Post #11037 by PiPhiRho on Tue, Oct 15, 2002 11:06 AM

The Purple Orchid is very close to where I work, but I don't get in there all that often. This is defineitely an "evolving" tiki bar in that it gets a little bit more tiki everytime I go in there. Once upon a time it was a bar called the Panama, which catered to the workers at the nearby Standard Oil refinery. The Panama was a bit redneck, the music was mostly country western and the drinks were mostly beer and jagermeister. When I first went to the Purple Orchid, pretty much only the name was different. The clientele was Panama clientele, the music was still country, the bartenders were Panama bartenders and the drinks were still beer and jagermeister. You kind of felt intimidated to order one of the "fru fru" drinks (as they called them).

The bar keeps evolving into more of a tiki bar. These pictures show a different Purple Orchid. Last time I was there there were no tiki bowl drinks and less tiki decor. It looks to me like a return trip to the Orchid is in order. If they would just get the pineapple out of the mai tai, though, and maybe expand the drink menu beyond just 4 rum drinks.

If Jimmy Buffet and Margaritas are not tiki, then certainly jagermeister and martinis are not. It takes more to make a tiki bar than a few pufferfish.