A dueling drink/food identity on Munjoy Hill: Bar Lola

Just what does Bar Lola claim to be? In the first place, if you affix the word "bar" to your title, then what in the name of Longfellow is "Hand Chopped Steak Tartare with Toasted Baguette and Mustard" ($6) doing on the menu?

Or "Braised Seafood Stew with Fennel, Olives, and Orange Zest"($17) for that matter, while we of the PBR and peanuts fare are on the topic. So, Bar Lola chef and co-founder Guy Hernandez, is this chic Munjoy Hill stop a restaurant with a mask on?

"We wanted to make a restaurant where you could get some good drinks, or a bar where you could get some good food. It's all about the experience. We want you to have the experience you came for" he says. "It's not like an Italian place, or a Greek place, our menu offers what we think tastes good. Anything that we're attracted to."

"We" is co-founders Stella and Guy Hernandez, as well as what the chef describes in surprising hip-hop as a "really tight crew." This extends from Bar Lola's dishwasher to "anybody who lives on the Hill." They make friends, they throw dinners, the owners and staff here process feedback, and, as a transparent part of the community, evolve to what the whole crew helps dictate.

The dinners are cool, too, featuring 5 course meals, each with their own small wine or beer pairing. It's a way to explore outside of what is already a very selective beer/wine list. The couple takes particular joy planning these nights with their distributor not just because they're able to throw a party with a theme. The popular gatherings are local events where all the 2 and 4 top tables are pushed together in the middle.

As palettes are delighted, relationships are forged, and Bar Lola devotees are born. Usually there's a speaker who discusses just how, sensually, the food and drink are related. Foodies of Portland rejoice.

As for the bar itself, it's tiny, some five stools wide. But there is no barrier between dining room and bar and that just underscores this whole dual drinks/food identity that Bar Lola has worked so hard to create. The cozy space is warmly lit with sparse lanterns and candles, never an abrasive experience for the eyes. Your date will glow across the table here, and all the more after a couple of the powerhouse artisan cocktails like the Fancy Free (Knob Creek Bourbon, Luxardo, and Angosturaand Orange Bitters, $9) or the Count Negroni (Hendricks Gin, Boissiere Sweet Vermouth, Campari and a splash of soda, $10).

As elegantly as these drinks are constructed, they also just common sense tasty. "We try not to get too clever with our language on the menu, it's what we like, that's what we offer" Guy reiterates. His is what he calls "the easy job" which consists of preparing all the food. A big, easy job.

Meanwhile his wife attends to "everything else" from hiring to private functions to the beautiful Bar Lola website (http://www.barlola.net). It's pretty cool that there is this much vibrant thought invested in on a daily basis atop Munjoy Hill.

So, then, who is Lola? "Lola is the Filipino word for Grandmother, and my father is from the Phillipines," explains Guy. "Some folks use Nana, we used Lola. But you know everybody has their own word for Grandmother, and they're all great. We want to offer a variety of top experiences, and we want to hear stories of yours. Bar Lola is here so that we can make friends, and friends on the Hill can make friends." Guy and Stella come from an architecture background (you can tell from how well the staff flows inside the space), and while they've learned a ton along the way, they weren't slave to some front-of-house/back-of-house template for creating a restaurant. "We just focused on getting good food out in a timely fashion" Guy says, ever simplifying. Sure seems sensible to limit the hullabaloo. Sophisticated like a Manhattan tapas bar, but cozy and familiar like a neighborhood tavern, Bar Lola uses the following headings for it's exotic, delicious menu: Small, Medium, Large, Salads and Sweets. That's it, all that investment of time and energy, broken down into elemental, human needs language. They just want to meet you where you're at.