Navy Grog weekend ends with this strong entry from Forbidden Island Tiki Lounge. Very much in the Trader Vic’s tradition, this is Allspice forward. Potent and delicious.
Smuggler’s Cove Cocktails To Go
Finally made it up to the city to get some to-go cocktails from Smuggler’s Cove. The menu outside the building highlights which cocktails are available, an aid to those walking up. We had done our order via online and ahead a couple days and the reminder text alerts for the order worked great.
This weekend, the Cove was doing a promotion with Pusser’s Rum and the regularly available Painkiller cocktail was made with the higher ABV Pusser’s Gunpowder Proof. This was for Mrs. Mai Tai who said it was delicious and potent. And we got to take home some Pussers swag as well.
I picked up the Fog Cutter, a Trader Vic’s cocktail I’ve gotten into this year. The Cove uses Oloroso Sherry, which is different than the Cream Sherry I have at home. Pretty good cocktail, though now that I’ve tasted both I do prefer to the Cream Sherry.
Meanwhile, Mrs. Mai Tai gave the Smuggler’s Cove “meal option” a rave review. When you order cocktails to go you have to order one of two soups. Julie said that the vegan soup was outstanding, just as good as any she’d expect to get at a good restaurant.
Island Old Fashioned at Kon-Tiki
Excellent rum old fashioned from The Kon-Tiki, featuring Denizen Vatted Dark Rum, house Falernum, and bitters.
Perfect for patio cocktails in downtown Oakland.
Saturn from Kon-Tiki
As the cocktail menu at Oakland’s The Kon-Tiki evolves to feature new frozen cocktails, warm holiday drinks, and cocktails that lean into some non-tiki styles, there has been the addition of some classic tiki cocktails to the menu as well. This includes some old favorites such as the Jet Pilot and the Jungle Bird. Today we’re sampling their Saturn.
The Saturn is a Gin-based cocktail with Lemon Juice, Passionfruit syrup, Orgeat, and Falernum. The Kon-Tiki’s version is quite good and presented pretty much to the standard recipe. When I make it at home I do add more Orgeat, but the Kon-Tiki version was still quite good. I did feel that shaking the drink with crushed ice and then straining into a Coupe glass with a wide stainer did allow for small ice crystals enhanced the drink’s experience. Delightful.
Frozen Grasshopper and Kon-Tiki Burger
I usually don’t feel too much guilt calling myself a cocktail snob at this point, which means that I have fairly high standards for how I taste and rate cocktails. In this respect, I haven’t done a lot of exploring of the drinks made famous during the “cocktail wasteland” of the 1970s and 1980s. As such, I’ve never head a Grasshopper before.
Enter The Kon-Tiki’s new Frozen Grasshopper, another cocktail that leans a bit more into classic cocktail territory than classic tiki/topical cocktails. Well, the Grasshopper is served frozen and this is simply delightful. Another hit from Oakland’s Kon-Tiki, the Tiki Bar that leaned so far into 1970s Yacht Rock that they had a whole section on their cocktail menu to drinks named after Yacht Rock songs. Pair this with their signature coconut-forward Uma Uma and you’ve got a couple amazing frozen cocktails.
The Grasshopper is paired with the amazing Kon-Tiki Burger, still the only cheeseburger that Mrs. Mai Tai will eat regularly. And even with a longer-than-normal travel time back home the burger and fries were still quite ready to be devoured by the entire household.
Last note, Mrs. Mai Tai had the Kon-Tiki’s new Spiced Rum Toddy, a warm cocktail with three rums, tawny port, lemon, honey, allspice, and clove spices. She loved it, and it fits right in to the holiday season. Be sure to check it out if you’re dining on Kon-Tiki’s heated patio that now includes music.
Hula’s Island Grill, Monterey
Mrs Mai Tai and I had a great lunch at Hula’s Island Grill in their newly expanded back patio. We have enjoyed our visits to the Hula’s locations here in Monterey but also in Santa Cruz and at the Hula’s Modern in Phoenix and Scottsdale.
The back patio has a nice tropical vibe and I enjoyed my Trader Vic’s fish sandwich while Julie loved her Tofu Jungle Bowl. Service was very friendly and super efficient.
Cocktails at Hula’s can be hit or miss but I really enjoyed my Pele’s Punch (first picture). This normally comes with Firewater Bitters and since they are VERY spicy I asked for Angostura Bitters instead. It was a delicious punch with some great Blood Orange flavors. Mrs Mai Tai had her requisite Pink Bikini Martini and loved it as always.
Hulas has two cocktail sections and it is nice to see them trying to elevate the cocktails with their Premium Cocktails menu. For our second round Julie had the POG Punch, which she liked okay and which I thought was pretty good. More tart than sweet but overall quality was right up there. I also tried the Reverend Stiggins, a Mojito riff using the Plantation Fancy Stiggins Pineapple Rum. When I was here a couple years ago I thought there was too much mint. This time it was balanced quite well. The soda adds a lightness that made this cocktail super refreshing.
We had a great time at Hula’s.
This was tiki bar number 15 for me in 2020. Compare to 2018 when tiki bar 15 was April 21, and last year when tiki bar 15 was March 21. This year has really sucked for visiting tiki bars.
Cocktails at the Jungle Bird
Mrs Mai Tai was a good sport indulging me for Saturday’s four-Mai Tai day in Tahoe-Reno, but the weekend was capped with some fine cocktails on the way home at Sacramento’s Jungle Bird tiki bar.
Our cocktails were on point, starting with a great Saturn. Jungle Bird serves this with crushed ice, which is a good option for this cocktail. I also had their Mai Tai, which is good and only $10 even with the very good Denizen Merchant’s Reserve Rum. Mrs Mai Tai had her favorite, the Lava Flow, which always looks pretty at the Jungle Bird. The cocktails here are quite good and the staff does a great job working with the guests (me: “heavier orgeat”). So nice to have the cocktails freshly prepared too.
