In Ansel Vickery’s opinion, a good bar isn’t necessarily about elaborate cocktails; it has much more to do with the feeling you get walking in. “My favorite places are places that are greater than the sum of their parts,” Vickery says. “The location, what it feels like walking in the front door, how you’re greeted as you walk in. There are a million things at play.”
That’s not to say Vickery isn’t a skilled bartender: Since he was 19, he’s been working at Portland restaurants, from the now-closed Bluehour to underrated destination Free House. Soon, he’ll have a bar of his own: he’ll take over the former Caldera Public
→ Continue reading at Eater