For all the fame Clyde Common has earned for its James Beard-nominated bar program (currently it’s a semifinalist for 2015, having also been nominated the past three years running), it’s easy to forget that the Rose City institution was opened in 2007 with just as much a focus on food, and that that focus hasn’t wavered since.
Nate Tilden and Matt Piacentini set out to create a casual tavern at the heart of downtown Portland with a laid-back, European-style atmosphere surrounding culinary influences that span the continent and beyond. It’s housed by the funky, hip Ace Hotel, taking up the Northeast corner of the building. Its entrance is a hop away from Powell’s, steps from the Pearl, and just a few blocks from Waterfront Park.
The space in itself is beautiful. Light wood tables and fixtures abound in the high-ceiling space, with the remaining walls painted white and accented with black stenciled lettering pointing the way to the Ace Hotel entrance and mezzanine level. Cutouts high on the walls are filled with plants spilling over the edges of their pots and hanging down to add an unobtrusive splash of greenery. It all makes for a relaxing, unpretentious place to pass the time unhurriedly.
I found this especially true during Clyde Common’s weekend brunch, with sunlight spilling through the two-story front windows into every crevice of the airy room. I could have happily spent three hours at a front table, sipping mugs of Stumptown coffee interspersed with fantastic brunch cocktails. That atmosphere is a good thing, because the food is worth sitting with and savoring. If you’re smart, you’ll bring friends and order several menu items to share—though you may want a plate of the hot, pillowy beignets (complete with smoked carrot-citrus puree) all to yourself.
Main brunch dishes are frequently presented in petite cast iron single-serving skillets, keeping things nice and hot at the table. Among these items were the toasty hash brown squares, dusted with cayenne salt and almost unfairly crisp and delicious. Seafood takes up a good portion of the menu, with a smoked salmon omelette, smoked trout fillet and grilled Kauai shrimp among the options. Another popular choice is the plate of cocoa pancakes, drowned in Stumptown coffee and Kahlua syrup and topped with a heaping dollop of whipped cream.
Of course, you’ll want to accompany all of it with one (or more) of those brunch cocktails. Switch out the standard mimosa (not that those aren’t also good here) with the Bowie Knife, a bright, bubbly marriage of gin, lemon and sparkling brut rosé. If dark spirits are more what floats your boat, the Bridge Club (Canadian Club, brown sugar, allspice dram, black walnut liqueur, coffee, thickened cream) is rich and refined, its cream float topped with a single espresso bean.
The lunch and dinner menus are equally alluring: lunch mains like citrus-chèvre ravioli with roasted fennel crème jump out at the reader, while dinner patrons are forced to choose between things like the pork cheek adobo (crispy pig ears, saffron rice pilaf, mushrooms), smoked duck breast (pecan butter, huckleberry aigre-doux) or spring Chinook crudo (green almonds, pickled garlic puree). And that’s not to get started on the surreptitious “Feasts” section at the bottom of the menu (grilled beef ribs, whole grilled rockfish, you get the picture).
In between the entrees you’ll find popcorn spiced with tōgarashi and sweetened with honey, charcuterie plates made in collaboration with Olympic Provisions, and imaginative desserts—think zucchini-ginger ice cream cake with rhubarb preserves and cream cheese frosting. Given their complexity and excellent ingredients, prices are decidedly reasonable throughout the day, with smaller plates and even brunch entrees starting at about the price of a cocktail.
As for more on the bar program, suffice it to say that it’s veritably impossible to go wrong, and that when Monday’s James Beard award winners are announced in Chicago, it would be no shock if Clyde Common takes the cake. Next time you visit, just ask for something to pair with the plate in front of you, sit back, relax and stay awhile.
Clyde Common || 1014 Southwest Stark Street, Portland || clydecommon.com
