Blank Slate

Blank Slate is a woman-owned neighbourhood cocktail bar at 7201 NE Glisan Street in Montavilla, a stretch Willamette Week once described as already equipped with Vietnamese joints, storied dive bars and great Detroit pizza on Tuesdays. Michael Irikawa raised the money to open it with Kierre Van de Veere in late 2015, and Willamette Week reviewed the finished room in July 2017, noting patterned wallpaper carrying a very pretty procession of greenery and lilies, and food with personal touches like fresh Hood strawberries from the owners' garden. The bar still describes itself in those plain terms — a local, woman-owned small business operated by community residents — and the kitchen runs in the same register: oysters on the half shell, deviled eggs with pickled beets and horseradish, a tin fish board built on Matiz wild sardines, shishito peppers in vegan miso butter, and three molasses cookies baked to order.

The non-alcoholic list is a headed "Non-Alcoholic Cocktails" section of six drinks, and what distinguishes it is that four are built from scratch ingredients rather than poured from a bought-in zero-proof bottle. Cat Nap N.A. combines a house-made bitter botanical syrup with chamomile, sherry vinegar, saline and an orange twist. Rose Darling N.A. layers hibiscus, rose and green tea, spiced simple syrup, lime, coconut milk and soda. Orange Dream Machine N.A. is orange juice, vanilla, rosewater, oat milk and soda, and Vacation runs coconut milk, passion fruit, lemon, lime, orgeat and mint. An N.A. Spritz uses the house botanical syrup with peppermint tea, white balsamic, soda and a lemon twist. Five of the six are $10; the one bought-in option is the Phony Negroni at $11, St. Agrestis's bottled sparkling non-alcoholic Negroni. There is no non-alcoholic beer, but the soft-drink shelf is unusually considered for a cocktail bar, including Fort George Fruit Lup hop water and a Wylde blackberry CBD soda. The bar opens Monday to Thursday 4–10pm and Friday and Saturday 4–11pm, and closes Sundays.