Bread & Butter • Simplicity wins at the Hobnob Grille

By Anne Marie DiStefano

The Portland Tribune, May 14, 2009, Updated Oct 30, 2009

The bar is a draw at the Hobnob Grille, with cocktails like the Pink (left) and the Northwest Basil, made with local Medoyeff Vodka.

L.E. BASKOW / TRIBUNE PHOTO

In this economy, we all need to think of ways to simplify. That’s especially true in the newspaper business, which has been struggling very publicly of late.

I have a suggestion: From now on, whenever someone wants to write “in this economy,” it should be abbreviated to I.T.E. This saves two “n”s, two “o”s and several other letters every time it’s used. We could save thousands of letters a week.

Plenty of other letters certainly could be shaved from the language, too. For instance, the Hobnob Grille in Southeast Portland really doesn’t need that “e” at the end of its name, although this neighborhood spot makes up for its flagrant display of gratuitous lettering in other ways.

Simplicity is the order of the day at the Hobnob. Its menu lists mostly accessible, familiar dishes: a pulled pork sandwich, a wedge salad and, of course, a burger to which you can add bacon, cheese or a fried egg. The standard burger comes with chipotle cream cheese and tomato jam, reflecting the restaurant’s overall strategy of dressing up the basics with unusual sauces.

The fish and chips, made with halibut, are textbook, except for the artichoke tartar sauce, which was the most successful of the sauces that I tried. Somehow, without being anything like a pickle, the not-quite-bitter taste of artichoke provided a fine counterpoint to the fish.

I was less impressed with a sweet-hot sauce — similar to the sticky sauce often served with wontons — that came with spicy fried calamari. And a green salad with Marcona almonds and roasted grapes was doused in a pinot grigio vinaigrette that had way too much of a vinegar sting.

The name Hobnob suggests camaraderie and good cheer, and on my visits the bar was lively, while the dining room was empty. The bar has large booths along a row of windows, and an L-shaped bartop. The place is airy and outfitted conservatively. It’s a stark contrast to previous tenants of this corner spot, which over the years has housed three different Caribbean restaurants, all sunset colored and cluttered with tropical bric-a-brac.

The Hobnob’s cocktail list is a little frumpy. There’s a blue drink — the Misty Madness — which hearkens back to the 1980s.

There’s a frothy but potent chocolate martini. Woodford Reserve, my favorite bourbon, is featured in the Park Avenue, which, like all drinks on the list, is described in mini-scenarios:

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