Category: Mai Tai

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World-Class Tiki Bar Comes to San Jose: Dr. Funk

Our long national nightmare is over.

The 10th most populous city in America finally has a real tiki destination now that Dr. Funk has soft-opened in Downtown San Jose. We visited Tuesday during a soft-open for Tiki Ohana, and we’ve been told that Thursday is the first day open to the general public with next Monday being the official grand opening.

Situated at San Pedro Square, Dr. Funk is an immersive tiki bar with decor buildout by @topnotchkustoms + @m_p_o_r_i_u_m_ and bar program by @kenwongdejanan + @bondtylerbond44. The interior is first class, with seven huts, a long bar, and plenty of tables inside. Outside there are more seats on the tiki patio. There are lots of little nods to the actual doctor named Dr. Funk, including some bubbling potions above the bar. Service was great during our soft-open experience. Food was not yet being served, so stay tuned for further developments.

And the cocktails? FAN-TASTIC.

The namesake cocktail is quite good, leaning into Absinthe which is the signature ingredient. More unexpected was the creamy Dead Man’s Isle featuring Ube, Coconut Creme, and several rums. It had a very unique taste and was a big hit among all who tried it.

And the Mai Tai? Maybe one the best anywhere.

We need more samples before we’re able to add this amazing Mai Tai to our Top 5 worldwide, but it is a very strong candidate. Using Appleton 12 and Smith & Cross Jamaican rums, the Mai Tai was perfectly balanced including a creamy and sweet house-made Orgeat. And, if you’re so inclined, you can order it in a souvenir glass designed by local favorite B-Rex.

No longer a wasteland, San Jose finally has the tiki destination it fully deserves.

Dr. Funk Mai Tai Glass by B-Rex, held by B-Rex
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Mai Tai Monday: Wright & Brown Distilling

Made a fab Mai Tai for Trader Vic’s birthday using a rum made in Oakland, the city where the Mai Tai was first made in 1944. 

Oakland’s Wright & Brown is distilling rum as well as a variety of whiskeys. The rum I used is pot still distillate made from Black Strap Molasses and is aged for a couple years. Quite wild and full of flavor, so it works great in a Mai Tai.

For my Mai Tai I used 1½ oz Wright & Brown and ½ oz Coruba just to add a little additional richness.

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Luau Lounge: Hidden Tiki Bar in San Francisco

Had a sort of impromptu visit to Pier 39’s Luau Lounge on Saturday. Mrs. Mai Tai and I were in the city at the Walt Disney Family Museum and then went downtown to look at the “Let’s Glow SF” lights. In between we had dinner at Fog City and had a little shopping stroll at Pier 39.

Luau Lounge is a “hidden tiki bar” inside the Players Sports Grill and Arcade all the way at the end of the pier. You have to walk through the arcade to get the Lounge, which is a moderately themed tiki bar with Hawaiian leaning food. Some great views of the bay out back, along with tropical/reggae music and staff that’s usually pretty friendly.

Our past experiences with drinks have been hit or miss. Some of our cocktails have been truly terrible, while others were more reasonable. This is a place where you don’t expect “craft” but the sliding scale only goes so far. If I can’t taste the rum or if the only thing I taste is lime, well, then that’s not a good Mai Tai even here. Our hit rate is maybe 40-50%, and most cocktails are made via count-pours, so some variance is expected.

This time the 1944 Mai Tai was actually pretty good. Made with Cruzan and Mount Gay rums, I could taste the lighter style rums along with a balanced cocktail that leaned just slightly sweet. Just like I like it.

Luau Lounge remains an appealing option to get away from the Pier 39 crowds, or just to take a break from walking all around SF like we did.

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Mai Tai Monday: Previous Era Trader Vic’s Rum Blend

I wanted to switch it up a little at Trader Vic’s, so I tried to replicate the old rum blend of aged Jamaican rum and Martinique rum. At various points starting in the late 1950s all the way to the early 2000s, Trader Vic’s called for the use of Rhum St. James to be paired with a long-aged Jamaican rum. 

