Get ready to feel good again, Portland.
The Malarkey is the maximalist new steakhouse opening in the old Oba! space. You’ve heard about it by now. The team considered a trickier building near Voodoo Donuts that didn’t pass inspection. But they settled on here, and reservations for July 31’s opening night were fully booked almost immediately.
Dressed in a jumpsuit, pink sneakers and jumbo tinted sunglasses, celebrity chef Brian Malarkey led us on a high-energy tour. He just got back from the gym, but we suspect he’s always pumped.
The restaurant is divided into regional sections: the Coast, the West Hills, Mt. Hood and the trippy forest. The exterior is painted blue, but the inside glows rosy pink, as if optimism were a color. The interior designer, Heylen Thienes, clearly got the message.
“I told her, no black,” Malarkey said. “It has be bright and vibrant and alive. I know the Portland community loves its dark dives, so I’m a little nervous. I keep dimming the lights and then, ‘No, no. I just can’t get that dark.’”
Malarkey believes buildings carry energy from their pasts.
“We knew Oba! had a soul. It was one the most popular places for like 17 years. But it was dirt floors when we looked at it. So there were some negotiations, there was some craziness. This is a from-scratch build-out.”
The menu is a beautiful slew of oysters and seafood. Very simple and relatable dishes presented with flair and excitement, explains Malarkey’s right-hand man, Carlos Anthony, executive chef at Brian Malarkey’s Bend restaurant, The Hawkeye and Huckleberry Lounge.
“What we’re focused on—and have been for 10 years—is wood fire,” Anthony said. “People know how to cook a steak at home; they’ve got that down. But when you put it over oak, that changes it. It’s magic. We have a beautiful big halibut that’s bone-in, and absolutely insane.”
The team has deep local ties. Chef José “Lalo” Camarena (República) will run the Malarkey kitchen. Alejandro de la Parra (Teardrop Cocktail Lounge) is the bar manager.
Fashion drawings by Malarkey’s grandmother, a former lead advertising illustrator for Meier & Frank department store, hang on one wall. There’s a painting of Darcelle and one of Malarkey’s mother, who trained horses at Portland Meadows.
The Malarkey isn’t a vibe. It’s many, many vibes.
The central bar is sunken and topped with terrazzo tile. Pebbles below imitate walking on sand. Commanding full attention at the bar is a golden elk sculpture. You are surrounded by Portland icons.
“This is my love letter to Portland, Oregon,” says Malarkey. “You enter the bar, which is the Oregon Coast circa 1970. We have the bonfire that will be on fire with DJs Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. We have all the beach memorabilia on the walls, like you’d see at a beach house.”
“My designer does all the beautiful tile, and I do all the tchotchkes,” says Malarkey, who digs for treasures at collector stores Urbanite and Memory Den on the Central Eastside.
Next we leave the beach and enter The Heights of Portland. Paintings depict a cluster of society ladies in pearls; jazz pianist Janice Scroggins and arts patron Glenda Goldwater. Dining tables are narrow. Ferns drape down from the ceiling. “We made the tables skinnier to bring in the interaction,” Malarkey said.
A few steps away from the main dining room is a small sunken room named after Portlander Hazel Ying Lee, a talented Chinese-American aviator. During WWII, she was enlisted to fly for the Women Airforce Service Pilots.
“It’s still getting finishing touches,” Malarkey said. “We’ll leave it open to the elements. On a rainy fall/winter day it’ll be amazing. Candlelit. And it’ll have its own soundtrack.”
Malarkey is fascinated with anything old and how cities evolve. One of his favorite movies is “Gangs of New York.”
“I like to walk around here at night and see how it was built, the old buildings and pioneering history. How people built these places. I love the Shanghai Tunnels. I love the mystery and wildness of it,” he said.
The tour continues. “Next we’re in downtown, it’s a little edgier.” A graffiti covered railcar door slides open. There’s a 1972 motorcycle in a similar style to the one Keanu Reeves drove in “My Own Private Idaho.” Next to it, a small statue of the Goddess Nike. One wall has concert posters from a Pacific Northwest music scene: Modest Mouse, Cat Power.
We move to a “Portlandia” hallway where bird replicas are displayed. “There will be plaques with the names on each one, and what they liked to do. Details about their lives,” like Colin, the chicken whose life was made famous by a certain restaurant scene, he said.
Next we head to the mountains to visit a private event room that seats 80. “This is the Enchanted Forest, with all kinds of mystical creatures,” said Malarkey, whose imagination leaps easily. We take a peak into Chef Lalo’s kitchen. Duck into the walk-in, the back office.
As we pass an assistant chef testing a sheet pan of baby potatoes, he says, “The amount of talent here is amazing. We hired about 70 people so far.” Even Malarkey’s back office is decorated with ephemera: the hijacker DB Cooper and skater Tonya Harding.
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“Our whole mission and goal is to reinvigorate and bring energy back to the metropolitan area. Portland is the food capital of the United States,” he said. “I go to all these cities as a chef—but this is the best one.”
Knitting the silos of Portland together under a big tent is what he wants to do.
“This place is for a huge audience. A lot of restaurants in Portland are made for a very specific clientele, very niche. And I love all the niche cuisines in Portland, but when you want to bring a lot of people together, it’s usually over steak and fish. Here, I want to bring together different groups of people. Leave factions, leave politics behind. Come together in humanity to share drink and laughter and food.
“People keep saying ‘We’re so excited, it’s going to help our [city’s] cleanliness and safety.’ Hopefully it’s going to inspire people to come back. To open up new businesses. Hopefully we’ll be successful, and clean up our streets a little bit.
“I love history, I study it. I look at restaurants that have lasted: Ringside, Andina, El Goucho. These are big, strong restaurants that have been through time and change. I want this to be here in 50 years.”
His message for his Pearl neighbors? “It’s your restaurant. We built this for you. If you want your neighborhood to really perk up, we’d love to see you a couple times a week. We aren’t just a special occasion restaurant.”
Then he zooms out. “I want Portland. I want the Pearl. I want Beaverton. I want Gresham. I want this to be the place where you drive through the tunnels and cross the bridges because you want to see what downtown looks like now. You come for soccer, a concert, an art walk. I want people from everywhere.”
What worries him?
“My fear is what if nobody likes this? But I’m getting over it because chef Lalo’s food is so good. Our ambience is so good. Our bar staff is so good and our service staff is over the moon. You put those elements together. You cannot fail.”
Brian Malarkey likes to disarm people and it starts with his name.
“Malarkey is what Joe Biden says, right? But the Malarkeys have been in Portland since the 1880s. It’s called The Malarkey, that means it’s a bunch of bullshit, right? So we’re here for shenanigans.”
Managing Oba! back in it’s day was one my of my favorite and most rewarding restaurant jobs ever. I am so thrilled with this gorgeous, magical revival!! We’ll be visiting soon (and often!).