Portland’s wildest new bar is a meeting ground for Atomic-age fantasy, disco music, and Mapo Tofu gravy fries. You’re drinking a rummy, blackberry coconut drink garnished with a toy dinosaur—yours for the keeping—while leaning on the vintage Flash Gordon pinball machine in the back room. Eye-popping wall murals of sexy mythical beasts, animal-headed action figures, and exotic sea fans come to life around you in electric neon hues—a tribute to 1970s psychedelic blacklight posters and the Houston company that made them famous.

If this doesn’t pique your interest in The Houston Blacklight, please check your pulse. 

It’s the third project from Portland’s fun-loving food couple, James Beard-nominated chef Thomas Pisha-Duffly and his design-savvy wife Mariah, the minds behind two of my favorite restaurants, the acclaimed Gado Gado and Oma’s Hideaway. A Pisha-Duffly project typically involves mashed-up Asian food traditions, playful cocktails, and trippy ideas. No exception here.

The Blacklight unfolds in two rooms, with roughly 80 seats indoors, a bar up front, and a spacious outdoor patio. The spirit of its predecessor, the Night Light Lounge, a humble neighborhood watering hole and pandemic-era victim, lives on in the original horseshoe-shaped booths, big enough for 10.  Hours are 4 p.m. to midnight daily.

Drinks will focus on colorful, tropical shaken cocktails, slushies, house liqueurs, and twisted classics. “We want to lean into the silly garnish, the performance aspect of bartending,” says Mariah.

Meanwhile, the casually serious menu will sneak instant ramen into a full-on French onion soup and cook up salt-and-pepper squid the Rhode Island way, laced with peperoncinis. Like everything Pisha-Duffly, family traditions, irreverence, and personal food obsessions are in play.  Here are five things to look for:

The Blacklight Bone Marrow Burger: Oma’s Hideaway already claims one of the city’s best burgers, a classic charged with chile jam. The Blacklight Burger goes its own decadent way: a fresh-ground beef-and-bone-marrow patty, smoked gouda, caramelized onions, tiny pickles, and barbecue sauce made with drippings from the kitchen’s char siu pork. We’re calling it now: a front-runner for Portland’s best new burger.

Mapo Tofu Gravy Fries: Can the Blacklight equal—or even best—Oma’s Hideaway’s exceptional salted egg yolk curry fries? This one is mashes up the Szechuan classic with disco fries. Think  spicy, mouth-numbing tofu gravy ladled over slender fries. We’ll let you know how it goes if our lips can move.

Many Things Cannot Fly: Order one. Who can resist a cocktail served in a glass the shape of a dinosaur egg? 

Roti grilled cheese and tomato curry soup:  Feathery, rip-apart roti (flatbread) is a star at Oma’s and Gado Gado. The Blacklight plans to griddle-press the roti until cheese drips through the flaky cracks to form a fried cheese layer on the bottom. What could be better?

The hallucinogenic bathrooms: Light shows meet art exhibits of the mind. Hand-painted lava lamps and abstract flowers fade in and out of ever-changing saturated colors, courtesy of Portland muralist Chet Malinow. Worth the trip to the Houston Blacklight alone. 

The Houston Blacklight, 2100 SE Clinton St., @thehoustonblacklight