PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — In early February, Northeast Portland’s beloved Psychic Bar announced that it’d be closing its doors and ushering in a new team to take over. The space on Mississippi Avenue is now gearing up for the grand opening of The Uncanny bar, which deems itself as “just a weird little cocktail spot.”
The Uncanny is the brainchild of the Lightning Bar Collective and Adam LeBeau, who also owns the Victoria bar on North Albina Avenue. He says he’s dreamt of opening his own bar for years, but the opportunity to open one so close to the space he already works in was a matter of being in the right place at the right time.
“As this area and this street, in particular, is growing and bouncing back from the pandemic, I feel like a high-caliber cocktail bar is something that would just fit the need of the street,” LeBeau said. “This is also something that can really take off on the street and really get the street back going to what it used to be.”
The owner says that some high-caliber cocktail bars give customers a pretentious attitude, but he wants The Uncanny to welcome guests in the same way that the Victoria bar does.
LeBeau also wants The Uncanny’s drinks to speak for themselves. He says that while the bar has classically trained staff, they’ve used that expertise to make a cocktail menu that’s fun and interesting for guests, rather than unfamiliar.
The cocktail menu will include a house cocktails section, a “NOLA, baby” section for New Orleans classics made in an uncanny way, an “another day in paradise” section for tropical drinks, and a section for alcohol-free beverages.
Additionally, The Uncanny will have a food menu curated by Euzumeh food pop-up owner Tamara Hattar. Her menu offerings will feature bar-focused food with a Middle Eastern flair. A few food items that the bar will offer are spiced wings with zhoug and tahini sauce, juniper-salted fries with olive aioli, and mezze plates.
When The Uncanny was the Psychic Bar, LeBeau says that many important relationships were built there and he plans to honor that with his new business.
“They were a really nice staple in this neighborhood and I just want to make sure that we do them proud,” he said. “They had a fanbase as well that I’m hoping will see that we didn’t change this to something new or they didn’t sell out and that we combined. [We’re] going to make this place amazing.”
The Uncanny’s grand opening is on Friday, April 21 from 4 p.m. to 1 a.m. at 3560 N. Mississippi Ave.