- Lunch Magazine
- Posts
- Bar food
To secure a full on-premise commercial liquor license in the state of Oregon, licensees are required to offer food service:
All businesses must make at least five different meals available at all times and in all areas where alcoholic beverage service is available.
But what is a meal?
“Meal” means a food item, or combination of food items, prepared or cooked on the licensed premises that the Commission determines is a main course and is a serving of food sufficient to satisfy the appetite of one individual. Food items that are appetizers, snacks, and desserts do not qualify as a meal. Examples include, but are not limited to, popcorn, peanuts, chips, a serving of food that is not sufficient to satisfy the appetite of one individual, and food items offered by the licensee as other than a meal.
“Different meals” means meals that the Commission determines differ in their primary ingredients or method of preparation. For example, a turkey sandwich differs from a salami sandwich, a beef burger differs from a turkey burger, a pepperoni pizza differs from a cheese pizza, and fried chicken differs from baked chicken. Different sizes of the same item are not considered different under this rule. For example, a large cheese pizza is not different from a small cheese pizza and a large hot dog is not different from a small hot dog.
I love their logic: the size of a thing does not change the nature of a thing. Debatable (where my pedants at)! But a turkey sandwich would be different from a turkey burger, presumably, because one has ground-and-grilled turkey, and the other has processed-and-sliced turkey.
Pizza measurement aside, this law was one of my favorite parts of living in Portland. You can get a decent meal at nearly any bar in the city.
In Louisiana, where I lived after Oregon, they consume 2.5 gallons of alcohol “per resident 14 and older” per year, the 21st (nice) highest per-capita consumption among US states. And 62 inches of rain fall per year, and plenty bars don’t serve food, but they won’t begrudge you for grabbing a full-size 32-inch po-boy loaf from around the corner and digging in while you nurse your whiskey sour.
Here’s my proposal: elevate this code, OR 845-006-0459, to the federal level. It’s a fundamentally prosocial concept. Alcohol should be paired with a meal. I’d put that modifier on that code, plenty “appetizers, snacks and desserts” do qualify as a “meal,” at least in my book. Last night, three of us had perfect fries with pre-dinner drinks. There’s nothing wrong with that.
Two weeks ago, three friends and I saw Dune 2 (in 70mm IMAX, naturally). The movie got out around 11PM. By midnight, we were sat at H&H Reserve, where Dog Day Afternoon slings Chicago specialities out of a window in the back. We had two 20oz mugs of Kirin Ichiban and one Chicago dog each.
Home in bed, drunk and fed, by 2AM. There’s nothing wrong with that.
Reply