Pour Drinks & Eats

There's a new "neighborhood sports lounge" in town: Pour Drinks & Eats has taken over the old La Taberna Tapatia bar space (formerly affiliated with El Tapatio across the street) at the corner of Ashland and Roscoe. (Don't worry, El Tapatio -- the Mexican restaurant itself -- is still open.)

When I heard about Pour's menu, filled with ambitious-sounding dishes and delicious specialty cocktails, I was intrigued. But it was the 40-seat outdoor beer garden that really moved Pour straight to the top of my list of places to try. Like many Chicagoans, I have an deep appreciation for a great beer garden -- and I'm always on the look-out for the next best thing.

Spoiler alert -- a top-liner here for those of you who don't care about all of the details: Solid beer garden. Decent drinks. Above-average bar food. Good for a nice day when you want some eats and drinks. I'll be back.

Now for those of you curious about the experience and what to order...

Pour delivers on its beer garden. The space has a couple of comfy-looking cushioned wicker benches and tables lining its back walls. However, those were taken when we arrived, so we headed to one of the iron tables and chairs that occupy most of the space and ordered some cocktails.


All of them were beautiful. That said, I'll need to quote some random cast member from MTV's "The City" here: "In this business, there are work horses and then there are show ponies." These cocktails, by and large, fall into the latter half of that statement. All pretty, but mostly devoid of substance/complexity.

My friend Katie got some white sangria, which is on special on Thursdays. I'm not going to lie to you, I've never seen clear white sangria before and thought it seemed a little suspect -- mostly since it looked like Katie was drinking water with some fruit on the top. But then I tried it and found out it packed an unexpected punch. Not my favorite white sangria I've ever tried, but decent.

I got the spiked lemonade, which was muddled with strawberries and basil and topped with Sprite. This drink, in theory, is brilliant. The execution, however, was lackluster. There was WAY too much Sprite and not nearly enough lemon, strawberry or basil. If I wanted a Sprite with some vodka, I'd order a vodka Sprite. Not terrible, but definitely not great. I moved on to beer shortly thereafter.

Jenny tried to order the Hot & Bothered, a drink with Absinthe in it that sounded cool, but unfortunately, they do not actually have any Absinthe. Mmmk... So she ordered her second choice, which involved the term "Sunrise." This drink was pretty -- but just decent. (Unfortunately, I don't remember what's in it and am confident that she won't either. Sorry, I promise I'm going to start taking a notebook out with me.)

Colette got the Pineapple Express, which she enjoyed. She said it was sweet, but not too sweet -- which is an accomplishment for anything that features pineapple juice. I didn't manage to take a swig of this one before it was gone, but Colette also moved on to beer after just one.

Then we started in on the food. We ordered the guacamole and chips and salsa. (I love good guac, so I feel like I have to try it everywhere it's offered.) Pour's guac was pretty disappointing -- not that this stopped me from eating it. What stopped me from completely gorging myself was that it came out with sour cream drizzled all up on it. Nothing stops me in my tracks like the creamy white stuff. This was not listed in the menu, so I didn't know to make my normal pre-emptive "Please, God, no sour cream" plea to our server. Oh well. I ate around it. And what was around it was green, as it should be, but totally bland. Sad face.

Then came our entrees. Colette and Katie got the Chicken Ciabatta sandwiches, which they both liked very much. Both elected for the side salad, which was mostly some mixed greens and a tomato slice or two tossed in some balsamic vinaigrette.

The server recommended the shrimp tacos (regular style, not original), so that's what I ordered. Their "regular" style comes with lettuce, tomato and shredded cheese, as opposed to the "original" style which serves up the tacos with onion and cilantro. These shrimp tacos were pretty darn tasty. Good balance of flavors, tons of shrimp, fresh tortillas. Only downside is that they used the same tomato wedges from the side salads on the tacos, which 1) weren't ripe and 2) were cut in slices which were hard to manage within the taco setting. Dice your tomatoes, fools; this is Taco 101.

Jenny ordered the grilled cheese with Fontina and sage. And I am glad she did. This had been my second menu choice because I love sage like it's my job and you don't see it a lot outside of Thanksgiving and fall dishes featuring butternut squash. Fontina also happens to be one of my favorite cheeses, so the pairing was going to be pretty much ideal. It was. The balance was phenomenal and the cheese melted beautifully. The quality bread they used -- and of course, the sage -- kicked things up a notch to ensure that this was no ordinary grilled cheese. This is the best dish we had there.

Pour, this was a solid showing. I'll be back to try some more of the menu, most notably the pancetta-wrapped dates stuffed with Manchego (my other fave cheese) that we saw running around to other tables and one of the nine craft beers they have on draft.