Month: May 2025

Posted on

Eye Candy at Clifton’s Pacific Seas

Pacific Seas is the exotic travel and South Seas themed bar inside Clifton’s Republic in downtown Los Angeles, but since it is only open on weekends and has an up and down return from COVID it has been many years from our last visit. We made sure to visit on this trip, securing a reservation right at opening at 6 pm Saturday.

None of the speakeasy or dress code rules of years past are enforced at opening, but we still wore aloha wear and joined the line to get in. We made our way upstairs, eventually finding the secret entrance and then exploring upstairs until we found the venue. The interior here is of the same quality as a Disney queue with so many items to look at and so many tikis too. Ambient music with an electronica lean was playing, a precursor to the club music that plays later in the evening.

We were seated on the floor at a table, rather than in the more decorated booths – a disappointment. But, our server was very friendly and efficient, working solo during the first hour across the entire floor. Also working solo was a young bartender who wasn’t exactly killing himself to work through orders so our drinks took some time to arrive.

The venue asks if you’re there for drinks only or for “drinks and snacks” – yet some of the menu items included a burger and the very large chicken sandwich that I had, so “snacks” is a weird label. The food here was pretty good and was delivered before our drinks were.

It appears all the cocktails are batched, which meant that Mrs. Mai Tai got the last Jet Pilot during service even though it was only just after opening, so one wonders if they’re batched only on Fridays. The Himalayan Mai Tai includes some mango liqueur but is actually a pretty good Mai Tai since it includes overproof Jamaican rum and Copalli rum. However, the Saturn did not taste like any Saturn I’ve ever tried. So the cocktails were hit and miss, and going off menu seems very risky.

Mai Tai

Still, the eye candy in here is amazing and Clifton’s Pacific Seas is a must-visit for any tikiphile. We really enjoyed the energy and overall our food and service were pretty good. We hear the people watching can be good later when it is a nightclub vibe, if that’s your thing.

Saturn
Jet Pilot
Posted on

The Rum Curious Summit

The purpose of our trip to SoCal was largely to attend the inaugural Rum Curious Summit in Long Beach, the brainchild of self-proclaimed Rum Champion Bryan Inman along with partners Ari Ralston and Shane Conrad. The event was held in the event space at Altar Society Brewing in downtown and was a massive success with over 500 attendees and dozens of rum producers and brands.

A main floor included rum tastings with over 100 expressions of rum, plus many tables offered the rum in a cocktail format. We were particularly impressed by the Pearl Diver from House of Bamboo’s Shelley Bowers in partnership with Tanduay rum who also filled up a goodie bag for VIP ticket holders.

Among the noteworthy rums, Holmes Cay is an independent bottler and always has interesting and rare expressions, Privateer had some rums that were new to me, and new independent bottler Mainland Rum showed off their range of cask strength releases from a wide array of American distillers.

Upstairs from the main floor there were several seminars available to attendees, including an interesting and thought provoking session about tiki by Doc Parks and a fab introduction to rum from Bryan Inman who demonstrated the diversity of rum with five tasting samples and some facts about production.

As a brand new event there were a few growing pains, including a check in system that was over-engineered. But by and large there were very few issues that weren’t directly related to the popularity of the event – a good problem – and we’d be remiss without acknowledging the exemplary work of the staff and volunteers to help guests make the most of their experience. It sounds like there are plans to expand Rum Curious Summits to other cities and if so it will be something to watch closely. Cheers.

Shannon Mustipher /
Privateer Rum
Doc Parks
Shelly Bowers
Posted on

Eleven Twenty Two Speakeasy in Paso Robles

Even though Paso Robles is a wine town, there are some great cocktail options including the speakeasy Eleven Twenty Two Cocktail Lounge, located behind the rear patio of Pappy McGregor’s Pub. Entrance is on Railroad Street, with a convenient alley next to Pappy’s being a convenient cut-through. This small classic cocktail bar doesn’t take reservations, so we joined the line hoping to get in.

There are no cell phones allowed to be used inside, and once you step through front door into a library style foyer they drop the phone into a bag that you keep with you. Next, you enter the space and are seated at the bar or one of the cozy booths. Inside there are many bottles of whiskey in all forms, with just a few other spirits, so this is a great option for bourbon and scotch fans. Music was jazzy including a number of tunes from Nouvelle Vague, a French group that does Bossa Nova versions of New Wave tunes.

There’s a non-alcoholic Orange Julius on the menu, available optionally with spirit added. We opted for the straight version and while it was reminiscent of the real thing it wasn’t nearly cold or sweet enough.

For our two cocktails we were both completely blown away at the flavors and complexity on display from very different formats. I had the Strawberry Coconut Daiquiri that exploded with flavor even from a tiny sip. Not too much strawberry or coconut, but just enough to elevate this perfectly balanced cocktail.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Mai Tai had the Clarified Grasshopper with vodka, menthe pastille, creme de cacao, Coco Puff cereal milk, and ringed with a Chocolate Dipped Rim. This too had so many layers and the chocolate rim provided a long finish as well. I’m not always a fan of clarified cocktails but this would get me to switch teams, it was just that good. Mrs. Mai Tai was inspired and drew a photo since we couldn’t take photos.

The service inside was serious but with the requisite wink and nod to provide the indication to the customer that they are supposed to be here for a good time. Eleven Twenty Two is a must visit if you’re in the area and a perfect nightcap if you’re in town for the Cane Tiki Room like we were.

