The Slabtown Bar Features Modern Snacks, Inventive Cocktails and Bar Cart Service
Portland, Ore. (February 8, 2024) — The Love Shack, a new cocktail bar in Portland’s Slabtown neighborhood, opens this week. The Love Shack is the second venture from chef and restaurateur Garrett Benedict, who opened the vegetable-focused restaurant G-Love in 2019. Located at 1645 NW 21st Ave and adjacent to G-Love, The Love Shack will open its doors on February 9, 2024.
The interior of The Love Shack is designed to transport guests to warmer climes, with a glittering Venetian gold plaster back bar and a hanging, palm-covered palapa floating over four cozy booths. Central to the experience at The Love Shack is the service style: Servers navigate the space with sleek black steel bar carts, custom-designed by Benedict. The bar carts accommodate plates of snacks and drinks and are integral to facilitating a continuous cocktail party atmosphere with passed drinks and food.
The bingo-style menu includes Croissant Banh Mi (marinated pork, pickled carrot, cucumber, cilantro, sambal aioli), Oysters + Champagne for two (oysters on the half-shell, mignonette, mini champagne bottle), and a Milk Bun Reuben (pastrami, sauerkraut, swiss, rye spice) Larger plates are available as well, including Prime Rib a la Sparkles. The menu is a collaboration with Chef de Cuisine Andrew Lee. Lee, who shares a history of working with Benedict in San Francisco, and was part of the opening crew at G-Love, brings his Korean heritage and San Francisco culinary experience to the table.
Behind the beverage menu is Quintin Scalfaro, long-time Bar Manager at G-Love. His expertise and creativity shine through in The Love Shack’s inventive cocktails, including a Gold-Flaked Martini and “There’s Always Money in the Banana Stand,” a banana-infused margarita riff spiked with MSG.
The glue holding the talented team together is the indomitable Shade Ruston, another member of G-Love’s original opening team. Ruston started at G-Love as a host in 2019 and swiftly rose through the ranks to become the General Manager in 2021, infusing the guest experiences at G-Love with joy and a calm, confident presence that runs through the entire restaurant. Like its sister restaurant, The Love Shack partners with Olde Moon Farm in the Willamette Valley for seasonal ingredients highlighted on both the food and drink menus.
While complementing restaurant G-Love next door, The Love Shack dives into a more stylized, moody ambiance, reminiscent of an upscale beach bar. The Venetian gold plaster back bar, with carved arches that hold colorful, backlit bottles, gives the impression of a sparkling, golden grotto. The bar, which seats six, is topped with translucent sea glass. At the center of the space, a palm-covered palapa hangs from the ceiling over four tambour wood-lined booths. Woven rattan pendant lights hang from the ceiling as well, and on the north wall, a large-scale tropical plant scene adds dark green tropical vibes. The space seats 38 in all, with additional standing room at a drink rail.
The Love Shack is open Wednesday through Sunday from 5 pm to 1 am. In addition to evening service, the bar is set to host a variety of weekly and special events after the opening period. The Love Shack will also expand seating outdoors in the summer months.
Before moving to Portland, Benedict cooked at renowned Michelin three-star The Restaurant at Meadowood in Napa, and the groundbreaking restaurant Ubuntu—the first vegetarian restaurant in the world to be awarded a Michelin star. Born and raised in Alaska, Benedict spent six formative months traveling the country in a classic 1973 Volkswagen bus, working stages in more than 30 of the top restaurants in the U.S. The Love Shack is his second hospitality venture.
See the menu here.
The Love Shack Details:
Address: 1645 NW 21st Ave, Portland, OR., adjacent to G-Love.
Hours: Wednesday through Sunday, 5 pm – 1 am
Chef/Owner: Garrett Benedict
Beverage Director: Quintin Scalfaro
Chef de Cuisine: Andrew Lee
General Manager: Shade Ruston
Social: @theloveshackpdx
Photos by Carter Hiyama
