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San Jose Goes Hawaiian at Dr. Funk’s Luau

San Pedro Square was awash in the aloha spirit on Sunday for the inaugural luau at Dr. Funk Rum House. The San Jose tiki bar’s ticketed event included Hawaiian food including barbecued pig, Polynesian music and dancing, and even a mechanical shark ride. VIP ticket holders were let in early to claim their spots on the large outdoor patio or indoors, offered a flower lei, a welcome cocktail, and two cocktail tickets. Standard ticket holders were let in an hour later and also received a guava-forward welcome cocktail.

The musical offerings started with DJ SamoaBoy on the patio, flanked by a few rum brands with samples and small cocktails. I especially enjoyed the daiquiri station from 9North rum where you could choose a style and a specific rum to pair with. Island Daze followed with an energetic Jawaiian set and then the entertainment concluded with some excellent Polynesian dancers including a fire dancer.

Throughout the day, Dr. Funk staff were offering small passed bites including spam musubi, sliders, delightful pork buns, and ahi tuna tacos which were our favorite. There also was a buffet featuring fried rice, macaroni salad, fruit, and freshly barbecued pork. This plate lunch style offering was pretty good, and there was more than enough food for everyone. I’d have liked a little soy sauce or some other sauces but overall we felt the food was well-executed.

Aside from the welcome cocktail, Dr. Funk was offering their standard menu and had two bartenders going at all times. None of us thought the welcome cocktail was particularly punchy and honestly was I disappointed there weren’t some special event cocktails being offered. Ever resourceful, I took matters into my own hands by ordering off-menu Blue Hawaii and Hawaiian Mai Tais. Thankfully, Justin and Joy rolled with the request and delivered some excellent drinks that helped us get into the mood – so much that we did end up briefly riding that shark!

Mid-May seems like a great time to do this, and a five or six hour experience was executed with aplomb. The Dr. Funk staff was fully engaged and working like a well-oiled machine for this event, yet still found a moment of levity to pose for a group photo with the shark. We hope this will be an annual event.

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Mai Tai Event at Tikeasy in Livermore

Livermore’s Rosetta Roasting coffee roastery is going full tiki for their evening cocktail persona and adopting Tikeasy as the branding for their summer program. We’ve been big fans of the Nightcaps at Rosetta evening cocktail offering, but have certainly noticed a gradual shift to more tiki decor taking over the back half of the venue. The dimly lit booths work great with exotic music and superbly executed tropical cocktails, and nobody would peg this as a tiki bar from the outside. It’s a speakeasy, tiki style.

The official launch of Tikeasy will be Sunday, May 24 from 5-11 pm. The team will have Mai Tai Flights available with some great Mai Tai variants, plus a full tiki cocktail menu featuring classic and acclaimed originals. Plus I’ll be there to mix and mingle to talk Mai Tais with those in attendance.

This is a low-key event of casual conversation over cocktails, not a seminar, so there’s plenty of time in the evening to swing by. This being the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend, if you’re not working on the Monday you have no excuse not to come and we expect to see you in attendance.

The team behind Rosetta Roasting are true believers in tiki, and they’re taking a chance by trying something a little different in downtown Livermore. So, even if you can’t make the event on May 24, I hope you’ll check out Nightcaps at Rosetta and the Tikeasy this summer.

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Hawaiian Scorpion: The Polynesian Drink that Inspired Trader Vic

We thank Derek at Make and Drink for doing the heavy lifting to recover this recipe for the Scorpion cocktail that inspired Trader Vic to make his own version. In fact, Vic was quite transparent about the origin of this cocktail, as he often was, stating plainly that he had this during a visit to Honolulu. Interestingly, the drink includes both orange and lemon juice, a combo that Vic often favored.

Derek found newspaper clippings that described the original version of the drink, which notably including local Hawaiian spirit ʻŌkolehao. This truly means that this cocktail has a Polynesian origin, a rarity in the tiki cocktail genre where the Caribbean is usually the source or origin or inspiration. including Derek’s recipe that made some adjustments to balance the drink, and note that I made a half-sized version.