I didn’t see St. James on the shelf, but Clement VSOP seemed like a great substitute. For the Jamaican I used the old standby, Appleton 12.

Definitely not the standard-issue Vic’s Mai Tai. The agricole made this taste a bit more dry, and a tad lighter on the tongue. Pretty different but still great.

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Happy Instagramiversary to Me

The Search for the Ultimate Mai Tai was relaunched on Instagram on this day in 2017. 1625 posts and counting, chronicling experiences with cocktails, connections with people in the community, and world’s leading feed of Mai Tai minutiae.

There have been some really terrible and shitty things in 2021, which we won’t focus on except to say that there are some really awful people out there and also that I miss my friend every day.

Some nicer things happened in 2021, though. A few are chronicled in the photos including some travels with Mrs Mai Tai to far off places such as Milwaukee, Chicago, Grand Rapids, Phoenix, Vegas, and various locations in California including San Diego, Palm Springs, Disneyland, Morro Bay, and Sacramento.

Parties were back, and we got to enjoy a few and always appreciate the invites. Plenty of shenanigans especially at The Kon-Tikis in Oakland. Rum Fest was back! 29 different tiki bars – many new to me and some just brand new period, with several more coming very soon. I was interviewed on The Rum Cast and had several long articles published in Exotica Moderne. I completed rum lists at Forbidden Island and Smuggler’s Cove. UltimateMaiTai.com was refreshed with a great logo and banner by B-Rex.

So, thanks to so many fellow Mai Tai fans I’ve had the pleasure of interacting with over the last year. I appreciate your follows, likes, and comments here and in real-life, including the discussion of very important topics such as tiki bar rating criteria and what rums are best in a Mai Tai.

Cheers!

 

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House without a Key Mai Tai

This was one of my favorites on our previous trips to O’ahu, and sometimes I like to make it at home.

The recipe is notable in the use of different proportions of the 1944 Mai Tai recipe template, but also the use of a dark rum float most commonly seen in Island-style Mai Tais.

House without a Key Mai Tai, Halekulani Hotel in Waikiki
1¼ oz Lime Juice
⅓ oz Orgeat
⅓ oz Rock Candy Syrup
⅓ oz Orange Curacao (Cointreau)
¾ oz Bacardi Select/Black Rum
¾ oz Bacardi Gold Rum
Float ½ oz Lemon Hart 151 Rum

Comparing the two photos, it definitely looked better on the beach in Waikiki than it did in my kitchen. But it tasted just fine at home.

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Makai Island Groggery Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving lunch at Makai Island Kitchen & Groggery in Santa Cruz. We’d been meaning to check this place out now that indoor dining is available, so this was a perfect opportunity for a little road trip over the hill.

There is a lot that’s great about Makai. The interior is very nicely appointed with a combination of Hawaiian, marine, and tiki elements. The back bar and seating area sit on a rotating platform, which circulates every 30 minutes. So all diners sitting at tables get an ocean view. Staff was friendly and service was great.

We enjoyed the food, including burgers for the kids and a poke bowl for Mrs. Mai Tai. My Mahi was not traditional for Thanksgiving but I loved it, and the Spam Misubi was excellent.

The non-alcoholic drinks Mrs Mai Tai tried were quite good, and priced accordingly ($5). She especially liked the Hibiscus Lei.

Hibiscus Lei and Mai Tai

Unfortunately, the two cocktails I had weren’t as good. The 1944 Mai Tai was not balanced – far far too lime forward (you know I lean sweet but this was not a personal preference – it truly had too much). The limp mint would have been better off being omitted. Better was the Mr. Makai served flaming in the gorgeous skeleton surfer mug that I took home. Still too lime forward, but at least I got a little bit of the rum and the dragonfruit-ginger syrup. They do have a modest but high quality collection of rums on site for cocktails or for sipping.

Overall, we enjoyed our visit. The location at the end of the Santa Cruz pier is picturesque. We always like dining indoors even if windows are a feature, but Makai does have outdoor seating. There’s also a nice private dining room called the Captain’s Table that has more nautical elements and porthole screens. We’ll be back.