Food & Drink

Paradise City

by Dillon Stewart | Jul. 22, 2014 | 4:00 AM

Smoke rises from a glass of brightly colored liquid and fruit, disappearing among a backdrop of bamboo-lined walls and ceramic Tiki mugs at Porco Lounge and Tiki Room. Before owner Stefan Was opened the Ohio City spot in October, he visited Tiki bars in California and the Virgin Islands to help devise the enormous menu of original craft cocktails and classics such as the hurricane ($12.50). The tart mixture of passion fruit juice and dark Jamaican rum, inspired by the New Orleans bar Pat O'Brien's where it originated, is just one example of how Was is using house-made juices and specialty rums to revive the art of Polynesian drinks. "It's often just pineapple juice and any cheap rum, but these cocktails have such providence," Was says. "We've unearthed a lot of original recipes." 2527 W. 25th St., Cleveland, 216-802-9222, porcolounge.com

Dillon Stewart

Dillon Stewart is the editor of Cleveland Magazine. He studied web and magazine writing at Ohio University's E.W. Scripps School of Journalism and got his start as a Cleveland Magazine intern. His mission is to bring the storytelling, voice, beauty and quality of legacy print magazines into the digital age. He's always hungry for a great story about life in Northeast Ohio and beyond.

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