Not Resting on its Gimmick

By Spencer Dobson
Contributing Writer

Space Aliens could make you endure crappy food while your brats scream and paw at you with their grubby hands for game tokens and you’d just have to sit there and take it because your kids want to play video games and eat pizza. (OK, not YOUR kids, but someone’s kids) Space Aliens doesn’t play you like that. Instead they make award winning BBQ and exceptional pizzas and sandwiches.

Space Aliens also could have called themselves Fred’s BBQ and Pizza, skipped the fun theme, skipped the stuff to keep your kids busy and still do just fine. Not these folks. Space Aliens took the time to come up with a theme and go with it. There are Weekly World News headlines on the walls about Aliens and Hillary Clinton, there are Alien Statues, and paintings and photos. Personally, I like it a lot. I think it’s funny and I think it’s clever. So there. You know, you eat food and then there’s alien stuff so … It’s fun.

I tend to go to Space Aliens for lunch. I like to sit in the bar because there are no children in the bar. The BBQ stuffed baked potato made me reconsider what is possible in the world of baked potatoes. There are five varieties of stuffed baked potato. 1. Bar-B-Que Chicken, Pork or Beef, 2. Fiesta Taco, 3. Tortilla Cheese Chicken, 4 Ranch Crispy Chicken, 5. Cajun Ranch Chicken. No matter which one you order, you get a huge baked potato (like a toy football) with a mountain of toppings. I got Bar-B-Que beef, and they piled it on. Then they throw on butter, cheddar cheese, sour cream, fried onion pedals, chives and Bar-B-Que sauce. This BBQ is a show stopper. You can taste the smoke, you can taste the bark, you can taste the time and the effort, you understand why they won an award. Space Aliens’ sauce is of the rich, sweet, tangy variety and it’s just way too good for a place that could get by on its wackiness.

There are a lot of kids at Space Aliens, which can be a good thing if you have kids. I will say the children are generally acting like a bunch of friggin children. That’s what kids do. That’s why they coined the phrase “acting like a bunch of friggin children.” If you want to avoid the kids, and still enjoy a bowl of Chicken tortilla soup or maybe their Cajun Chicken Ranch Pizza, (which I tried in a recent pizza making contest and was blown away) eat in the bar. This is one of the other reasons you shouldn’t mistake Space Aliens for a certain Pizza Place that caters to kids and has giant mouse above the door. If you need to get your krunk on, (not saying it’s so you can spend time with your kids), but if you need to get your krunk on, you can. (Please drink in moderation, there are usually kids here and it’s a family restaurant).

Space Aliens was started in 1997 by a gentleman named Mort Blank. Mort is the man responsible for some of the themed McDonalds in North Dakota, like the Rock and Roll McDonalds in Bismarck. There are now six Space Aliens locations in North Dakota and Minnesota and you can purchase Space Alien brand BBQ and Buffalo Sauce in area stores. I have made such a purchase. It’s good stuff and it has the Dakota Pride Sticker on it so by eating here you are supporting the economy of North Dakota.

I will spare you the alien probing jokes as people are eating here and not, as far as I can tell, being probed. I definitely recommend Space Aliens.

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IF YOU GO:
What: Space Aliens Café
Where: 1840 45th st. Sw; Fargo
Info: http://tiny.cc/spacealiens