Hawaiian Scorpion / adjusted by Derek from Make and Drink
3½ oz Lemon Juice
5½ oz Fresh Orange Juice
2 tbsp Demerara Sugar
10 oz ʻŌkolehao
Put all ingredients into a mason jar, adding lemon/orange rinds and large mint sprig. Shake and let steep in refrigerator for 24-48 hrs. Strain solid ingredients and put into tiki bowl and garnish with citrus wheels, orchids, or fire depending on what you have.

We found this to be light and refreshing, with the subtle mint flavors to be pleasant and the overall character to be bright and lemon-leaning. The ʻŌkolehao doesn’t really assert itself in this recipe, though it is unclear if the ʻŌkolehaos of the day might have been different. In any case, Vic’s version is a pretty good approximation as that has light rum and brandy which are also more like background players in the mix.

 

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Hawaiian ʻŌkolehao

Hawaiian ʻŌkolehao is a modern version of Hawai’i’s first distilled spirit, originally distilled from a mash made from Ti roots but these days the product also includes spirits distilled from Hawaiian cane. There are historical references to ʻŌkolehao being referred to as “Hawaiian Moonshine” so Island Distillers of Honolulu are embracing that heritage by offering the product unaged at a robust 100 proof, packaged in a bottle reminiscent of moonshine bottles.

I tasted this product years ago as part of the late Kon-Tiki Oakland’s rum expedition, finding it curious but pleasant and sweet. Since then, I’ve tried a lot more rums made from sugar cane juice and syrup, so I’m more familiar with some of the flavors present here. There are some earthy flavors in Hawaiian ʻŌkolehao, which I assume are attributable to the Ti root components but nonetheless this is a very pleasant sipper that has mild flavors.

Hawaiian ʻŌkolehao works quite nicely in a 1944 Mai Tai, though isn’t quite the flavor bomb you’d get from rums of Jamaica or Martinique. As with the neat pour, it offers some mild flavors that pair well with the rest of the traditional Mai Tai ingredients.

I was able to purchase my bottle directly from Island Distiller’s website, though you can sometimes find it at retail as well, and this is widely available in Hawai’i.

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Fresh Cocktails at Cavaña Near Oracle Park

Our trip to see the Giants play at Oracle Park started early with a visit to nearby Cavaña, a rooftop bar and restaurant that’s across McCovey Cove and part of the LUMA Hotel. The day was cold and breezy so we spent most of our time inside at the bar, but the rooftop views of the ballpark and Mission Bay are spectacular.

Cavaña leans into Central and South American flavors for both the cocktails and their food offerings, so the drinks have Agave spirits, Cane spirits, or Pisco. Many cocktails include floral and herbal elements, such as my Papaya which combined Pisco and Elderflower liqueur. Mrs. Mai Tai was immediately drawn to the coffee-forward Banano that included Santa Teresa rum as well as banana milk. Perhaps the best of the standard menu items was the Guayaba that included tequila, guava, and rose petals. All of these were outstanding and offered unique flavors you don’t experience at most places, and there a number of interesting non-alcoholic options as well.

Guayaba

There’s a very nice spirits list at Cavaña, and I spotted a bottle Rivers Royale rum from Grenda, a potent flavor bomb that’s wild and pungent. Seeing a Caipirinha on the menu, I asked for a spirit sub with the Rivers. The bartender cogently informed me that this was really high proof, which I said was okay, and then when he presented the drink, the bartender chuckled and said “that’ll get the job done.” This was a really good format for this powerful spirit, just enough lime and sugar to support the amazing flavors.

This was our second stellar visit to Cavaña, which is a great option for drinks and food before or after events at Oracle Park or nearby Chase Center. The authentic flavors drive a stellar lineup of offerings that offer something for everyone.

Papaya, Banano, Guayaba, and Caipirinha

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Beautiful Day on the Santa Cruz Wharf at Makai Tiki Bar

My company gave me Friday off for a “wellness day” so Mrs. Mai Tai and I went over to the Santa Cruz area for shopping and lunch. After a quick visit to Capitola and Soquel, we drove onto the Santa Cruz Wharf for lunch at Makai Island Kitchen and Groggery.

