Category: Travel

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Pirates Dinner Adventure Swashbuckling Fun

Our Buena Park weekend continued at the Pirates Dinner Adventure, a swashbuckling counterpart to Medieval Times down the street. The show includes a detailed plot, two romantic subplots, acrobatic performances, songs, fight scenes, and plenty of elements to involve the crowd. Dinner includes soft drinks plus soup or salad and a chicken main course – plus utensils to eat with that aren’t provided at the other place. This was a fun time with our large group, some of which dressed up for the event.

After entering the venue, there’s a bar to order alcoholic drinks, plus a large gift shop if you want to outfit yourself for the event and to get into the pirate spirit. The drinks here are definitely not craft, though if slushy drinks are your thing there are a couple options and lots of beer/wine selections.

I looked at the “Caribbean Mai Tai” and saw that it contains three kinds of flavored rums with Captain Morgan Coconut Rum, Captain Morgan Pineapple Rum, Cruzan Guava Rum, plus Orange and Cranberry Juice; I decided to pass but was pleased to see that Sam took the plunge. Meanwhile, I kept in the spirit of the event by building my own “Pirate Boilermaker” by pairing an Octoberfest beer with a shot of Captain Morgan Spiced rum, yum.

Pirates Boilermaker

The crowd certainly seemed to enjoy the show, including a couple who were celebrating their 10th anniversary – being married inside the Pirates Dinner Adventure! There were several opportunities for the audience to participate in some of the show elements, such as hoisting a flag, and of course lots of cheering for the pirate who matched the color of your section.

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Spooky Fun at The Cauldron

Our SoCal trip continued with another visit to the horror-themed bar The Cauldron near our Knott’s Berry Farm Hotel, with an offer of a discount if you come costumed as witches or vampires. They don’t offer reservations for large groups but Brenda booked the secret room for our larger group. It would be perfect for sacrificial ceremonies but we stuck to appetizers and cocktails.

The Cauldron definitely puts an effort into making interesting drinks, even if their rum selection leans sweet. I ended up going with the Devil’s Margarita that has a float of red wine that looked great and tasted quite amazing. The staff were even able to make a cherry-leaning cocktail that David tried on an earlier trip, and generally we found the cocktail game to be pretty good here.

Inside, the spooky vibe was in full effect thanks the every day decor and also to other groups getting the memo on the dress code – lots of witches or just people in pumpkin gear.

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Jedi Mind Tricks at Oga’s Cantina

Disneyland has undergone a procedural change in how guests can enter Oga’s Cantina, the bar inside the Star Wars-themed Galaxy’s Edge. Where previously you could make reservations online or make a day of reservation at the venue and come back when the slot was ready, the new process is completely based off a stand-by line.

The most obvious change in visiting is actually psychological, perhaps some sort of mind trick from the Jedi forces running the cantina. When you make a reservation that’s good for 90 minutes you often would stay for the full 90 minutes. But when it is standby, you have no specific expectation of a time slot and so we saw many guests leave after one round and we ourselves were in and out in less than an hour. All of which means that the line moves fairly quickly, which we think is an overall net-benefit for this venue which is still a lot of fun.

Mrs. Mai Tai and I were on a quick half-day visit to see the Halloween offerings at Disneyland but we took refuge from the muggy conditions. We absolutely loved the Garlic Cheese bread and revisited some favorite cocktails that we thought were pretty good. The Outer Rim with tequila and a puree topping no longer includes the salted rim but is still well done, as is the Coruscant Cooler with bourbon. Julie’s Jet Juice came in a little glass, similar to those little orange juice glasses you get at brunch, and my Jedi Mind Trick featured grapefruit in the best of ways.

The standing table we were at wasn’t too bad, we made friends with the first group but found the second to not able to understand how to fit people into the available space, and our server was right on top of everything. We enjoyed DJ Rex and the music which thankfully wasn’t too loud, so this was a very successful mission.

