The Search for the Ultimate Mai Tai
Traveling the Bay Area and beyond to find the best Mai Tai in the world! Tiki, cocktails, and adventures by Kevin Crossman
I heard The Kon-Tiki team put up a little tribute to Alex and so Mrs. Mai Tai and I made a quick trip up last night to check it out and say hello to the crew. Toasts were made in Alex’s honor.
Thanks Tony and everyone else at The Kon-Tiki who made it happen.
We’re all still dealing with the loss of our friend Alex. If you’d like to help the family, a Go Fund Me has been set up: Celebrate the life of Alex Fritch.
Those who met Alex were impressed by his easygoing and friendly manner. But Alex could be quick with a funny comment too. Both of these aspects are on display with the three videos below.
Recorded in July 2020, the two rounds here are an homage to the classic 1970s game show Match Game but with a focus on tiki, rum, and the bars in the Oakland, CA area. If you’re not a local, you won’t get a few of the “Oakhana” references, but if you know anything about tiki bars or tropical cocktails there will be a lot of familiar subjects.
Alex was one of the “celebrity panelists”, along with his wife Terra. Alex was put into the “Richard Dawson” chair on the second row, and filled the role of the droll but funny man so well.
Recorded in January 2021, Alex was the first person I contacted to participate in a fun round-robin discussion of our favorite rums in five and only five categories. Alex joined us online from his home tiki bar, Fred and Ginger’s Exotic Cocktail Bar and Lounge, and you can truly experience his knowledge and passion for rum.
Only for those on the inside of security, but open any time planes are flying near Terminal B, Gate 22-23. Restaurant and bar, with Outpost grab’n’go.
Update: the Outpost opens on May 27. The bar/restaurant opens mid-June.
Update #2: the Outpost opening is delayed slightly and will not open on the 27th, due to COVID related training snags. Stay tuned.
Update #3: The Outpost is now open.
Update #4: Trader Vic’s San Jose is now fully open
Got to try this new rum last night at Forbidden Island. It’s rum from Balcones Distilling (makers of Texas Whiskey) and the Forbidden Island edition is a spicy pot still rum that isn’t half bad. The representative compared it to Jamaican rum, which is honestly a bold move to compare yourself to the world’s best rum (I expect nothing less from a Texan). But, I give those folks from Texas credit for swinging for the fences.
The rum is quite potent, bottled at cask strength. Give it a try the next time you’re at Forbidden Island. There is a “general public” release this Friday 5/21 from 5-7 p.m.
There are a couple cocktail specials using this rum. I tried the “Over the Falls” with citrus, spices, orgeat, and absinthe. This is a wonderful tropical cocktail and while you definitely taste the absinthe it doesn’t overpower. What might be more than you expect is the ABV – this is a very boozy cocktail! Quite delicious though.
Fantastic time tonight for Ohana night at @ . This was our next toe-dip back into indoor dining and it was so nice to see so many familiar faces at Forbidden Island tonight. Wasn’t quite like the before times (hello, marks!) but still some fabulous FI cocktails and hospitality.
Mrs Mai Tai had the Chi-Chi, while I indulged with a classic Mai Tai with Appleton 12 and Plantation Xaymaca. It was a very good Mai Tai! Along with the Guac and Chips and an Ester Williams tropical movie on the TV, it was just like old times.
Two weeks out from my second jab, Mrs. Mai Tai and I had a relaxing dinner at Trader Vic’s Emeryville inside a tiki bar for a relaxing meal (we were indoors a couple times in Palm Springs in April but we were totally watching the clock). The tables are spaced out and we had a great video of the Emeryville marina and for a time had the entire second dining room to ourselves.
The cocktail menu is somewhat limited, though of course there is still something for everyone. I started with the San Francisco Mai Tai and Julie had the Chi-Chi, our usual orders. We followed with the Banana Batida for me (which ended up being my desert) and she had the Tututupo Tiki. Fantastic cocktails tonight, and a relaxing evening with exotica and Hawaiian music playing.
For dinner it was a little bit of Trader Vic’s greatest hits, starting with the Peanut Butter crackers, the Huli Huli chicken for me and a Trader Vic’s salad and Tofu Aloha Bowl for Julie. But the best thing tonight was the Crab Rangoon, so much better when it is freshly served in the restaurant. It was all great, including the service as expected.
Thanks to local tikiphile Monty Dunnington for selling me his used copy of Sven Kirsten’s Tiki Modern, and for offering it at a fair price. This completes my Sven collection, including the Book of Tiki, Tiki Pop, Tiki Style, and Sound of Tiki.
The book is long out of print, which is truly a shame since it is a really interesting look at the tiki art of the 1950s-1960s and it’s place amongst the larger Mid Century art movement and aesthetic. The part that reads most interesting to me, a decade after it was published, is the neutral tone of the text. It is almost like an anthropologist describing a culture on its own terms, not one made with modern sensibilities. It does not denigrate, nor celebrate, the art and architecture described in the book. It just describes it so that we can understand it.
Which isn’t to say that those current sensibilities should be ignored. Just that I appreciated the neutral tone. And there are a lot of fabulous images in the book as well.
Anyway, thanks to Sven Kirsten for the books over the years.
