Los Chuchu-Locos Snack Bar is applying for a liquor license at 19220 SE Stark St in Portland, with owner Santiago Peña telling What Now Portland that he originally hoped to open before September 16, though he does not yet have a firm answer on when the license will clear. Peña said the process has simply been slow, with the state reviewing applications carefully rather than any issue on his end.
Peña described the concept as a small, seafood-focused bar and snack spot, built around dishes like shrimp tostadas, aguachile, fish tostadas and a seven seas broth called caldo de siete mares, along with cocktails. He said the menu will stay small, currently around 12 dishes, with items rotating in and out each week based on what sells.
The bar’s signature item is a shrimp cocktail Peña calls la Chabela, a recipe he and a fellow cook invented together roughly ten years ago at a restaurant where he worked at the time. That restaurant later closed under different ownership, but Peña brought the idea with him. He got his start in Portland kitchens in 2009 washing dishes, moving into cooking by 2012, and has since worked in four different well-known Portland restaurants, including one formerly called Puerto Marques, building his specialty in seafood along the way.
