Side Dish • Caffe Mingo sets table for casual sibling

By audrey van buskirk

The Portland Tribune, Jul 31, 2008, Updated Oct 30, 2009

L.E. BASKOW / TRIBUNE PHOTOS

Toshi Nii (left) and Nakaba Mawatari enjoy a meal and conversation at Bar Mingo, an offshoot of Caffe Mingo next door, with a menu focusing on hot and cold small plates.

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Caffe Mingo (807 N.W. 21st Ave., 503-226-4646, www.caffemingonw.com) is one of those restaurants that has worked so well and so consistently, for so long, it’s easy to forget about it if it’s not in your regular orbit.

But when you do remember the lively, intimate setting, delicious, fresh pastas and well-executed Italian entrees, you’ll be pleased to discover that it’s exactly the same.

Except that now there’s a better place to wait for a table (Caffe Mingo takes reservations only for groups of six more more). The adjoining Bar Mingo (503-456-4646) is, in fact, interesting enough on its own that you may be lulled into having your whole meal there.

This large bilevel space, which opened in April, has a long bar, a row of window tables and several more sociable, comfier spots frequently taken up by large groups of gigglers who could be en route to bachelorette parties. The atmosphere is grown-up without being stuffy.

The house cocktail list (all $8) focuses on retro cool classics (Bellinis, Negronis, sidecars), but in recognition of the Northwestern locale there’s also an espresso martini. The lengthy wine list is divided the normal way (red and white), but also into Italian and not. Servers demonstrate both familiarity and comfort with such a complex list.

The food concept is mainly antipasti. A changing list offers seven hot and seven cold dishes. The best bet, unless you’re alone, is to choose five for $32 (otherwise one for $8, three for $21).

They arrive plated individually and a bit helter-skelter, but that makes for a leisurely meander through the “meal.” Cold choices include assorted salami or cheese, an oyster trio, a crisp and light seafood salad or a strongly flavored mixed green salad with gorgonzola, roasted grapes and walnuts.

A bowl of Penn Cove mussels makes a hearty choice from the hot list. There’s also a fat grilled Italian sausage over polenta and sautéed spinach, chicken livers with Marsala, anchovy, sage and capers on bruschetta, tender lamb meatballs, and appropriately stringy suppli al telefono (risotto balls stuffed with mozzarella).

If you’re the sort of person who just can’t make a meal of appetizers, the rest of the menu, inscribed on a large chalkboard, provides changing trios of pastas and entrees including simple pastas (fresh tagliatelle tossed with butter and Parm, tonnatelli with pecorino and pepper) and steak, chicken and fish. One night was a take on ideal picnic food: a lovely piece of albacore tuna poached in olive oil and served at room temperature with white beans.

4 p.m. to midnight daily

• • •

Among the little flurry of new wine bars, Bar Avignon (2138 S.E. Division St., 503-517-0808, www.baravignon.com) opened last month in the space that was once the Red and Black Cafe.

The space is nearly unrecognizable now, chic gray and black with big windows and spare furnishings. There’s an attractive bar and several booths and outdoor tables.

Dozens of wines are available, nearly three dozen by the glass alone, including daily specials. You also can take most bottles to go for 25 percent off the listed price. By the glass prices range from $6 to $12.

The staff is knowledgeable, but unpretentious. That quality comes across loud and clear in the cocktail menu. The Contrarian, bubbly moscato splashed with the Italian aperitif Vergano Chinato Americano, is described as “a little sweet, a little bitter just like the proprietor.”

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