Category: History

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“Mai-Tai Roa Aé” by Steve Dahl and the Dalhfins

Longtime Chicago radio personality Steve Dahl is best known outside Second City as the brainchild of the infamous Disco Demolition Night at a Chicago White Sox doubleheader in 1979. But in 1997 he recorded an album of Jimmy Buffett and Beach Boys inspired songs called Mai-Tai Roa Aé, with titles such as “Janet Don’t Go to Jamaica”, “Net Surfin’ U.S.A.”, and “Flying Over the Ocean.” The CD is available on the second-hand market and you can listen to the album on YouTube and music streaming services.

The title track is most notable, telling a historically accurate story about the creation and popularization of the Mai Tai cocktail. There are references to the original Wray & Nephew 17 year old rum, the Matson Line, and even a creative pronunciation of “ore-jay”. The album cover notably features portion of the longtime Trader Vic’s cocktail menu cover, likely used without permission. The song though is a bit more inspired with a pretty nice hook, and while nobody will confuse Dahl’s voice with one of the Wilson brothers, he does a fair job delivering the details. Interestingly, Dahl had issues with alcoholism and was sober for a couple years at the time of this album’s release.

Mai-Tai Roa Aé / music and lyrics by Steve Dahl
Sitting at the service bar in Oakland
Sometime back in 1944
The war was on, the empire was exploding
Vic Bergeron was looking for something more

Mai-Tai Roa Aé my friend
May that special feeling never end
It’s paradise in a glass
For a world that moves too fast
Mai-Tai Roa Aé my friend

He summoned the bartender from the back room
Had him bring the 17 year old rum
The freshest fruits, the almond flavored orgeat
From the finest things on Earth the drink had sprung

Mai-Tai Roa Aé my friend
May that special feeling never end
It’s paradise in a glass
For a world that moves too fast
Mai-Tai Roa Aé my friend

Traveled from the mainland to Hawaii
On the steamships of the mighty Matson Line
From Honolulu to the south beach of Miami
The old man’s drink has stood the test of time

Mai Tai means the very best in Tahiti
A gentle breeze, the beach, sunshine
Any time the native are getting restless
Trader Vic’s Mai Tai will do it every time

Mai-Tai Roa Aé my friend
May that special feeling never end
It’s paradise in a glass
For a world that moves too fast
Mai-Tai Roa Aé my friend
Mai-Tai Roa Aé my friend
Mai-Tai Roa Aé my friend
Mai-Tai Roa Aé my friend

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We have a Beefeater Problem

I only started procuring gin to make certain exotic cocktails, such as the Saturn shown here. I picked up a bottle of Beefeater London Dry Gin and haven’t looked back. I like the flavors that it imparts and I like the bottle design. Even better was how it was issued at 47% ABV, a step up from many retail spirits, giving this spirit a lot more flavor than vodkas and light rums. I’ve tried other gins but found that I like Beefeater and while I have dozens of rums, I didn’t feel like I needed to do much exploring in the gin category.

A couple years back Beefeater dropped their ABV to 44%, which I didn’t bat too much of an eye at though I will say I did buy a couple bottles of the 47% version that I found at a local liquor store. All seemed to be okay.

But Beefeater recently dropped their proof again and is now a paltry 40% ABV! This is a bridge too far, though I did go back to that store to buy a couple more 47s they still had in stock. But I can’t recommend the brand per se anymore. I do see that brands like Tanqueray are still at 47%, which is where I guess I’d stand from a recommendation standpoint, even though I haven’t done a side by side comparison.

What do you think, dear reader? What are your recommended gins for mixing?

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Ruin Bar in Budapest

Szimpla Kert is one of the original Ruin Bars that are somewhat prevalent in Budapest. The concept is that these bars take over a building that is falling into ruin and they decorate it with found items, artwork, spray paint, and more to make for a space for people to gather. There’s a courtyard in the back, plus a second floor with additional seating. Our tour director warned us these were fly by night operations and potentially unsafe, but Szimpla has been in business for many years and seems to be very well trafficked and very “permanent,” and even has a Wikipedia entry. The building doesn’t look totally solid, though, one reason why we didn’t venture upstairs.

Szimpla is a vast space with at least four different bars inside, offering a variety of drinks. We kept things simple, ordering an Aperol Spritz and a shot of Unicum, the Hungarian herbal liqueur that is described as “thick, black, goopy.” Mrs Mai Tai couldn’t stand this but I thought it was nice enough to consume since I was drinking like a local. After a long walk through the streets of Budapest, this was a relaxing afternoon stop.

Just as we were leaving we saw a grandmother, daughter, and granddaughter wander through Szimpla’s patio. We also so several taxis drop people off and even during the day this place was quite active. We’re glad we got to check out one of Budapest’s unique cultural treasures, the Ruin Bar.

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Trader Vic’s Munich is a Time Machine to the 1970s

We had the pleasure of two trips to Trader Vic’s during our stay in Munich, once for dinner and then the following night at the bar.

Mai Tais at Trader Vic’s Munich

Unlike many Trader Vic’s locations, Munich does not purchase the Trader Vic’s syrups or rum for use in the cocktails. Thus, the finished result differs even when following a common recipe. We tried the Mai Tai twice and the Mai Tai variant Menehune Juice and found all to be good representations of these classic cocktails.

