Pirate jokes. Pirate movies. Pirate movie breakfast cereal tie-ins. Pirate restaurants with vegan menus. Pirate festivals in Cathedral Park.

While the pirate fad is getting long in the tooth, this shouldn't be held against Maiden in the Mist, a nautical-themed restaurant and bar over on SE Morrison. It opened in January and seems geared more towards fans of sea-going shanties than the exploits of Captain Jack Sparrow.

Chinese lanterns hang over the bar and the lights are turned down low, giving the place a mysterious, candlelit vibe worthy of an opium den done up by interior design majors. Paintings that look like they were lifted from an old Sea Galley hang over the tables and in the bathroom? Portraits of topless mermaids getting it on with each other and their pet sea serpents. I tried to take pictures with my camera phone but the dim lighting made it almost impossible. I had a choice between posting a blurry photo of a ship or an extremely blurry photo of one of the mermaids. I went with the ship. Sorry if I've disappointed anyone out there.

The menu holds back on pirate puns. There are no "mAAAAARgaritas" on the drink menu but there are concoctions named "Scurvy Dog," "Red Tide" and, er, "Man Cherry." Captain Ahab would probably feel like a wuss drinking a "Walk the Plank" (vodka and Bailey's served straight up in a martini glass with a sugared rim) but that's what I went with. Strangely enough, aside from a salmon fillet, there aren't any other seafood items on the landlubb-ing entree menu. Maybe Maiden in the Mist doesn't quite have her sea legs yet.

I'll be back, if only for the cool ambiance that's stuck somewhere between the Shanghai Tunnel and a martini bar. Also: Gypsy Thursdays.

Labels: Booze, restaurants