Posted on

Honest Review of The Cane Tiki Room

Most of the things posted to this feed aren’t reviews per se, but trip reports of my experience. There’s certainly some overlap in material but a review to me adds editorial content that is usually not present in my posts.

Mrs. Mai Tai and I stopped overnight in Paso Robles and had a later dinner at Cane Tiki Room which we visited once before. We enjoy the clean but well-done Polynesian decor, and the staff was just as friendly as last time and worked with us when we arrived early for our reservation. Music on a Friday night was upbeat and funky, 1970s-leaning and anything retro is fine with me. I didn’t love the spam musubi which was a bit overdone and covered with sauce, but the dumplings, teriyaki chicken bowl, and lettuce cups were wonderful.

On our last visit I liked most of the cocktails except the Mai Tai which used a funny tasting mac nut orgeat. They’ve since reformulated with traditional orgeat but are now using Planteray Original Dark as the base rum, with an optional float of Goslings. Original Dark is not a strongly flavored rum and contains a lot of sugar, so the Mai Tai was not a punchy as I think it ought to be – and Goslings wouldn’t have helped as it too is not a strong flavor. With a Mai Tai you want to taste the rum and it really ought to be more rum forward.

I also tried a Chartreuse Swizzle that was much better with some tangy pineapple juice working well with the herbal liqueur. Mrs. Mai Tai had the Lapu Lapu, a juicy but well-balanced cocktail that is served in a cute pig mug (none for sale at the time, though). These two good cocktails were well-executed.

We also visited Eleven Twenty Two, a speakeasy owned by the same restaurant group, and were completely blown away by the drinks. While this serves a more cocktail-oriented clientele, the price of the drinks were comparable. So, we know the group can make better cocktails and while we understand the people coming to a tiki restaurant are different than a speakeasy we do think Cane Tiki Room should be doing better with the cocktails and especially the Mai Tai. Use a punchier rum, please, even if you have to bump the price up from $14.

Having some great cocktail options in a town known for wine tourism isn’t too shabby, and with the friendly staff and full menu Cane Tiki Room is a great option for more than just a quick stop for tropical drinks.

Dumplings
Posted on

National Saturn Cocktail Day

Do we need another official/unofficial cocktail holiday? When it’s for the Saturn, the answer is yes!

The recognition is the brainchild of Derek from Make and Drink on YouTube, whose history of the Saturn video is incredible, insightful, and a full stop must see. Really, go watch it now.

This week Derek is following up with another video and promoting May 22 to be Saturn Day, in recognition of the day in 1967 when the cocktail’s creator J. “Popo” Galsini won the California Bartenders Guild competition and essentially introduced the Saturn to the world.

The Saturn is one of the last great cocktails from tiki’s golden area, using familiar ingredients such as orgeat, falernum, and passionfruit syrup and notably using gin as the base spirit. As Derek noted, Galsini was not a purist and said that using vodka or a light rum was perfectly reasonable. The cocktail was originally served to judges in an ungarnished coupe glass, and later to attendees in a whiskey sour glass with a cocktail cherry dropped into the bottom and garnished with an lemon wedge. Those fancy planet-style garnishes are a 21st century invention and are sort of incorrect because the cocktail was named after the Saturn rocket, not the planet.

Historically accurate Saturn cocktail garnish

Saturn
½ oz Lemon Juice
½ oz Passion Fruit Syrup
¼ oz Falernum
¼ oz Orgeat
1¼ oz Dry Gin
Shake with ice and strain. Garnish as you please.

The rich flavors from some of tiki’s stalwart syrups blend together in harmony, with subtle juniper notes from the gin. This is a gin cocktail that even gin-haters love, and I’ve served this to reluctant guests to great effect.

Cheers to Popo on his creation, and cheers to Derek for keeping the flame going for a new generation.

Posted on

Kingston Negroni Redux

Been playing with some different Jamaican rums in a Kingston Negroni. The original version from New York bartender Joaquín Simó called or Smith & Cross, but I’ve been trying some other higher proof expressions including Hampden’s Overproof and a cask strength Worthy Park bottle, both to great effect.

Being an equal parts cocktail it is easy to make a larger version, which is what I did here. I didn’t have an orange peel to express but the result was still fab.

Kingston Negroni
1 part Campari
1 part Sweet Vermouth
1 part Jamaican rum
Stir with ice. Strain over large cube.

I’m finding that for me that going a little light on the Campari and a little heavier on the rum is the sweet spot for my flavor profile.

Posted on

Daywalker Relief at Pagan Idol

Popped into Pagan Idol on our way to the Go-Go’s show on Tuesday after dinner. I threw my back out on Monday but thankfully there was relief in the form of Pagan’s signature Zombie which is called the Daywalker. This longtime favorite was just what I needed and while I’m not a connoisseur of Zombies I did think it was really great.

Mrs. Mai Tai had the Banana Be’ with butterscotch, cinnamon, pineapple, and coconut which we both also really liked, creamy but not overly sweet and very well balanced. This was my third visit in the last couple months and have had great cocktails each time, so I probably should come more often to try some of the other menu items.

Service at Pagan Idol on a weeknight is a little bit of an unknown, since they only open the back room when warranted by the amount of guests in the venue. We like the front room and sat at a table by the fish tank, but it did get a little crowded when a couple large groups came in.

The Go-Go’s played very well over at the Warfield and sounded pretty good despite some mixing issues by the sound team. This is now the third or fourth tour we’ve been to since they announced they were retiring in 2010. LOL.