Makai has been a favorite of ours for some time, including the rotating bar area. This is such a unique feature and you have full views of the ocean, Makai’s Captain’s Table room, and the rest of the restaurant. We also saw a vast rum list that was over 30 pages and according to staff features over 620 rums, very quietly one of the largest collections of any venue in the United States. We both enjoyed our lunch, I had the Poke Bowl that includes lychee and crushed macadamia nuts as different kind of options, with Mrs. Mai Tai having the Halibut Green Curry Bowl.

There are bunch of different cocktail options including many developed by the crew. I started with a 1944 Mai Tai that I should have loved, featuring Appleton Signature, Smith & Cross, and Planteray Xaymaca rums (three of my favorites), but this Mai Tai was too lime forward and I could barely taste the rum. We had much better luck with the other cocktails, including the sweet banana flavors of Squid Ink, the light gin and lavender flavors of Purple Haze, and the not-too-sweet ube and coconut Triumph & Disaster. Our favorite was Pau Hana, a gin and elderflower cocktail that incorporated lemon and raspberry. This cocktail was developed by Hana Kingsbury (see what she did there) who was our server and posed with a photo with her creation.

The cocktail and rum options at Makai remain strong, plus their island far remains high quality and moderately priced. We enjoy things inside in the rotating bar, but the patio outside is pretty nice including a couple of very large tikis to help set the mood. Along the way, we saw birds and sea lions from our vantage point, and then strolled to the end of the pier to check out more sea lions, sea birds, and seagulls.

1944 Mai Tai, Squid Ink, Pau Hana, Purple Haze

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DJ Ship Rex at Zombie Village

We’re sending healing thoughts to our buddy DJ Ship Rex who is recovering from hip surgery. Rex’s latest gig was at Zombie Village last week, so a few of us went up to San Francisco on a weeknight to listen to some amazing music and wish our friend a speedy recovery. We arrived a bit before Rex’s set started and were seated in one of Zombie Village’s huts but we knew when we heard energetic retro music that Rex’s set had started. So many great tunes, including “Found a Child” by Ballin’ Jack which features the guitar riff sampled in Young MC’s “Bust a Move,” and Rex’s sets always mix up various genres and styles but still feels cohesive.

Our cocktails at Zombie Village were pretty good, meeting our high expectations. Brian and crew really did a great job, including a really great individually-sized Scorpion that was orange-forward with some flavorful spirits. Mrs Mai Tai’s Disco Banana was outstanding, and I really enjoyed the Jungle Bird Milk Punch (J.B.M.P.) once again. Our son Quinn has dug a few Grog cocktails, so Zombie’s still-excellent Doc’s Grog was very well received. Quinn and I both felt the Mai Tai was lacking a certain rummyness, but Mrs. Mai Tai really loved the curry spices in the Curry’d Favor. Overall a very good hit rate during our visit.

Sorbet shooters have been a thing at Zombie Village for a while and the Lava Flow Sorbet Shooter continues the tradition with aplomb. The strawberry flavors of the shooter were an excellent pair for the delicious sorbet. These are great and a unique option for this venue, so look for it on your next visit. We also have to provide a hearty mahalo to Brian and the team who handled a drink mishap really well.

Zombie Village was hopping on Thursday, thanks to some great cocktails, an energetic crowd, and DJ Ship Rex’s toe-tapping tunes. We hope that Rex is on the road to recovery and that he will be back behind the deck in the near future.

Disco Banana
Curry’d Favor
Scorpion
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Search for the Ultimate Mai Tai at The Fink

We thank Judd and the entire team at The Fink for the opportunity to speak about the Mai Tai and organizing the “Sunday School” event in Napa today. The Fink is one of our favorite places and their OG Mai Tai is world class, so it’s honor to share the good word today.

The event is sold out, but we have the slides available for viewing here in case you missed it or just want to get the recipes and photos.

The Fink Presentation Slides