A great deal.

I was able to try the pork sarong, which is two meatballs with deep-fried noodles and a tamarind dipping sauce, was ok, but for that same $3 you would be better off with the crispy sweet potato spring rolls another person ordered at my table. Saucebox’s $5 happy hour special (their upper end) included crispy pork spareribs with a orange ginger bbq sauce. The meat was so good I didn’t even use the sauce. It was tender and falling off the bone meat, but thanks to the quick deep-fry the outside was super crispy crackly. This is better shared because 3 ribs was little too much for me- have one and get another dish or two (sorry for the blurred picture- the Kickboxer and the sake definitely affected me) and share the fatty deep fried-ness! Another dining friend had the pulled pork udon for $4, which was a great burst of flavor and is also recommended, though a bit hard to eat with the slipperyness- don’t be afraid to ask for a fork instead of using the chopsticks.

Tables filled up quickly between 4:30-5 with trendy hipsters making for some interesting people-watching in the atmosphere of dark wood and huge mirrors. This is just down the street from the Big Pink building, and so I am already itching to go back and try some more.