Mai Tai

The sour and sweet components were balanced in all of these, though the ingredients had an overall lighter mouthfeel than the cocktails in Trader Vic’s American locations. The Mai Tai uses Saint James aged rhum from Martinique along with Pampero Especial gold rum, which meant that this Mai Tai comes out lighter than many we’ve had elsewhere where Jamaica rum is the primary spirit. Still, this did serve as a representative example of the cocktail and the two rums did work well together so that you could taste the rich flavors of the Saint James but with a lot of the agricole’s rough edges tempered.

The Menehune Juice was an interesting contrast. This cocktail is essentially a Mai Tai but with light Puerto Rican rum as the sole spirit component. The resulting cocktail had fruity flavors that I didn’t get using the aged rums and this was still very flavorful and extremely satisfying. Munich also has little Menehune figures available, and as the menu states they come home with you.

Menehune Juice

Cocktails at Trader Vic’s Munich

As noted earlier, this Trader Vic’s location doesn’t procure the Trader Vic’s brand rums or syrups, so they definitely have a different taste than I’m used to. Overall, we felt that these were just okay, not nearly as good as other Trader Vic’s locations or most other tiki bars. That said, the vast cocktail menu does include some favorites that aren’t on the menu at some U.S. locations, including the Rum Keg and the overseas favorite Tiki Puka Puka.

The good news is that the spirits being used are pretty reasonable, including two different Saint James Rhum Agricoles in the Navy Grog that include five separate rums. That Navy Grog didn’t have the allspice-forward flavor but definitely was rich and boozy. The aforementioned Tiki Puka Puka is fruity and super boozy, so it’s easy to see why it’s so popular and pricey (€24). Mrs. Mai Tai didn’t love the Bahia, which needed to be shaken longer, but the Koana Puffer was better though still not stellar.

Navy Grog

Dinner at Trader Vic’s Munich

At the Munich location they offer some rice chips as a table starter both for table service and at the. Lightly savory, but not overly satisfying. I thought the Crab Rangoon and the Cheese and Ham Bings were really well done, though. Quite satisfying and adding ham to the Cheese Bings was a plus.

We both enjoyed our Cashew Chicken and Walnut Chicken entrees from the Trader Vic’s wok were very good, and the portions were quite large. Our dinner service was exemplary, featuring a waiter and junior waiter who both were reserved but friendly and accommodating.

Ham and Cheese Bings, Crab Rangoon

Overall Impressions of Trader Vic’s Munich

This location in the basement of the hotel Bayerischer Hof is amazing and seems like a portal back to the 1970s when it was built. There are so many tikis and little nooks and rooms off the main artery of the restaurant. There are dozens of peacock chairs, such that nearly every table has one both in the dining room and in the bar. There are an amazing number of masks on the walls, plus so many jade tiles. It is comparable in size to the Trader Vic’s in Emeryville, though with seemingly even more space and more sections/rooms.

We visited for dinner on Saturday night and the place was a frenzy of activity. There was a birthday party in one of the rooms and at one point they served an entire barbecued pig that included the head that they presented to the birthday boy! The bar was totally full on Saturday but also busy in the mid-evening on Sunday, too, but we didn’t have to wait very long for our food or to order another round of drinks.

There is no merch available here, aside from the take-away Menehune, and our polite ask about procuring an old menu was met with a very German and terse no.

The Trader Vic’s location in Munich is gorgeous and if you’re anywhere near here you must seek it out. We had a grand time in Munich generally, so we encourage anytime to come give this Vic’s restaurant a try.

Bahia
Tiki Puka Puka
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Bali Hai Sells 3 Millionth Mai Tai (with Recipe)

Congrats to San Diego’s Bali Hai Restaurant, a longtime institution located on scenic Shelter Island. The venue’s infamous Mai Tai is known to be extraordinarily potent, advertised as not being made with any juice. It’s basically rum in a glass with little splashes of traditional Mai Tai ingredients.

The 3 millionth Mai Tai was recently sold at Bali Hai, which has a ticker inside the restaurant showing how many they’ve sold. Quite a milestone for such a noteworthy entrant in the lore of the Mai Tai.

People often ask how this is made, so we present the recipe that tastes like the real thing.

Bali Hai Mai Tai
½ oz Sweet and Sour Mix (or ¼ oz Lemon Juice and ¼ oz Simple Syrup)
¼ oz Orgeat
¼ oz Triple Sec
2½ oz Cruzan Light Rum
2½ oz Coruba Dark Jamaican Rum
Shake with ice

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“Donn the Blowfish” Tiki Mug

I’m not a huge mug collector but when this one came back on sale I thought I would pick it up. This is the second mug from Doc Parks Designs and pays homage to Donn Beach and also the blowfish that lived in the tank by the front door at Park’s old haunt, Pagan Idol. That fish had a name which especially this week is no longer a fun nod, so we won’t note it here. See the photo of me with the puffer back in 2017.

The mug comes with a few Doc Parks swag items so this was a pretty good deal and quite unique. The mug was produced by the Kon-Tiki Tiki bar and sculpted and glazed by Tiki Koa in Mexico. Really good quality and it continues my desire to have mugs that tend to be smaller and more suitable for single-serve cocktails.

This mug is sold out but keep an eye on docparksdesigns.com for tshirts and future merch offerings. And then check out the dates for the Doc Parks 2024 Tour stops. We loved the Doc Park Tour stops in the past year so don’t sit on these if they come to your town.