2011 in Review

April, 2012.
From the desk of John Connell Maribona, Chef + Owner of Pambiche:

2011 was another exciting year here at Pambiche! We began the year with the transformation of the streetscape in front of the restaurant from 4-5 car parking spots to a bike corral that will handle up to 18 bikes flanked by bioswales to the East and West ends of the corral. For more information on the bioswale / bike corral at Pambiche see here.

The bike corral gave us the opportunity to redo our sidewalk café seating area and make the public walkway more pedestrian friendly. We reduced the size of our tables, added bilingual pedestrian right-of-way signage, public benches, an awning and a new raised garden bed to the East of the restaurants entrance. The whole patio feel has improved; it’s more comfortable for patrons and less obtrusive for pedestrians. We appreciate everyone’s patience during the transformation!! A special thanks to our neighbors at The Glisan Quick Wash, Bond Organs and to the residents of the Timaria.

The summer of 2011 we also began working on our Cuban Mural, a project that was in the works for some eight years. The project was completed in October of 2011 and the official unveiling celebration is slated for the summer of 2012. For more information on Cuban Mural Project at Pambiche see here.

If all of this wasn’t enough we remodeled our little dining room in January of this year, which included a new bar with more spacious seating, a spiffy new pastry case, we added a liquor well to go with our new full liquor license and erected a pony wall for table 10 so that the patrons that sit there will no longer have to endure the cold breeze every time the front door is open (sorry, and thanks to all of you that have sat here, we should have done this years ago!! BTW, this is now one of the preferred seats in the house!!). The bar and interior trim work was done using reclaimed oak from giant wine vats, the reddish black color is from the wine that was stored in the large oversized barrels. It’s a real compliment to our blood wood floors and the overall character is rustic and warm! A special thanks to McCulloch and his crew from Orange Construction for helping us bring the vision to life!!

We were granted a full liquor license in 2012 and now feature a full menu of Traditional Cuban Cocktails in addition to a line of Cuban Heritage Rums. For 12 years we had a beer and wine license, but the demand for mojitos, daiquiris and other popular Cuban cocktails had gotten ridiculous, so we finally did it! The people have spoken!! Many of you may remember Cañita, the bar we had in Old Town 2002-2004, the beloved Cuban cocktails that made Cañita a special place have returned to Pambiche and you can once again drink rum in our little piece of Havana right here in Portland, Oregon. See our Cuban Cocktail Menu here.