The Champagne of Blogs

The evening was closer to “It’s time to go” than “we just got here” when Eryn leaned into to me and said “I figured it out…. The goal of this place is to keep you from leaving.” Granted, that’s probably true for any bar that wants to turn a profit, but what sets Mary Todd’s Workers Bar & Grill in Astoria apart is, they do a damn good job of doing it.

Situated under the bridge on Marine Drive, the decor is classic dive bar, pictures of various vintages celebrating the hard work and people that made Astoria, as well as plenty of photos of the regulars having a great time.

So what exactly lured us here? You didn’t have to talk to too many people in town to find out about the giant serving of prime rib available for a very reasonable price (I think it was $15). Dave ordered an equally large chicken fried steak that checked in around $10 (cardiologist not included).

Since this is a beer-related blog, I suppose I should mention the beer selection… (moving on)

Back in the day when I frequented the 35’er in Old Town Pasadena, I would occasionally enjoy a girly, summer drink, a raspberry lemonade consisting of Stoli Raspberry, a splash of sweet and sour and 7-up. At Mary Todd’s I think I discovered my girly summer drink’s older sister who joined a biker gang and rode up and down the west coast for 20 years before settling in Astoria, and her name is the Yucca. The Yucca is fresh squeezed lemon, some simple syrup and vodka, lots of vodka, served in a canning jar filled with ice, sealed with a lid and then shaken profusely inside a towel for maximum frozen drink effect. It’s delicious and refreshing and a monster the next morning.

So, what really sets the Workers Bar apart from so many other dive bars?  The people, starting with Mary Todd herself who came by our table, introduced herself and shared a couple minutes with us talking about her life and her bar.  It’s a great story and she’s a great host.  Also, she’s been known to dance on top of the tables from time to time. I think everyone gets swept up into the cordiality of the place, by the end of the night, we’ve abandoned our table, we’re meeting other people, people are buying rounds and shots for us, dancing, etc.

Dave nicely summed up the bar “good people, hard lives, hearty meals, drink accordingly.

A quick shout out to the Cannery Pier Hotel as well.  In addition to the incredible accommodations, the hotel wants you to be safe when enjoying Astoria’s libations.  They have a vintage Buick that will take you anywhere in town and, even better, will come pick you up when you’re done.  In fact, if you get a ride from a DD like we did, they ask that you call the hotel because the driver won’t go home until all the people he’s taken out somewhere are returned to the hotel.  Bravo CPH!

Looks like the guys at Double Mountain are releasing a new beer, Vaporizer, a “golden IPA” at East Burn on Wednesday, June 3 starting at 5 p.m. Double Mountain co-owner Charlie Devereux will be on-hand to explain exactly what makes this IPA golden.

Just to show how little I know about what’s going on at East Burn, they also have their version of a Brewer’s Dinner called Beer Belly Dinner.  This month features Jamie Floyd from Ninkasi and something grilled.

And if you’ve never been to East Burn, I highly recommend heading down to the basement and checking out the skee-ball game and all the other great games, it’s like the rec room I never had growing up….or now for that matter.

Most of Portland’s beer geeks have speculated at one time or another as to the real identity of the infamous beer blogger known as Dr. Wort. His vitriolic posts have inflamed more than a few writers and readers, and sometimes the line between online “troll” and blog author has been a little blurry with this character/author.

And while we appreciate his ability to avoid “sugar coating” issues, it is beer we’re talking about here, not Watergate secrets, and the pseudonym seems unnecessary. Honest reviews, while very much appreciated, shouldn’t start with dishonesty. Plenty of other bloggers are promoting honest reporting without hiding behind a nom de plume.

For that reason, we’ve decided to reveal Dr. Wort’s true identity. Is it our job? Nope, but neither is blogging.

Dr. Wort is Mike Winslow, a former California homebrewer who now resides in the Portland area. Fun fact: he won the old Guest on Tap column’s Steinbart’s gift certificate drawing (see first item under “Beer News”) a few years ago.

How’d we discover his identity? We first assembled a list of what we knew about him, based on his own posts and comments on other blogs:

• Dr. Wort is a homebrewer (seen in a homebrewing-related Facebook status shown in his blog’s sidebar)
• Dr. Wort is/has been a beer judge (which he’s not afraid to tell you)
• Dr. Wort lived in San Francisco at one time
• Dr. Wort is/was involved in the medical field (related post)

These facts provided some helpful background in doing a little Google detective work, but his own blog ultimately proved his downfall. Dr. Wort publishes a list of his favorite links in his sidebar (what, no link to BS Brewing, doc?), and one of the links is to the Homebrew Chef, aka Sean Paxton (thanks for using your real name, Sean!), someone who frequently comments on Dr. Wort’s posts. The Homebrew Chef’s link page provided us with our name (not the one we thought we’d find!):

Dr. Wort’s Buzz – Northwest Brew perspective from Mike Winslow

Seeing how the comments posted by the Homebrew Chef were pretty familiar-sounding, we felt confident the two writers were friends, and that the information could likely be trusted, but we dug a little deeper before revealing the name on Twitter late last night.

A few google searches for “Mike Winslow” and some beer terms like “BJCP” and simply “beer Portland” eventually revealed an e-mail address (which I won’t divulge for spam reasons – just outing the guy, not trying to fill his inbox with spam … ). There aren’t too many in Portland’s beer scene we haven’t corresponded with at one time or another, and a quick inbox search revealed a few August 2007 messages from the e-mail address in question, signed affectionately, “Dr. Wort,” or simply, “DW.” The event he was organizing (the reason we were corresponding) didn’t happen, but it provided the confirmation we needed.

What say you, Mike Winslow, alias Dr. Wort? We know you’ll keep up the straight reporting and no-holds-barred commentary, but now, you can proudly sign your real name to it.

Oh, my poor gut. The things I subject it to: Hamdogs, Turduckens, and Food Stadiums, oh my.

Today I reached a new low after sampling Portland’s newest food fad, the Fatty Melt, aka the “YouCANHasCheeseburger.” Quite simply, it’s your basic 100% Black Angus cheeseburger, complete with lettuce, tomato, onions, ketchup and mustard. Only, instead of buns, substitute two grilled cheese sandwiches. One for the top bun, one for the bottom. I don’t even want to think about how many calories that is.

The sandwich is available downtown at BrunchBox for the value- and calorie-heavy price of just $5. Breaking it down to its individual components, you’re looking at two one-dollar grilled cheese sandwiches straddling a three-dollar burger (take that, Carl’s Jr.). That’s enough to feed a very small family amply, or to put one “knowledge worker” on the fast train to Type II Diabetes.

Of course, the calories only count if they are actually tasty. And in this case, they are. The crispness of the fried Texas Toast complements the crunch of the lettuce nicely, and the oozy cheese in each of the sandwiches meet the softened cheese atop the chewy beef patty in the tastiest triumvirate since the Dahm Triplets. It’s easy for food spectacles (or “Meat Stunts,” as we like to call them) to eschew good taste in pursuit of extremity, but this is one tasty sandwich, and I really don’t feel that gross. Not nearly as gross as I felt after I took on the Baconator.