New kid on the block: Empire

Yet the month-old Empire Dine and Dance was filled with lively people, enjoying their evening in light of the annual Siberian freeze. Downstairs, couples and friends dotted the dining room and lounge chairs, sipping on Shipyards and whiskey sours.

Everything feels antique and familiar: Empire is filled with enough old furniture to decorate a college sophomore's house at Orono, though these chairs and benches are nicer and less stained. Almost everything in the building is recycled, an impressive feat that really lends itself to the venue’s sense of style. The leather bar stools downstairs are outfitted with backs (really comfortable) and upstairs there are barber stools to sit in amid a plethora of other lounging options.

Despite sitting in the shell of a turn-of-the-century bank building, the Dine and Dance feels warm and inviting, beckoning you in off the mean streets.
The place has a cool vibe, the type of bar you might avoid telling people about so they don't come and ruin it. Food and drinks are a bit upscale. Empire caters to people in their late 20s, though owner Bill Umbel says he isn't trying to exclude anyone.

Fancy appetizers sit atop the small menu, and burgers and entrees fill out the selection. A plain burger is $9 and an appetizer of stuffed endives with trout is $8, while entrees are in the double-digits. The current food lineup is only temporary, so expect a retooled, more robust menu in the future.

Sitting next to the bartender downstairs, I overheard three people each attempt to order a different domestic beer (Budweiser, Bud Light and a Miller Lite) to no avail (the only beer they have from a macro brewery are Coors Light bottles). If you are a shot and Bud type, this might not be your watering hole.

There are six beers on tap, with each draft setting you back $4 and martinis ringing in at $7. Not bad, but definitely not cheap relative to other Portland bars. The prices may be a bit high to keep out those beer-bonging college kids, but perhaps when the bar begins offering regular drink specials the (poor) youth and the affluent can reach a compromise.

Upstairs, the cover was $3 to see a four-man weave of comedy (why, that’s only 75 cents a comic!). I walked into an actual, honest-to-goodness entertainment venue, where about 50 people were listening to incredibly vulgar comedy that was funny when it wasn't disgusting. The lighting was dim, as it should be, accented by a disco ball and Christmas lights strung up around the walls. I was pleasantly surprised by the attendance on a Wednesday night, which points to a healthy buzz surrounding the club.

The stage is great; Umbel says music is Empire’s number-one priority and you can tell by the room's layout. The only thing working against this second-floor discotheque is a lack of bathrooms. What were they thinking? If there are 300 people upstairs dancing and the only bathrooms are downstairs, expect a brawl, Roadhouse style.

Empire is definitely a hip place, the type of establishment were “people in the know” are apt to visit. Don’t expect girls dancing on tables and frat boys socking each other in the face; this place has a touch of class among its food, drinks and atmosphere. And if a band you are interested in happens to play there, go, because the music hall and sound quality are topnotch.