The menu offered mouth-watering options. What would I order?
Water Chestnut Pork? Precious Shrimp? Steak Kue? Surely some Crab Rangoon. Something fried? Or, should I go saucy? The Poly-Asian offerings were only $1.95, and the Cantonese feasts were $3.95 per person. I’d definitely need a tropical libation to pair. Knowing me, I’d order an extra crispy eggroll and skip dessert.
Ever wondered what a night out might be like at a Texas mid-century Tiki palace? Roy has the answers. For years, he’s collected menus and other artifacts from Houston’s long-gone mid-century and tiki restaurants. Although you might not suspect that a Texas oil town would be home to several tiki establishments, Tiki’s golden era was quite active in Houston. Trader Vic’s, located in the Shamrock Hilton, was the place to be seen. Club Luau, upstairs in the Poly-Asian West, was the tiki bar to visit. “Come enjoy Houston’s dining crossroad of the Pacific.” The 1961 Chron Dining Guide’s entry for Houston’s Poly-Asian describes Albert Gee’s restaurant as “one of the outstanding dining spots in the South, featuring Cantonese, Polynesian, and Japanese foods served in the atmosphere of the South Sea Islands. Gay South Sea Islands costumes are worn by the waitresses and waiters.” The entry describes the Tiki establishment as “The Las Vegas style Polynesian Chuck Wagon for the after-the-theater crowd.” The establishment was even listed in Gourmet Magazine’s Hall of Fame.
Roy has all of the menus to prove it.
More than 25 years ago, Roy started collecting old Houston restaurant menus from the ’30s to ’70s. In the beginning, Roy bought anything interesting. Later, he focused on collecting artifacts from Houston’s historic tropical and Tiki scene. He now has menus from Trader Vic’s, Club Luau, Dobbs House Luau, Hu Ke Lau, and other South Seas-themed establishments like Captains Cove, formerly the Polynesian Pig, in his collection. Given Maria’s Puerto Rican heritage, he’s also collected vintage tiki menus from San Juan. When Roy posted some Tiki matchbooks he’d found on the Historic Houston Architecture online forum in the early 2000s, he caught the attention of Formikahini, aka Alice, a local Polynesiac: “Oh my god! Wow! Another tiki person from Houston!” The two quickly formed a friendship that has lasted for decades. You’ll frequently find the two of them sipping cocktails with Maria, Roy’s wife, and a crowd of Polynesiacs at Lei Low, Houston’s revival tiki bar.
It was also around the early aughts that Roy began carving. Roy originally wanted to learn to carve totem poles or cigar store Indians, but when he found examples of indigenous Polynesian carvings on Tiki Central, he dug out his garage sale five-dollar chisels and rubber mallet and started carving. Once Roy tried it, he loved it. Finding logs to carve wasn’t an issue. Roy and Maria lived on two acres of Texas forest, so pines and oaks were plentiful. He soon would physically experience how dense oak was to carve compared to pine. Roy regularly participated in Tiki Central’s carver forum and began learning the craft from well-known revivalists like BenZart, the prolific carver from Florida who supplied giant tikis to Vegas hotels and iconic restaurants like the Mai-Kai. Skip ahead a few years, and Roy became a prolific carver as well. Roy estimates that he’s carved more than 50 full-sized (floor-standing) tikis over the past two decades and countless more smaller carvings. When I visited other home Tiki bars across Texas, I often heard Polynesiacs exclaim with pride “That’s one of Roy’s.” Roy’s work can also be found in public Tiki bars like Lei Low and his private home Tiki bar – the Wana Lei’a.
Maria introduced the space, “We’ve built the bar around the things we love.” Roy and Maria’s Wana Lei’a is the couple’s third home Tiki bar. This time, the Wana Lei’a doubles as their den and primary workplace. It’s a much bigger space than the previous two home bars, so they are kicking around the idea of building a separate outdoor building, complete with a restroom, to reclaim the den. The Wana Lei’a has an abundance of Tiki artifacts. As you might suspect, there are primarily two types of items: framed vintage menus and carved wood tikis. Roy emphasized, “Anything I could glean from Texas Tiki is here.” You might not realize (without knowing the history from Roy and Maria) that the central table is one of the original tables from Shamrock Hilton’s Trader Vic’s.
Roy and Maria have a tradition at the Wana Lei’a. Everyone who is a newbie gets a lei cork pendant tiki individually carved by Roy. Wana Lei’a? You’ll get one if you visit. I was no exception. When I slipped Roy’s Tiki around my neck, I was well-prepared for my next “Polynesian Chuck Wagon” dining experience.
Perhaps I’d order Tiki à la carte. Oh and I’ll need some take-out too. Where’s that eggroll?
