Cleveland's tiki scene is getting a Wisconsin makeover for one night only. Porco Lounge & Tiki Room in Tremont is handing its bar over to PufferFish, a Milwaukee rooftop tiki spot, for a Thursday takeover called Pufferfish in the Wild, with PufferFish staff working behind the bar from 6 to 10 p.m. pouring both signature drinks and tiki classics.
The collaboration was announced this week by Cleveland.com, which reported that the event runs Thursday, Aug. 6, at Porco Lounge, 2527 W. 25th St. Porco's regular service continues alongside the takeover, with the kitchen open until 9:30 p.m. and full bar service running from 5 to 10:30 p.m., according to the outlet's report.
PufferFish is no stranger to the industry spotlight. The Milwaukee bar, located at Hotel Metro, was nominated for Best U.S. Hotel Bar in the 2026 Spirited Awards from Tales of the Cocktail, per Cleveland.com's reporting. The bar's menu for the takeover includes a section dedicated to Chartreuse-based drinks, a herbal French liqueur that has become a favorite building block for modern tiki bartenders looking to riff on tradition.
A Milwaukee Bar Built From Pandemic Necessity
PufferFish did not start out as a rooftop destination. The concept launched in 2020 as an outdoor patio pop-up behind Milwaukee cocktail bar Lost Whale, created by founder JC Cunningham to keep bar staff employed during pandemic shutdowns, according to Urban Milwaukee. The pop-up proved popular enough that it grew into a permanent rooftop venue atop Hotel Metro in May 2023.
Since then, PufferFish has built a reputation for high-profile guest collaborations of its own, the same kind of pop-up culture now bringing it to Cleveland. The bar has hosted the national Sippin' Santa holiday pop-up annually since 2023 and welcomed New York's celebrated bitters bar Amor Y Amargo for a takeover in September 2023, Urban Milwaukee reports.
Porco Lounge's Deep Roots in Cleveland Tiki History
The host venue brings its own pedigree to the pairing. Porco Lounge & Tiki Room opened in October 2013 on West 25th Street, and co-founder Stefan Was established it as Cleveland's first dedicated tiki bar since the closure of the city's old Kon-Tiki restaurant 37 years earlier, according to WKYC. The bar sits along the border of Tremont and Ohio City and has helped pioneer the craft cocktail scene in Greater Cleveland, per Cleveland.com.
Porco Lounge functions almost like a living museum of that earlier era. The bar incorporates authentic 1960s decor salvaged from the old Kon-Tiki restaurant at the Sheraton Cleveland Hotel, including 300-pound mahogany front doors and two hand-carved Polynesian outrigger canoes hanging from the ceiling, WKYC notes. The 2,800-square-foot space holds 75 indoor seats, a 40-seat outdoor patio with a waterfall, and a collection of more than 2,000 vintage and custom tiki mugs that owner Stefan Was built over years of collecting defunct bar decor, according to a restaurant design retrospective.
That reputation has earned national recognition well beyond Cleveland. In April 2025, Porco Lounge was named a regional Top 10 honoree for Best U.S. Bar Team in the U.S. Central region by the Tales of the Cocktail Foundation's Spirited Awards, marking its fourth bar-team nomination since 2018, as reported by Cleveland Scene. Porco is also known for enforcing a strict two-drink limit per guest on its signature Zombie cocktail, a mix of four-and-a-half shots of rum with house-made falernum that reflects the bar's specialty in high-proof rum drinks and Polynesian culture.
Filipino Bar Snacks Round Out the Menu
Food during the takeover comes from Pinoy Fine Foods, which runs Porco's kitchen and serves tacos, steamed buns, Filipino lumpia and sliders, per Cleveland.com's report. The vendor originated as the delivery service Sushi Bake CLE before partnering with Porco Lounge, a collaboration that later helped launch additional regional pop-ups for the food team.
Cocktail names on the shared menu lean into the playful spirit of tiki culture, including Pepino Wants That Smoke, made with tequila, mezcal and salted watermelon, and In My Peelings, a banana and rum drink. The pairing arrives amid what has become a broader surge of interest in tiki concepts around Cleveland; Hoodline reported in February that hospitality group Hangry Brands was opening Edison's Hidden Tiki, an eight-seat speakeasy inside Edison's Pub, also in Tremont. Porco Lounge itself has long held a place among the neighborhood's top draws, having been ranked the second-best dining and nightlife spot in Tremont in a 2018 Hoodline neighborhood guide.
Cleveland.com's coverage of the takeover was reported by Alex Darus, a food and culture writer on the outlet's life and culture team who covers restaurants, bars, spirits, beer, wine, entertainment and cooking.
