Author: Kevin Crossman

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Halloween Cocktails at Strong Water Anaheim

Many bars are celebrating Halloween with a specialty cocktail menu and decor, but few have as many interesting cocktail options as Strong Water in Anaheim, no surprise since they already have a stellar reputation for consistent quality. The Halloween menu is a series of nicely designed tarot cards that are also available for purchase.

My first cocktail was the Black Magick, a nod to the Mai Kai’s famous Black Magic, made with Jamaican rum, blackstrap rum, cinnamon, honey, grapefruit, lime, espresso, and bitters. Cruzan’s Blackstrap rum is not my favorite due to its weird maple syrup flavor, and you can taste it in this cocktail – but just a hint. This is a pretty good cocktail and not as coffee forward as some drinks, more of a coffee leaning grog.

Even better for me was the Dead to Port, featuring bourbon, Jamaican rum, and spiced cranberry. The wonderful blend of flavors were highlighted by the cranberry, making this seasonally appropriate and really delicious. Mrs. Mai Tai tried the Devil’s Corn, which reads as a Painkiller with candy corn syrup, but somehow manages to not be sickly sweet and is balanced well. Also delicious, with a fun presentation.

The interior of the bar has some spooky elements but this is a restrained overlay. We made a reservation for Saturday with a large group celebrating a birthday, and I had the pleasure of sitting the Beachbum Berry booth. Strong Water’s food and cocktails remain consistently great, and this Halloween menu is no exception.

Black Magick and Dead to Port

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Breakfast at Trader Sam’s at Disneyland Hotel

We always enjoy visiting Trader Sam’s Enchanted Tiki Bar at the Disneyland Hotel and wanted to check out the breakfast service that’s been running for a few months. Parking at the Disneyland Hotel is easy and you can get valet parking validated at Sam’s for 3 hours, so there’s no cost other than the tip to the valet runner. Breakfast runs from 8:00 am to 11:00 am, then Sam’s transitions to their everyday lunch/dinner menu.

Our entry was super easy as we arrived a little before 9:30 am on Sunday. The inside bar was about a quarter full and we were seated at the bar. Service for dinks and food was so quick we literally could have been seated and finished in about 20 minutes, though of course we lingered to soak up the atmosphere that Trader Sam’s is famous for.

The small-ish menu is fairly standard with a few Polynesian twists on breakfast favorites. I went with some eggs with ham and potatoes, while Mrs. Mai Tai enjoyed a fluffy Mickey Mouse shaped pancake. She wasn’t drinking and had a glass of orange juice that was actually far larger than those little glasses of OJ you usually see at breakfast. There are a couple Halloween cocktails on a special menu but we didn’t try any.

I challenged Skipper Shirley with a Mai Tai with Appleton 12, since I like to upscale the rum in my cocktail from what’s normally served here. I was honestly a bit disappointed that Shirley mentioned that she had put some Planteray 3 Star in the cocktail, because she believed that a Mai Tai should have more than one rum, though I couldn’t really complain with the end result which was a delicious drink that was perfect so early in the morning.

By the time we left the space was filling up, though was still far from capacity. Many folks were enjoying the cool air and nice views outside on the Tangaroa Terrance outside as well, but we always try for inside at Sam’s because we love vibe and things to look at. Breakfast at Trader Sam’s is a really great option for a get-away day or if you’re staying nearby and not rope-dropping the parks. The expanded hours allow even more guests to visit one of the best tiki bars anywhere and my favorite in Southern California.

Breakfast at Trader Sam’s Enchanted Tiki Bar
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Bamboo Club Halloween / Hardcore Tiki Marketplace

We had free time on Saturday and Bamboo Club was already on our short-list but after seeing that the Hardcore Tiki Marketplace was happening we made sure to visit for lunch and some shopping. It is a nice vibe for the marketplace, including a DJ and about 15 vendors, and is set up on the first Saturday of the month. I ended up purchasing a small PNG mask and a Tiki Tolteca mug.

Nightmare in Anaheim Street

Bamboo Club is decorated for Halloween under the moniker Tremble Club and we felt the overall aesthetic was pretty good. The immersive feeling is best if you’re seated in the booths like we were, though the decor on the patio is pretty nice as well.

There’s also a special cocktail menu and I really enjoyed the Nightmare on Anaheim Street, a nod to the horror classic and Bamboo Club’s street address, which is a whiskey sour with amaro and Campari. Our cocktails were balanced very well and I also had burger that was fantastic.

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Killer Klown Halloween Overlay at Dr. Funk

Dr. Funk did a Beetlejuice overlay last October and the tiki bar is back with a new theme this year: Killer Klowns from Outer Space. If you’re not familiar, this is based on the “cult classic” film from 1988 – and there are few things scarier than aliens that resemble clowns! The decorating committee certainly did a fantastic job, including a circus themed light display outside, plus decorated booths, giant mutant popcorn kernels, and a few Killer Klown figures.

