Paddy's Bar & Grill

Our favourite poutine reviewer, Jack D'Mestiere has been out and about, and tracked down another beauty in beautiful downtown Portland. Read on...

I met up with a fella that needed meeting up with at a joint in Stumptown called Paddy’s. Paddy’s fancies itself an Irish pub and claims to be the oldest in town. Frankly, it doesn’t seem that Irish to me—no peat fire, baseball game on a big screen, I could understand what the barkeeper said—but they do have a lot of green signs and their, what Dolly-girl would call, “on-line presence” has some Irishy looking things on it.

I slid into a seat and ordered a pint—no, I’ll pass on the Guinness and Smithwick’s and go with a good IPA from Bend, Oregon. Harumph, what’s this small glass about? That doesn’t like like an Irish beer glass—it’s only 4/5ths of a real pint… 

I perused the What’s-to-Eat and low and behold... Irish Poutine?

Well, how could I not try that? After all, don’t I owe it to Poutine Chronicles to eat it if it’s right there staring me in the face? I sure do. The server took our order—she gave me the usual look when I pronounced it pou-TIN, so I’m assuming she calls se-LIN se-LEAN. Oh well, we’re a long way from Charlemagne on the Rivière des Prairies…What’s this? Céline won the Eurovision Song Contest in Dublin and now I’m ordering poutine in an Irish pub? I guess this was made to be.

The order was back in a flash. Generally speaking, it doesn’t seem like it should take too long to throw together a poutine and the fella I was meeting ordered one too, so quick as a tin whistle, there it was.

Let’s do it by the numbers: Fries—crispy on the outside, hot and tender inside. Gravy—good onion flavor (as advertised), salty, and not too much of it. It coated the fries but didn’t saturate them. Curds—didn’t squeak, but they were tasty, hot, and only partially melted. Corned beef—sure, it was yesterday’s sandwich, and it was probably not the same as mentioned in Aislinge Meic Con Glinne (which actually does mention cheese curds!), but it stood in for bacon, which, according to the fount of all knowledge (including whether it’s fount or font…), Wikipedia, is what Irish immigrants substituted for corned beef for in the US of A. Maybe Canada too. Where was I? Oh, the rating…

Amazingly, I’ll put it a squeak short of 5 curds, so 4.5 curds for Irish Poutine at Paddy’s Bar & Grill in Portland, Oregon. Nine bucks does seem a little pricey though...

Paddy's Bar and Grill, 65 SW Yamhill St., Portland, OR 97204
Tel: 503-224-5626

Website: paddys.com