Wanted to thank you to Ray for driving us from Portland to Seattle and then meeting up with us on Tuesday for a night to remember (at least for the portions that we can actually remember). Such a pleasure to catch up and also to hear about what’s happening in the Seattle area and to give us some suggestions for things to do and such.
Without Ray, we probably wouldn’t have inquired about the orgeat-heavy Mai Tais at Rumba, nor would we have checked out the Tiki Tuesday at The Diller Room. He opened some doors and did some introductions for us at Tiki Kon, too.
We had a reservation for Rumba’s sister bar Inside Passage, and coordinated the move between the two with our server. So very helpful. The entrance is via the host station inside Rumba.
Inside Passage, as many of you know, is a nautical themed bar that borrows many traditional elements of tiki bars, including the tropical cocktails, dark decor, and exotic lighting and music. But there aren’t any idols and the business has gone to great pain to distance themselves from “tiki.” So, fine, not a tiki bar. Except it basically is.
We were seated in a booth that featured decor from Notch Gonzalez and is laid out quite similarly to the booths at Dr Funk that Notch also designed. The bamboo and jade tiles really look great here. The interior feels like the inside of a ship, with a kraken named “Kiki” breaking through the ceiling. It’s very impressive.
There are several original cocktails that have over-the-top vessels, garnish, and effects with dry ice. These are pretty clever with nods to local icons Amazon and Rainer Beer. And the cocktails sure were tasty. I followed up with a Saturn that was well-balanced.
With a small capacity and higher prices for cocktails, Inside Passage feels like a special occasion destination rather than a place where you’ll become a regular. Which isn’t bad at all, and the implementation is quite grand.
One of the oldest tiki bars in the world, Portland’s Alibi Restaurant and Lounge has a lovely feel early in the day when we visited on the Tiki Kon Sunday Bar Tour. It is even nicer when vintage exotica and lounge music is played rather than the classic rock that usually plays. Karaoke is a big thing here most evenings.
The Mai Tai was okay. Definitely using some cane-juice based rum, which surprised me. Needed to be a little sweeter though. And Mrs Mai Tai’s Pina Colada was on point.
So many little details with the vintage seating and decor.
Tiki Kon weekend is here, and the first event was a ticketed, private seating at Portland’s world class tiki bar Hale Pele.
Of course we started with Hale Pele’s Mai Tai, and damn that is a fantastic cocktail! This is still made according to their longtime specs with 1½ oz Cobura Dark Jamaican rum along with ½ oz of Wray & Nephew Jamaican Overproof rum. So flavorful, and one of the best Mai Tais you can buy anywhere on planet earth.
Such a great time at Hale Pele when filled with tiki people, and the Hale Pele team really put on a great show with the fire drinks. Mrs. Mai Tai started with her default cocktail the Lava Flow (yummy!) and then we shared a flaming Jet Pilot. Such a great cocktail and even more special when set on fire by Hale Pele’s team of fire experts.
We really like the food at Hale Pele. My Mahi Tacos were fantastic, as was the Kalua Pork sandwich.
We also have to thank Appleton rum for the wonderful pour of their incredible Appleton 15 rum, along with a small rocks glass. Thank you to Martin and Rebecca Cate for hosting the event, and the entire Hale Pele crew.
Can’t get into the specific reasons why but I made visits to three of the Bay Area tiki bars last night. And of course even if went there for other reasons you can’t leave without getting a cocktail.
Smuggler’s Cove: Hibiscus Rum Punch. Fruity and light, quite flavorful.
The Kon-Tiki: their very good Mai Tai and (not pictured) their best-in-the-world Cheeseburger.
Forbidden Island: Ohana night special cocktail called Black Hole Sun, by Sara Rivas. Citrus, Pineapple, Honey, Bourbon, Demerara 151, Dash of absinthe, Dash of bitters. Leaning spicy, this was pretty good!
Apple Maps in the car really came in handy yesterday. Just 30 mins from the Cove to Kon-Tiki at rush hour!
Nice to see familiar faces along the way. Such a blessing to have so many great destination experiences in the Bay Area.
We had the pleasure of flying out of San Jose a couple weeks ago on the 1st anniversary of Trader Vic’s SJC – the world’s best airport bar. The problem was that our flight was at 7:30 in the morning, so our visit to Vic’s was at opening at 6 am (Mai Tais at 6:15 am!). And the 1st anniversary celebration was at Noon that same day, so all the event merch was held under lock and key. The staff graciously tried to get into it, but no luck.
So we have to thank our benefactor for getting us this amazing Trader Vic’s San Jose Airport glass, and the incredible airline wing-style pin. Mahalo, friend.
To celebrate I made a Trader Vic’s Grog. This is one of the cocktails I’ll sometimes go to at the restaurant when I look for something besides the Mai Tai. It’s a pretty good cocktail in this format, and is basically a crushed-ice and double sized version of the Siboney cocktail that’s served up.
For this version, I used two flavorful Jamaican rums. Some Worthy Park 109, a dark Jamaican rum at 54.5% ABV, alongside Hamilton Jamaican Pot Still Gold. I also made a tiny tweak by adding ¼ oz of simple syrup so that the cocktail was slightly less tart.
Trader Vic Grog 1 oz Lemon Juice 1 oz Pineapple Juice 1 oz Passionfruit Syrup (Liber) 2 oz Dark Jamaican Rum 1 dash Angostura Bitters Add simple syrup to taste Shake with crushed ice and garnish with mint.
It is not without a great deal of irony that after being a tiki bar wasteland for decades, that we salute San Jose that now has two very good tiki bars with this Trader Vic’s location and Dr. Funk downtown.
