LOGAN SQUARE — In what might be a first in bar business history, an entire Houston-based bar including its staff is taking over a Chicago bar for a week.
"We wanted to create a weeklong event that people will remember for a long time," said Bobby Heugel, owner of Anvil Bar and Refuge, the Texas shop taking over Lost Lake, 3154 W. Diversey Ave. The theme of the week is "Texas Tiki Disco."
Heugel, who has been called "Houston's King of Cocktails" drove for two days straight from Texas to Logan Square bringing ingredients and other bar goods from Anvil to Chicago for the spectacle.
Anvil is taking over Lost Lake while Paul McGee, an old friend from Texas, and his team are on a research trip to Martinique.
The idea of bringing tiki and disco together for the week goes against the history of drinking culture dating to the '70s transition from the laid-back tiki vibes to the high energy dance floors of disco.
"They are kind of opposed to each other," Heugel said. "People say disco killed tiki."
That's the case everywhere except in some Caribbean discotheques where the two continue to co-exist today.
Disco balls are aplenty at the Texas Tiki Disco takeover. [All photos DNAinfo/Paul Biasco]
The Texas Tiki Disco week is an experiment of what would have happened if tiki and disco merged in the United States.
Thank You, the American-Chinese takeout counter that serves food at Lost Lake, is also going retro with a menu of classic 1970s dinner party snacks such as deviled eggs, shrimp cocktail, french onion dip and a Texas Style fondue.
Most of the drinks at the Anvil takeover are drinks that have become favorites at the Houston location such as the Light Emitting Diobes (L.E.D.) that features pineapple and Jamaican rums, Pimm's, lime, orange, cinnamon, Angostura bitters and whipped pineapple-falernum-orgeat cream.
Anvil, which was Houston's first bar devoted to classic cocktails when it opened in 2009, has been named one of the best cocktail bars in America by multiple outlets including Esquire, Bone Appetite and Travel + Leisure.
The tiki disco takeover runs through Friday.
Texas Tiki Disco by DNAinfo Chicago
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