Space Oddity

[November 4th, 2009]

Fear not, earthlings: The recently renovated Space Room (4800 SE Hawthorne Blvd, 235-6957, spaceroomlounge.com) retains its just-off-the-Vegas-strip vibe. Glowing murals of Mount Hood and the Portland skyline also remain intact. Overhead lights are still intergalactic. And Dean Martin would still happily endure an anal probe after two gigantic fishbowl cocktails—including a deadly Long Island ($7.25) and the Purple Alien ($6.75), which tastes like incendiary Purplesaurus Rex Kool-Aid. New is the bar’s annex, which once looked like Grandma’s favorite diner stapled to side of the bar. Now it resembles an alien swinger pad, with mod hanging lights, dangling UFOs and Warhol-esque alien paintings. The menu also got an upgrade: It now reveals an obsession with ciabatta bread (including a juicy ciabatta burger, $6.75) and pulled pork (as in a pulled-pork burrito, $8.25, and Unidentified Flying Sliders, $8, served on—yup—mini-ciabatta). The unification of Space Room’s two sides and the tastier food make Southeast Portland’s strangest bar even better—and the corpse-stiff drinks and psychedelic elements are enough to make the staunchest nonbeliever see little green men.