You may have seen Alfredo Climaco at the Portland Night Market, downtown’s Cinco de Mayo Fiesta, Portland Mercado in Southeast or any one of the dozens of festivals and street fairs where he sells his signature iced piña coladas in hollowed out pineapple shells.
Starting July 15, you’ll be able to find him in one place.
Climaco, a former manager at Little Big Burger, plans to open Avenida Tropicale next month, with blended piña coladas, fresh-squeezed margaritas and a pan-Latin small bites menu that ranges from cool Peruvian ceviche to tortas filled with Yucatecan cochinita pibil.
“The company was founded on the inspiration of two cultures, Mexico and Puerto Rico,” Climaco said, referring to his home country and the birthplace of the piña coladas. “I really am dedicated to expressing the beauty of both places through the drinks.”
Climaco plans to offer a menu of Latin American fusion dishes paired with contemporary drinks. That means a tight menu of small bites and sides including fish and shrimp tacos, guacamole with yucca fries, an octopus-chorizo plate and other dishes from throughout Central and South America. In addition to both alcoholic and nonalcoholic piña coladas, Climaco will offer a menu of customizable margaritas, with everything from grasshopper or hibiscus salt rims to spicy mango and smoked pineapple syrups, all served in biodegradable cups or those compostable pineapple shells.
Super Deluxe and Boxer Ramen co-owner Matt Lynch, who hired Climaco at Little Big Burger around 2012, is a partner in Avenida Tropicale, and is helping with the bar’s design.
Climaco, who previously went by Alfredo Reyes (he switched surnames to honor his mother, who lives in Mexico), is no stranger to hard work. Born in Puebla, a city of more than 1.5 million people about 80 miles southeast of Mexico City, he took his first job at 9 years old, working 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. for a butcher and carnitas vendor weekends at the local market. His first bartending job was at a nightclub at age 17.
He founded the Pacific Northwest’s “first mobile Caribbean bar” as a table set up at Portland Mercado in 2015, with a name designed in part to honor his Puerto Rican best friend, Ignacio Falcón-Dvorsky, who helped run Mexirican’s early events. Falcón-Dvorsky now lives in Australia, Climaco said. Two years later, Mexirican’s piña coladas made enough of a splash at 2017′s Cinco de Mayo Fiesta that Climaco decided to devote his attentions to the business full-time. Soon, Mexirican was appearing at 45 festivals and street fairs each year.
In a normal year, that is.
“By this time I would have done maybe 15 events already,” Climaco said. “If you mention it, we are there, because we have the capacity to do up to three events in the same day, so we do the Mississippi Street Fair and the Big Float, which happen on the same day.”
To make up for the lost revenue, Climaco spent the shutdown bringing non-alcoholic piña coladas directly to people’s doorsteps. Now he’s focused on opening his brick-and-mortar, which will take over the former Uno Mas Taquiza space in The Ocean micro restaurant complex on Northeast Glisan Street next month (the second Uno Mas at 1914 W. Burnside reopened for dine-in service Friday). Social distancing measures will be in place, including a pickup window for food and drinks, Climaco said.
Avenida Tropicale is shooting for a Wednesday, July 15, opening in The Ocean complex at 2337 N.E. Glisan St.
-- Michael Russell, mrussell@oregonian.com, @tdmrussell
Subscribe to The Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories.