Behind Lost Whale bar in Bay View, out of view from the street, a pop-up tiki bar called PufferFish is taking shape.
An open-sided tent that stretches end to end, lights, tropical accents and tables spaced for social distancing were being readied. So were a menu of tiki drinks — the classics and modern ones.
When exactly PufferFish will debut is anyone's guess — the city has been under a stay-at-home order since March 17 because of the coronavirus pandemic. But JC Cunningham, manager of the bar at 2151 S. Kinnickinnic Ave., said it will be ready to open when the time is right.
Tables will be by reservation, at least at first. The tiki bar will have relatively few seats — about 30, more or less — and reservations will allow the staff to control the flow and prevent crowding. Customers will be able to reserve a table for one hour or for two hours; deposits (likely $20 or $25 a seat) would be taken off the final bill.
The system is like that at Lyaness bar in London.
"It was the first time I was put on a clock, but they were so polite about it," Cunningham said of his visit there.
There's a grace period, so customers aren't hustled out the door if there's a punchline left to tell or a sip left in a glass once time is up.
In the glass will be tiki classics such as the Mai Tai and Vicious Virgin, and a modern drink that Cunningham calls his favorite in the world: Idle Hands, a clear banana daiquiri from Chicago's Three Dots and a Dash.
The tiki bar can feel riotous, he noted, with its groups sharing cocktails, drinks served in skulls and decor of totems and other tiki items.
"So amidst all this chaos is this simple, clear banana daiquiri," served not in a tiki mug but a rocks glass, over a large, solitary ice cube, Cunningham said. In all, the drinks menu will have 11 cocktails, including some Lost Whale interpretations of classics.
Customers will reach PufferFish through Lost Whale's side gate, where a host will take them to a table. When it's time to leave, they'll exit through Lost Whale, which will be closed. It will stay that way until social distancing guidelines are no longer recommended, Cunningham said.
The decor will be modern and colors cheerful (think aquamarine and pink); the pop-up will have the look of tiki "without being too throwback," Cunningham said.
"The biggest thing we’re going to focus on aside from safety is escapism," he said, set to music and the clink of ice shaking in cocktail tins.
Bartenders will wait on tables, to prevent people from crowding at the bar.
Although Lost Whale will be closed during the pop-up, some of its classic drinks will be available on the patio. Its carryout window, which it launched just after bars and dining rooms were ordered closed in March, will remain open for cocktail kits and packaged wine and beer.
Enough customers have patronized that window that the Lost Whale crew can dream about a second bar.
Strangely enough, the pandemic provided an opportunity for Cunningham and bar owners Daniel Beres and Trip Duval.
In normal times, they would have just opened a second bar and hoped it would be well received. Now, they'll be able to operate it first as a test.
"I can run it as a pop-up for a month or two or even three and see if it’s got legs, and I think it does," Cunningham said.
He pitched the idea after Duval commented, "When we bounce back, I feel bad giving people only a portion of the Whale experience" because of the safety restrictions surrounding COVID-19.
The idea of PufferFish, Cunningham said, is to give customers "100 percent of something else."
Contact Carol Deptolla at carol.deptolla@jrn.com or (414) 224-2841, or through the Journal Sentinel Food & Home page on Facebook. Follow her on Twitter at @mkediner or Instagram at @mke_diner.
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Behind Bay View bar Lost Whale, a tiki pop-up called PufferFish is in the works - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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