Pool & Fish on the 20th

I went to the Rialto on SW Alder expecting it to be a classically seedy pool hall. That chunk of downtown? I could already smell the stale cigarettes -- it doesn't matter when the no-smoking ordinance was passed, pool tables give cigarette smoke a half-life on par with most nuclear isotopes -- and French fries cooked in even staler oil. A good bad pool hall acts like a time machine to a place even the regulars there don't want to live in.

You could imagine my surprise to find that the joint turned out be a modern, curiously elegant and almost airy (perhaps they save all the seediness for the Rialto OTB storefront next door). It's the first hall I've seen that looks like a pool hall went down on a sports bar in the shell of a dance club. I'm already a fan. Table rates were reasonable, the mezzanine has a great view/less noisy area for actual conversation while playing.

After a few games, we discovered that the bistro-looking shop on a side-street is also part of the pool hall, so we popped in there for a very large, intriguingly flavored fish sandwich & fries. The menu is definitely a cut or two above the usual fare; I'm still struggling to wrap my mind around the idea of a pool hall serving brunch, even in this town.

After eating, we staggered North a few blocks to see a Satanic/420/heavy-metal/sci-fi burlesque show at Dante's, aka another Wednesday night in Portland.