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Highly anticipated Cuban bar Palomar will be open tonight, according to a posted sign on the Cuban restaurant’s Division-street door. Bartender and owner Ricky Gomez, an alum of places like Ox and Teardrop Lounge, nabbed the 2012 “Bartender the Year” title at Diageo beverage company’s World Class bartending competition, and has accrued a serious following since. Evidence on Yelp suggests the bar may have soft-opened this weekend, with user Das K. calling the food “on point” and the daiquiri menu “amazing.”
In September, Gomez told Willamette Week that the menu will have an extensive list of daiquiris, from the austere Hemingway to blended sippers often spotted at beachside bars. Gomez also alluded to plenty of “Cuban diner food,” including the Platonic ideal of bar snacks: filled delights like croquetas and empanadas and a medianoche, a Cuban on sweet bread. Expect another Caribbean mainstay, whole fried snapper, which happens to go very well with rum.
Palomar will be open from 4 p.m. to 2 a.m. daily. The bar is easy to spot — find the tall woman next to Grixsen Brewing Company and Palomar is hiding behind her.
• Palomar [Instagram]
• Palomar [Yelp]
• Portland Is Getting a Daiquiri-Crazed Cuban Spot [WWeek]
• Here Comes SE Division’s Daiquiri-Obsessed Palomar Bar [EPDX]
• 15 Most Anticipated Portland Spring/Summer Restaurant Openings [EPDX]
