Category: Mai Tai

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Palmetto Dinner and Cocktails

We had a great dinner at Palmetto last night, along with some classic cocktails. The fine dining is most certainly that with some upper mid-priced dishes with some inventive ingredients. I had the pork chop with frisee, spiced carrots, refried black beans, grain mustard mojo, and shaved onions. So flavorful and a quite large cut of meat, too. Mrs. Mai Tai enjoyed her Halibut and especially liked the lavender orange ice cream.

Flight Path cocktail

We tried several of the cocktails, which include some riffs on classics and also some Palmetto originals. From the classic side, I had a delightful Manhattan with Rum (Real McCoy 5) that was served up. Julie had the Brandy Old Fashioned that was also a great twist on an old favorite.  From the House side, I had the Flight Path with Rye, Falernum, Honey, Lemon, and Absinthe. Also served up, the Flight Path was truly excellent.

Manhattan with Rum

Service at Palmetto was outstanding and all the patrons were adjusting no problem to showing vaccination cards and masking when not eating/drinking. If you’re in Uptown (Oakland) and looking for something a little Upscale, be sure to seek out Palmetto.

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Lilikoi Mai Tai at Pacific Catch

For the second summer in a row we have to give credit where it is due, with another fabulous seasonal menu for summer at Pacific Catch. Last year it was tiki and this year it is “Endless Summer” but in both cases the cocktail options are pretty good.

Regular readers know that Island Mai Tais are not exactly my thing, but the Pacific Catch Lilikoi Mai Tai is fabulous. I truly loved it and ordered a second that was just as good. The cocktail features Flor de Cana Silver, Wray & Nephew Overproof, passionfruit, “house mai tai mix,” and a Lahaina dark rum float. This certainly leaned more to the sweet side rather than the tart side, but it wasn’t overpowering with fruit like most Island Mai Tais are. I liked the flavor of the dark rum float, too. This Mai Tai is very likely going to end up on my top 10 list. Seriously.

And big extra credit to the Pacific Catch team who came up with the fabulous Mai Tai glass design, inspired by the classic Trader Vic’s tapa glass design. Apparently these aren’t for sale, but I’d love to have one.

We really enjoyed our meal, and the service from Marissa at the Dublin location was outstanding. Mrs. Mai Tai thought the Strawberry Mule was just okay, but found the Carmelized Pina Colada to be quite good (I thought so too). We will return before summer is over.

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Blue Mai Tai

I did a revised version of my Blue Hawai-Tai cocktail for a Mai Tai contest at a party this weekend. I thought I’d emulate the Mai Tai Festival they do every (non-COVID) year in Kona, where the winning Mai Tai never looks like a 1944. Always something new, different, or fancy. So I did a “more of a Mai Tai” version of the Blue Hawai-Tai by adding Lime juice and only using Orgeat as the sweetener. No fancy foam topping, though.

Blue Mai Tai
½ oz Lime Juice
½ oz Lemon Juice
1 oz Latitude 29 Orgeat
½ oz Giffard Blue Curacao
1½ oz Rum Fire Overproof Jamaican Rum
½ oz Probitas light rum
Garnish with Mint

I came in second in the contest. The winning entry was quite delicious in a more traditional format with Denizen Merchant’s Reserve and Plantation Dark. So, I can’t fault the judges at all. It was great. But, I do know a few of the judges really liked this version, so that was pretty satisfying.

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Blue Monday?

Have you got a case of the Mondays? Improve your spirit on #MaiTaiMonday by making a Blue Hawai-Tai, the love child of the Mai Tai and the Blue Hawaii cocktails.

Blue Hawai-Tai by Kevin Crossman
1 oz Lemon Juice
½ oz Orgeat
½ oz Simple Syrup
½ oz Blue Curacao
1 oz White Overproof Jamaican (Rum Fire)
½ oz Aged White Rum (Probitas)

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Cocktails at Kon-Tiki

Another fabulous night of cocktails at The Kon-Tiki.

I’m still working on my DIY checklist of all the cocktails on their third published menu, and thanks to Chris Day for going off the current menu and making a Sunken Tugboat. I really enjoyed this Daiquiri style cocktail with a hint of cinnamon. Meanwhile, Mrs. Mai Tai had her favorite, the Uma Uma. I also sampled a freshly prepared Kon-Tiki Mai Tai that was quite delightful and had a rich mouthfeel that I very much enjoyed.

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The Best Mai Tai in Orange County

Admittedly, this is not based on exhaustive research. But, I did find the Mai Tai at The Cellar in Fullerton to be quite wonderful.

After we bailed on traveling from Phoenix to Vegas, we hightailed it to a location with a marine breeze. After our jaunt to the Disneyland Hotel, we met up with one of Mrs. Mai Tai’s longtime friends at The Cellar in Fullerton. This cave-like experience was wonderful and significantly more condusive to conversations than the similarly themed Undertow from the previous night. Great cement “rock work” from Disneyland Imagineers circa 1969.

The cocktails at The Cellar were pretty good. The off-menu Mai Tai was rich and flavorful, with a thick mouthfeel. I also tried the Tropic Thunder, served in a gigantic barrel mug for two, though you can ask for a single serving (and a lot more ice). That one wasn’t quite as good but hid the bourbon base quite well behind passionfruit and banana. Mrs. Mai Tai enjoyed her cocktails as did her friends.

Food was expensive and small portioned, but service was outstanding.

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Trader Sam’s Enchanted Tiki Bar

When Mrs. Mai Tai and I were finished with lunch at Tangaroa Terrace, it was about 3:10 pm. The way that indoor seating at Trader Sam’s is working right now is that there’s a line that forms at the check-in station in from of the Terrace and that’s the order to get in. With Sam’s opening at 4:00 pm, there were only about five people in line, so I thought hey, I can wait this out for less than an hour while Mrs Mai Tai does some shopping in Downtown Disney. At around 3:30, the hostess starting taking names and party numbers, which allowed me to browse the Disneyland Hotel gift shop and also to go inside out of the sun.

Inside, it was the same Sam’s we’ve all grown to love. Everyone was so excited to be inside the immersive environment. So many things to look at, and we enjoyed the show offered when the Krakatoa Punch and Shipwreck on the Rocks were ordered. I noticed they still have a few additional rums on the shelf, so I ordered a Mai Tai with Hamilton 86 Demerara Rum. That was a pretty good Mai Tai (and they didn’t even charge me extra). Mrs. Mai Tai had the coconut-forward Piranha Pool and that frozen drink was a hit.

I even got to take the de rigueur Trader Sam’s Bathroom Selfie. So nice to be back.