Category: Tiki Bar

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Fogcutter Friday

There’s been quite a bit of conversation happening lately in some of the blogs and YouTube channels that I watch around the classic Trader Vic’s cocktail The Fog Cutter. This was one of Vic’s breakout cocktail hits in the 1940s, based on a reputation for being extremely potent and also for being served in the signature mug. The cocktail contains, rum, gin, brandy, and sherry, along with citrus juices and Trader Vic’s signature sweetener, orgeat.

We were a Trader Vic’s Emeryville last week and thought I’ve give the modern day Samoan Fog Cutter a try. This version from the 1950s has slightly less booze than the original Fog Cutter but still features plenty of the citrus that folks often feel makes the cocktail unbalanced. And with all that juice it sure looks like it would be too tart, but I’ll tell you I thought the balance was just fine, especially once that sherry float began to be incorporated into the drink.

Samoan Fog Cutter
2 oz Lemon Juice
1 oz Orange Juice
½ oz Orgeat
1½ oz Light Rum
½ oz Brandy
½ oz Gin
½ oz Cream Sherry, floated

Possible that the orange juice they’re using at Trader Vic’s leans sweet. Or perhaps they used a little more orgeat. I’ve made some Trader Vic’s cocktails at home and indeed did find them leaning tart, but that wasn’t the case for me at the restaurant last week.

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The Multipass at The Kon-Tiki

This is one the “zero gravity” drinks on The Kon-Tiki‘s recent Sci-Fi themed cocktail menu. It has Watermelon, Hibiscus, Oolong, Honey, and Lime and is well garnished for $8. You can “choose your element” by adding a called spirit for just $6 more.

This is a wonderful drink just by itself but does work very well with a variety of rums and other spirits. Would go great with Tequila and Vodka, and I can attest it works for Rhum Agricole and Clairins too. The juicy flavors and the tang from the watermelon really work for me.

I like this for tasting rums from the Kon-Tiki’s large selection. I have the rum by itself and I try some of it neat, then pour into the Multipass to see how the rum works in a cocktail. It’s a great option when you’re doing the tiki thing in downtown Oakland.

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Atahi A Kai Mug by Reesenik for Trader Vic’s

Fun time at Trader Vic’s last night for a little informal discussion with Matt Reese (Reesenik) and Chris Shima who recently designed mugs for Trader Vic’s. There was a little panel discussion with the artists and you could purchase a mug. Trader Vic’s has been partnering with artists for a few years now and while some of the previous products were hand-crafted, limited edition, and expensive, these were more affordable but still very nice for the price/scale of production. The Kia’i mug from Shima is in the Trader Vic’s online store and I’d expect the Reesenik mug to be there any day.

I was really interested in this unusual design of Atahi A Kai mug that’s so easy to hold in the hand and is so thin it’s only about 15 oz, which means you can fill with a normal drink and not have five times more ice than you normally would. I picked one up and you can see Matt posing with his work.

We also got to see a sneak preview of the movie Cabali & the Tiki Mug Obsession with the director Josh Dragotta and the subject of the movie Doug “Fini” Finical (co-owner of the new Cabali tiki bar in Tuscon). This documentary includes interviews with numerous mug makers and tiki bar owners and is on track for a release later in 2024.

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The Best Mai Tais and Tiki Bars in Las Vegas

We’ve added a new feature page to UltimateMaiTai.com covering the top Mai Tais and Tiki Bars in Las Vegas.

What’s the best Mai Tai in Las Vegas? Is it Jammyland, the craft cocktail bar with a reggae twist? Or is it Stray Pirate, the new bar with a theme of pirate dogs? Or is it Starboard Tack, the off-strip restaurant with a retro vibe? Perhaps there’s a wild-card entry from a bar with a potentially short lifespan.

On the Tiki Bar side, the best option might not technically be a tiki bar to begin with, and the true tiki bars all have pros and cons. So the “best” might depend on what you value most, such as decor, cocktails, or service. We have our Ultimate Mai Tai Tiki Bar rating system in place plus narratives for each location to help you decide.

Top Mai Tais and Tiki Bars in Las Vegas

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Trader Vic’s Las Vegas

It is always sad passing by Sammy Hagar’s Cabo Wabo Cantina at the Miracle Mile shops at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino because for a short time this was a Trader Vic’s franchise location. The lifespan ran from Fall 2007 to summer 2009, making this one of the shortest lived Vic’s locations. Patrons noted an emphasis on vodka drinks, though we stuck to the classics such as the Mai Tai (made with the Trader Vic’s Mai Tai Concentrate mix) that were wonderful. That’s us on two visits in 2008.

