For the past year, I have been privileged to live within stumbling distance of the best bar in Portland. I have used the Spare Room for first dates, ostensible business meetings, actual business meetings, afterparties, sports viewing and smoke breaks with a former mayoral candidate. (She lost. Nice lady, though.) Every time has been great. How could I ever be disappointed by a former bowling alley with a semiformal sitting parlor in one corner and a wooden dance floor in the other, a place where the front signage brightly and permanently advertises Ladies Night on Wednesdays? On those humpday evenings, which also offer $4 sloppy Joes, the music is provided by a blues combo called Francine West and the High Speed Wobblers. "Come next week," West says as her jam session wraps promptly at midnight, flashing a saucy smile. "Come a lot." Yes, ma'am.
What to drink: A Canadian Club and soda.
Happy hour: $1.25 PBR and Old German, $1.50 Budweiser and $3 Bloody Marys noon-6 pm daily; $2 well drinks 3-6 pm daily.
Entertainment: Live music, karaoke, jukebox, TV, the finest people in the world.