Best day ever: Operaoke host Lisa Lipton
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Classical music bar owner Lisa Lipton. Photo courtesy of Lisa Lipton
Esquire Magazine just named Lisa Lipton's classical music bar, Mendelssohn's on North Mississippi, one of the best bars in the country.
- "What could have been a 'Portlandia' joke is instead a rousing oratorio for a slender niche filled to the rafters with song," the magazine wrote.
Anyone can sign up for the bar's Tuesday night Operaoke, which mixes opera with the fun of karaoke. It's low-stakes, high-quality vocal performance — live accompaniment provided.
Lipton claims a direct bloodline to classical composer Felix Mendelssohn. She's been executive director of Opera Theater Oregon since 2017 and started in the same role at the Newport Symphony just weeks before her bar opened last June
- So between arias, executive duties and making up cocktail names — Bach Talk jalapeño martini, anyone? — what's Lisa's dream Portland day?
☕ Morning: All of Lisa's days start with coffee. When she's in Portland, it's Grand Central or Cinco Siete in Sellwood. Then a walk in Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge.
- "If I wake up in Newport," — when she's there for work — "I hit Ultralife Cafe in Nye Beach and take a walk on the beach — or I get my coffee and head to my radio show at KNPT."
☕ Coffee — or another quick walk on a trail — is also Lisa's preferred lunch. She'll make exceptions.
- "I love eating a smoothie from Moberi or eating quick small bites like cheese and bread in a park somewhere."
🎭 Lisa must really love her work, since she included Zoom meetings and testifying at the Legislature in her description of her best Portland day ever!
- On days off, she likes to wander the Stars Antique Mall.
🍽️ For dinner, something new. "This could be oysters or a fun new pasta dish, it could be trying a new food item, or getting back to the basics from a place."
- Her current restaurant favorites include the wine-focused restaurant OK Omens, French-inspired coastal eatery Normandie, bar and drinking-snacks spot Expatriate, the neighborhood live music venue The Muddy Rudder and "trusty old Kay's in Sellwood."
🎤 "I can always be found at Operaoke at my bar, but I also love going to Baby Ketten and Bear Paw for karaoke, and to shows downtown or in unusual urban settings. I just went to the SoundsTruck grand opening at The Redd last weekend and that was fabulous! I am kind of an event queen."