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.