There’s a special menu available including a deep fried Twinkie that I wanted to hate but I can’t lie – it’s amazing. There are also four speciality cocktails:

Peanut Gallery – if you’re looking for something that’s more traditional for a tiki bar, this is the item to choose. It has a balanced approach including rum you can taste plus banana flavors from the liqueur and the “circus peanut elixir.” This was my favorite, though regular readers know I’m a nut for circus peanut flavor.

Peanut Gallery

Chubby’s Fix – this clarified cocktail has mild rum flavors and a bright blue passionfruit float. It tastes great and the foam sort of melted into the cocktail to make the whole thing blue, making this another standout.

Chubby’s Fix

Cotton Candy Cocoon – Coconut leaning and not particularly spirit-forward, and very heavy on the matcha-pandan milk syrup. Mrs. Mai Tai likes pandan and appreciated it much more than I did.

Cotton Candy Cocoon

Human Puppet – a lighter cocktail featuring Cocchi Americano, so a wine-forward taste, and includes a flashing cube inside. Again, not very rummy.

Human Puppet

Dr. Funk is getting pretty good at the pop-up/overlay thing and Killer Klowns is no exception. The theme is interesting and unique, something to seek out this month in downtown San Jose.

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Pirates Dinner Adventure Swashbuckling Fun

Our Buena Park weekend continued at the Pirates Dinner Adventure, a swashbuckling counterpart to Medieval Times down the street. The show includes a detailed plot, two romantic subplots, acrobatic performances, songs, fight scenes, and plenty of elements to involve the crowd. Dinner includes soft drinks plus soup or salad and a chicken main course – plus utensils to eat with that aren’t provided at the other place. This was a fun time with our large group, some of which dressed up for the event.

After entering the venue, there’s a bar to order alcoholic drinks, plus a large gift shop if you want to outfit yourself for the event and to get into the pirate spirit. The drinks here are definitely not craft, though if slushy drinks are your thing there are a couple options and lots of beer/wine selections.

I looked at the “Caribbean Mai Tai” and saw that it contains three kinds of flavored rums with Captain Morgan Coconut Rum, Captain Morgan Pineapple Rum, Cruzan Guava Rum, plus Orange and Cranberry Juice; I decided to pass but was pleased to see that Sam took the plunge. Meanwhile, I kept in the spirit of the event by building my own “Pirate Boilermaker” by pairing an Octoberfest beer with a shot of Captain Morgan Spiced rum, yum.

Pirates Boilermaker

The crowd certainly seemed to enjoy the show, including a couple who were celebrating their 10th anniversary – being married inside the Pirates Dinner Adventure! There were several opportunities for the audience to participate in some of the show elements, such as hoisting a flag, and of course lots of cheering for the pirate who matched the color of your section.

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Spooky Fun at The Cauldron

Our SoCal trip continued with another visit to the horror-themed bar The Cauldron near our Knott’s Berry Farm Hotel, with an offer of a discount if you come costumed as witches or vampires. They don’t offer reservations for large groups but Brenda booked the secret room for our larger group. It would be perfect for sacrificial ceremonies but we stuck to appetizers and cocktails.

The Cauldron definitely puts an effort into making interesting drinks, even if their rum selection leans sweet. I ended up going with the Devil’s Margarita that has a float of red wine that looked great and tasted quite amazing. The staff were even able to make a cherry-leaning cocktail that David tried on an earlier trip, and generally we found the cocktail game to be pretty good here.

Inside, the spooky vibe was in full effect thanks the every day decor and also to other groups getting the memo on the dress code – lots of witches or just people in pumpkin gear.

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Jedi Mind Tricks at Oga’s Cantina

Disneyland has undergone a procedural change in how guests can enter Oga’s Cantina, the bar inside the Star Wars-themed Galaxy’s Edge. Where previously you could make reservations online or make a day of reservation at the venue and come back when the slot was ready, the new process is completely based off a stand-by line.

The most obvious change in visiting is actually psychological, perhaps some sort of mind trick from the Jedi forces running the cantina. When you make a reservation that’s good for 90 minutes you often would stay for the full 90 minutes. But when it is standby, you have no specific expectation of a time slot and so we saw many guests leave after one round and we ourselves were in and out in less than an hour. All of which means that the line moves fairly quickly, which we think is an overall net-benefit for this venue which is still a lot of fun.

Mrs. Mai Tai and I were on a quick half-day visit to see the Halloween offerings at Disneyland but we took refuge from the muggy conditions. We absolutely loved the Garlic Cheese bread and revisited some favorite cocktails that we thought were pretty good. The Outer Rim with tequila and a puree topping no longer includes the salted rim but is still well done, as is the Coruscant Cooler with bourbon. Julie’s Jet Juice came in a little glass, similar to those little orange juice glasses you get at brunch, and my Jedi Mind Trick featured grapefruit in the best of ways.

The standing table we were at wasn’t too bad, we made friends with the first group but found the second to not able to understand how to fit people into the available space, and our server was right on top of everything. We enjoyed DJ Rex and the music which thankfully wasn’t too loud, so this was a very successful mission.

Coruscant Cooler / Jet Juice
Jedi Mind Trick / Outer Rim