Portland, OR Restaurant Review: The Victory Bar

Because my father worked in the motion picture industry, our childhood was marked with several memories that are by default, movie-related. I remember the first leg of the race between VHS and Beta, when it came to the dawn of the home movie entertainment era, and was admittedly a bit saddened when VHS won out over the smaller, cuter Beta tapes. But I was a tot then — watching the first handful of cassettes that my dad brought home for the family to view, including Jaws, which is why I bring this up in the first place. Because this conversation inevitably leads us back into French fries and beer, which inevitably leads us back to Jaws. Let me do the math here, please, would ya? Here is the short version.

Quint: You wanna drink? Drink to your leg.
Hooper: I’ll drink to your leg.

Are you following me? I’m not gonna’ explain it. Google it if you need some help. My point here is, where do I go to drink to my leg in Portland? Are you with me? I’ve been looking all over for the ideal bar. I tend to like hotel bars on the one hand, because of the transitory nature of such places, and the people passing through are typically fascinating, and then the diviest of dive bars on the other. Cheap bar, best juke boxes, and that bit of funky smell that tells you — it’s ok to just go ahead and be yourself, get too drunk, puke on your own shoes at the end of the night — everyone there will understand. But really, what I really really like, is the Victory Bar. The Victory Bar is done up just enough on the inside — just enough to let you know someone who cared put the place together, and maybe someone who has been to Europe, more than once. Possibly northern Europe, possibly Belgium, possibly Antwerp. The place is basically set up like a hall, in the shape of a square. From any seat in the house, you feel like you are actually communing with others, without being on top of them. It’s what I have described as “cozy,” which brings me back to northern Europe, since the Dutch seem to use a word that roughly translates to “cozy” for just about everything delightful, from a good first date to a comfortable cafe to a grilled cheese sandwich you buy out of the oven in the wall of the underground train station at 2 in the morning when you’re drunk as a skunk.

Victory Bar on SE Division: Breaking Down the Menu and Ambiance

Bar food, when it’s been doused with a handful of chic gastronomy and held down under a light sprinkling of Euro-style, is the best. The best of anything. The best pillow, the best drug store, the best library pencil, it’s the best. Victory Bar, like several other bar-cum-restaurant-cum-drinking-halls in Portland, turns the typical bar food menu on its ear, injecting it with just the right amount of cool so that the bar’s patrons can recognize the stuff on the menu, and then be ultra-pleased with it once it shows up at the table. And even a bit surprised. I wake up in the middle of the night sometimes, realizing I’ve just been kidnapped in my dreams by a mini-crock of Victory Bar’s Baked Spaetzle with Gruyere cheese and crispy shallots ($7, see pic below). Sometimes, I feel like the only thing this bar could do before I wager my entire financial existence on trying to buy it from them, is to install a perma-flow keg of Boddingtons Pub Style Ale, and then put my name on it in softball-script with a silver Sharpie. [Note to Owners of Victory Bar, should you be reading this at some point: I'd love a keg of Boddingtons. I promise not to attempt a hostile takeover, or even a neutral or friendly one, of your bar. Promise.]

Waiting this long in a food review to really talk to you about the French fries, is like telling your parents when you’re 6 that you’ll go ahead and take a rain check on the Christmas presents until the 28th. What is wrong with me today. Anyway. The French Fries. Dy-no-mite! They’re listed on the menu as: Thick cut Belgian fries with ketchup and aioli ($5), but they should be listed as: Don’t eat these if you expect your life to ever be the same again. You can taste the perfection of the oil in which they are fried, for chrissake. That good. Perfectly dense, perfectly crisp, perfectly thick, perfectly sized, perfectly seasoned, they make the 25% Belgian element of my blood wake up and declare war on the 75% Italian portion. Expect to order a plateful more than once, especially if you are in a party greater than 2 people.

That aioli right there in the picture deserves an entire plate of its own. The housemade ketchup is fantastic, but that aioli needs some breathing room. Shall we talk about the Venison burger now? Pretty please? If you have a partner, or your on, let’s say, a third date, then go to Victory Bar, especially if you eat meat, and share the Venison Burger. Now, I say a third date instead of a second one, because — well, because you can do more. You can make a mess. You’re out of the woods a little bit, so you can eat ridiculous portions of meat. You can share stuff on plates. You can eat a multiple-napkin meal together. You can make those sex-food noises that will undoubtedly emanate from your grill when you take the first bite of the ridiculously rich and delicious Venison Burger: Crispy Leeks, Worcestershire aioli, smoked cheddar (worth every silver nickel at $10). Such a glorious combination of very well considered flavors and textures. A real thing of beauty. Consider buying one to eat, and buying one to bronze and keep on your mantel in perpetuity.

I took a bite of the PBLT the other night too, which is the Pork Belly sandwich on the menu currently (as of the late summer / early fall of 2010), which is billed as: Smoked Pork Belly, Local farm lettuce, Tomato sandwich ($9). It was fantastic. As I am writing this, I am re-realizing just how rich everything on the menu is at Victory Bar, but you just get swept up into the whole magic of the place, and next thing you know, it’s like — Why not! I can live on Chocolate Mousse, sure! Let’s have it for breakfast tomorrow, too! I think you know what I mean. If you’re a fan of pork belly, which has a tendency to be on the fatty side, don’t hesitate to jump right in — the PBLT is not a fatty tasting dish, and the flavor is excellent, complemented by the biggest wedge of a tomato I have ever seen served in a public restaurant.

And how is this: there’s a housemade sausage special weekly. They’re always good. Especially when you walk into the place, and they’re smoking meats outside the front door, and that’s your greeting. Which I think is better than coming home to a dog, even. Take a peek inside the front entrance to your right when you walk in — you’ll see a chalkboard there with the newest beer specials in bottles and on draught, including the sausage of the week. Some of my beer faves: St. Bernardus Quadrupel (Belgium 11.5 oz. $6.50), which is heavy, dark, thick with the taste and aroma of both carmel and plum. Also, the Old Speckled Hen is a fine stand-in for the aforementioned Boddingtons. It’s a creamy, not overly bubbly pub ale which goes down very easy, with a rich aftertaste (15 oz can for $4.50). This last trip, I tried a new beer on the menu, the Munich Gold Lager on tap, which was just the slightest bit wheaty, but mostly dry, crisp and a tad sharp at the end (pint $4 while it lasts). For beer lovers especially, you will want to call Victory Bar home. Tons and tons of Belgian beers and specialties from far away lands that will make you happy to be alive.

Victory Bar on SE Division, SE Portland: Pictures

Portland, OR Restaurant Details: Victory Bar on SE Division
Victory Bar
3652 SE Division Street (on the south side of Division Street at the corner of SE 37th Avenue)
Portland, OR 97202
(503) 236-8755
Southeast
Hours: Open Nightly from 5pm – 1am or later; Sundays 5pm – Midnight or later
Happy Hour served 7 days a week, 5-7pm

Portland, OR Restaurant Map: Victory Bar on SE Division
Click here for a map of the area: Victory Bar in SE Portland

The Official Victory Bar Website (menu)(Click)
Victory Bar on Twitter (Click)
Victory Bar Review on YELP: Portland (Click)
Victory Bar on BarFlyMag: Portland (Click)
Victory Bar on Urban Drinks (Click)

Victory Bar on SE Division Ave. at SE 37th Ave, 9.0 out of 10 based on 1 rating

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