The vast space was sparsely decorated, perhaps as an intentional choice to go for a modern look or perhaps due to a limited decor budget. It definitely didn’t have the same vibe as most of the Trader Vic’s locations I’ve visited, but you could get a Mai Tai to go in a plastic cup thanks to Vegas’ liberal open container laws. Traditionalists griped about the food menu but it got a great review in the Las Vegas Review-Journal in early 2008.

The venture was not successful, due in part to the great recession that started in parallel with the restaurant’s opening. After closing, the restaurant’s parent company Boulevard Bar LLC filed for bankruptcy listing no assets – and liabilities of $14.267 million! The restaurant generated revenue of $1.368 million in 2007, $5.961 million in 2008, and $2.033 million in 2009 according to those filings.

Today’s burgeoning tiki scene in Vegas shows that the most successful ventures of this type are immersive experiential venues such as The Golden Tiki or Frankie’s Tiki Room. But fifteen years ago it is easy to understand the design decisions made to go with a modern design. I guess this shows that the escapist nature of these spaces is timeless and that today there is a lot more interest in exotic cocktails and tiki bars in general.

Las Vegas is always a gamble and sometimes you don’t win.

Trader Vic’s 2008
Cabo Wabo 2024
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Our Favorite Las Vegas Tiki Bar is Red Dwarf

There are few hangover cures that are better in Las Vegas than lunch or brunch at Red Dwarf, the dive leaning tiki bar that serves Detroit-style Pizza. Our mid-day experience was stellar once again. The daytime vibe is chill and friendly, a mix of regulars and tiki tourists like us, with bartenders happy to work with you on drink and food orders. Eclectic media is shown on the TVs – 1922’s horror classic Nosferatu was showing this time.

Mai Tai

The Detroit pizza is fabulous, with a sauce that isn’t too spicy and a crust that’s light and airy. There are several different options or you can call your ingredients.

The cocktail game at Red Dwarf is far better than you’d expect from a bar with a large selection of beer and an obvious focus on it (most of the locals were drinking beer). The standard Mai Tai is a blend of four rums and is fairly light in character; it isn’t the best Mai Tai in Vegas but at only $10 might be the best value. There are number of rums that are available and they can use them in a Mai Tai to elevate the cocktail if that’s your thing.

Meanwhile, I was totally blown away by the Pound Town cocktail that features Clarin Communal Haitian rum, Clement Blanc rhum from Martinique, falernum, lemon, coconut, orange bitters, and soda. This was a truly outstanding cocktail that combined the two sugar cane juice-based spirits and a light leaning blend of balanced supporting ingredients. It’s delicious.

Pound Town cocktail

We met Red Dwarf’s owner Russell Gardner and were happy to share our enthusiasm for the venue. pizza, and cocktails. He emphasized they do use fresh juices in the cocktails and they are adding seasonal menu items as well. Even though most of the cocktails are only $10, we think the drinks here are the most consistent and overall the highest quality of any tiki bar in Vegas.

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Las Vegas’ Golden Monkey Tiki Bar Needs to Do More

We landed at Resorts World in Las Vegas to have dinner in their Famous Foods dining court, but I wanted to check out the Mai Tai at The Golden Monkey, a modern tiki bar that’s drawn mixed reviews. Indeed the lounge has some legit tiki touches including a wall of tiki mugs, though there is lots of light coming in from the adjacent hallway and some walls that are somewhat bare.

There were a few parties inside, so we sat at the bar. The bartenders couldn’t have been friendlier and the rest of my group also did drinks. The cocktail menu is a mix of classic exotic drinks such as the Saturn and Three Dots & a Dash, and some modern ones featuring ingredients such coconut fat-washed whisky.

The Mai Tai features Mount Gay Eclipse and Myers’s dark, with Giffard Orgeat, Thai Basil Syrup and Lime. I don’t find the Giffard to be a pleasant flavor and the Thai Basil Syrup didn’t do anything for me either. With the delicate Eclipse rum forming the base, this wasn’t a particularly flavorful Mai Tai and leaned tart.

The Polynesian Pearl Diver that Mrs. Mai Tai ordered was a lot better, though. This features two great rums, El Dorado 12 and Smith & Cross, and one okay rum, Brugal 1888. There’s also Falernum, Cookie Butter, Orange, Lime, Cream, and Bitters. This was a very nice cocktail and our friends liked theirs as well.

This was our second visit to Golden Monkey on a Saturday and the customers inside have been small both times (meanwhile, off-strip bars The Golden Tiki and Stray Pirate were packed earlier in the day), which is not a good sign for the longevity of venue. The lack of signage inside the hotel makes it hard to find even if you’re looking for it, which I’m sure doesn’t help. I don’t mind modern tiki in the least, but the lack of outreach to the tiki community and the poor Mai Tai means that many feel this place isn’t worth seeking out. Its fine but they need to do more to last long-term.

Mai Tai
Polynesian Pearl Diver