beakerandflask.com Blog

So, between the often tedious and somewhat boring elements of opening a bar, I do get to play every now and then. I have my shifts at Clyde Common and they satisfy my urge to interact and create with/for the public at large. My greatest escape, though, at the moment is the public events we have been doing with the Oregon Bartenders Guild. We had originally started to do these programs as a way to get some money in our coffers, being a newly formed organization, but they have turned out to be a whole lot of fun as well. This month we were blessed to have the affable spirits and cocktail writer David Wondrich join us for an event honoring Jerry Thomas. For those of you not obsessed with bartending and all things cocktail related, Jerry Thomas is widely considered to be the standard bearer of the modern craft bartender. Although he began his career over 150 years ago, his style, dedication and overall lifestyle are a model for many of us in the profession. Mr Wondrich recently published a book chronicling the life of Jerry Thomas and we were honored to have him as our guest as we presented our “Tribute to Jerry Thomas” event. I’ll lead you over to my friend Jeff’s website where you can read an account of the days festivities and just finish by saying that I was honored to be a part of the whole thing. If you like, you can go here and check out my photos from the day. As an aside, I’d really like to thank Eric Moore from The Victory (one of my favorite bars in Portland)

and Brian Spangler from Apizza Scholls (my favorite pizza spot)

for providing us with the food to soak up all that booze.

The restaurant business is something of a transient affair. People come and go, in and out of your life, some talented, some just in it for the money, while they plan the rest of their lives. I’m one of the few who has done it for along time and done it in the same place. As a result, I’ve met some amazing people and formed some pretty good relationships in this industry. When word leaked out that I was planning to open my own place, a few people came forward and expressed an interest in working with me to help make Beaker & Flask happen. Let me tell you, that is just about the most flattered as I’ve ever been. I’m going to take this opportunity to introduce you to a couple of friends who have signed on to work at Beaker & Flask and at the same time, express my gratitude for all they have already done.
Doug Paquin, who goes back to my early days at Park Kitchen, was the first to sign up. Doug is a veteran of the Portland dining scene and no doubt you’ve seen him either behind the bar at your favorite local dining establishment or sitting next to you. He’s got the great personable quality I look for in a bartender, good storyteller, full of facts you may not have considered and devoted to creating a positive experience for his customers. We meet up pretty regularly at the Horse Brass and discuss all things Beaker & Flask. He’s taken on the role of “Beer Guy” and I know he’s going to put together a great list.
I am super pleased to have Lance Mayhew in the fold. Lance was one of the courageous folks who contacted me out of the blue when I left Park Kitchen. I knew immediately he was going to be a part of my operation. In the time since, he has, oh, I don’t know, become President of the Oregon Bartenders Guild ,entered, and won, numerous cocktail competitions and become a pretty good confidant. His experimentation is going to be a key factor in the success of B & F. Check out his blog, he is not afraid to get wierd.
Lastly, I have to mention my chef. Ben Bettinger was the long time Chef de Cuisine at Paley’s Place and an old friend. I’ve known Benny since he was just a young pup, doing his internship at Paley’s during my stay there. He impressed everyone so much, that when a job opened, he was immediately brought on as a full time line cook. Over the years, he established himself, took over the kitchen and ran the show during Vitaley’s James Beard Award winning years. His is a talent I treasure and plan to use completely.
Well, I’ve got a few more hooks in the water, so I will be updating as more people come on board. It’s going to be the personality of the staff and the product we put out that will make it work and I think I’m off to a pretty good start.

I’m debuting a new segment here that I’m calling “where you at?” It’s where I’ll give the updates on the progress of Beaker & Flask and the timeline for opening day.
As I’ve already stated, Beaker & Flask is located at 720 SE Sandy Blvd. It’s a great old building and I’ll be occupying about 1900 sq. ft. of the 5100 sq. ft. available. The entire building was occupied by Krueger’s for a good long time until they sold to the new owners last December. As I expected, it’s somewhat of a process to remodel the space into three separate units, but progress is being made and, at this point, I’m still hoping for a June opening date. I’ll keep that until June comes and goes, at which point I’ll update.

I’ve been working with a great local architect, by the name of Mark Annen, who has years of experience designing restaurants and he’s been a great help in taking my ideas and putting them on paper in a way that will actually be functional and make the best use of the space available. Mark also did the design work for Park Kitchen, , Rocket, Country Cat and some other great spots around Portland. I think he was the right man for the job. Below is a basic drawing of what the layout will look like.

The rounded front is the curved windows that you can see in the above picture. The view from there overlooks the large intersection where Sandy Blvd. becomes 7th Ave., with the West Hills and a modest view of the Downtown skyline forming the background. It should have a nice active, urban feel. Inside it will feature mostly booths for the floor seating and that big triangle will be a, sort of, three petal flower shaped pub table. The kitchen will be open, but I like that it’s in the back and behind the bar so the bright lights won’t dominate the environment.

I’ll put some more pictures below to show the current state of things and then we can all have fun watching the work get done, because it will happen, right?

There has been some request for more information, so I’ll do the blog thing and hopefully answer some questions and provide updates and maybe tell a story or two along the way. As you will come to find out, I ain’t no writer so just get past it and don’t ever mention grammar or spelling in a message or you will be banished and your drink dumped in the sink. I’m not real up to date on blog etiquette, but I know it exists, so I’ll try and not offend anyone unless I mean to. Anyway, let’s begin:
My name is Kevin Ludwig and I’m opening a bar. Well, it’s a bar-slash-restaurant, with the “restaurant” part taking a larger role recently. This has been the ebb and flow I’ve gone through over the last year in making the choices about the kind of place I plan to have. I had a great chef lined up and I was looking to… actually I think I’m diving in to the story a bit too fast. I’ve had many story lines for this blog running through my head for some time now, so it’s probably going to spill out a bit at first. I’ll try and get some themes going and focus myself a bit more. I’ll keep this at an introduction. My name is Kevin Ludwig, and I’m opening a bar called Beaker & Flask right here in Portland, Oregon. It’s located on the corner of 7th and Sandy in the close in, industrial SE. It’s going to be in, what they are calling, “The 720 Building”, which is actually the old Krueger’s Supply building (Krueger’s is still around, they just moved down the street a few blocks). I’m really excited about this location. It’s growing and developing in to a real destination spot for some of Portland’s best drinking and dining and I think I got in just in time. For those of you who don’t know me, I’ve been a bartender in Portland for the last 13 years or so. I moved here in 1993 from Pittsburgh, PA with my friend Mike (who also bartends here in town at the Doug Fir) and in that time I’ve spent time behind the bars at Wildwood Restaurant and Bar, Paley’s Place, Park Kitchen and currently Clyde Common. I’ve seen incredible change in the Portland drinking and dining scene, people and restaurants come and go, new restaurants become “institutions” and old timers continuing to plug along just doing their thing. It’s been an amazing education and although I tried to leave once, I’ve found my permanent home here in Portland and it’s time to do my own thing. Check back here every now and then and maybe I’ll have something for you to read as I try and tell the story of Beaker & Flask from the beginning.