Coruscant Cooler / Jet Juice
Jedi Mind Trick / Outer Rim
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Tommy Bahama’s Amazing Frozen Mai Tai

Had to make time to swing by the Tommy Bahama Marlin Bar at the Fashion Valley mall while we were across the street at Tiki Oasis. This still impresses, it tastes like a Mai Tai and has plenty of rummy flavor thanks to the dark rum float.

The Marlin Bar has pretty good cocktails and I enjoyed some great sliders as well. There was even a couple playing live music during our visit.

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John Caine’s Famous Cosmopolitan by John Caine

Another classic cocktail, this time the Cosmopolitan at the At Water Tavern in China Basin. We had a nice dinner before a concert at nearby Chase Center, but in reviewing the menu on the venue’s website I saw an entry titled “John Caine’s Famous Cosmopolitan by John Caine.” That seemed, well, it seemed really unusual. Who is John Caine and why does his name appear not once but twice next to the Cosmo?

Intrigued, I ordered the Cosmo and asked the server who John Caine is. She answered and told me he was the owner of the restaurant. Later, Caine himself popped by our table to say hello and told us that he brought the Cosmo to San Francisco from Cleveland in the late 1980s and he’s even included in the Wikipedia entry for the cocktail. Apparently he had been told about the cocktail by gay men who had visited New England where cranberry juice was prevalent and so it was natural to add it to a Kamikaze cocktail to get the pink color that the drink is famous for.

Pondering the cocktail while drinking it, I wondered what the big deal is since the lightness of the flavor profile wasn’t really doing anything for me since I’m used to bolder flavors from tiki drinks or spirit-forward classic cocktails. But I acknowledge that for many the lightness is a feature, not a bug, and the Cosmo falls into that class of cocktail. It’s pretty.

Reviewing the physical menu at At Water, it just says “John Caine’s Cosmopolitan” – slightly more modest – and the list of ingredients which say Hanson vodka, cranberry, and lime. Hanson is vodka made from grapes in Sonoma and there are several expressions including lemon and mandarin that would be more suitable to the IBA specified recipe that includes Absolut Citron, but the expression isn’t noted. Notably absent is Cointreau, a key component of the now-standard Cosmo recipe, though upon tasting the drink it does appear that Caine prefers it dryer.

At Water is adjacent to Oracle Park Lot A and is a great option before or after an event in the area. Or just an excursion to try a bit of cocktail history.

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The Fink: Celebrating Two Years as Napa’s Premier Cocktail Destination

We’ve loved The Fink ever since it opened in downtown Napa, with a travel themed cocktail menu and an elaborate nautical interior. Sunday was a celebration of the venue’s second anniversary which included some cocktail specials and a tiki themed celebration in conjunction with the upcoming 25th anniversary of Tiki Oasis. Guests were given 2 year buttons, a wonderful touch.

Namesake owner Judd Finkelstein played his usual host role and then changed outfits to perform with his hapa-haole band the Maikai Gents. Introducing the band, Tiki Oasis founder Otto Von Stroheim noted that the band has played more Tiki Oasis events than any other and it was easy to see why with the band playing an energetic set. The performace also included Finkelstein’s wife and daughters singing along for a spell. Longtime Tiki Oasis performer King Kukulele also dazzled the audience who are familiar with his big personality and wild antics.

The mad rush of tikiphiles and Napa locals was immense at the 3 pm opening, so the staff had to work to keep up with so many cocktail and food orders. On tap was a special cocktail called the FinkelGrog, created by Smuggler’s Cove’s Martin Cate. Meanwhile, I ordered some Crab Rangoon and Napa’s best Mai Tai, followed with a New York Sour featuring Judd’s Hill red wine.

The Fink trying to steal my drink

The event did not have a cover charge, but guests were offered the option to donate to Be Kind, a non-profit spotlighting the power of kindness to strengthen community, founded by Finkelstein daughters Talulah and Ruby.

The Fink remains a gem of a venue, a classy place run by the region’s premier hospitality host and family.

King Kukulele
Otto Von Stoheim
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Bamboo Hut / China Live

Mrs. Mai Tai and I had a great Friday evening in North Beach a couple weeks ago where we caught the late showing of the Magic Cocktail Hour, a funny show with magic and supernatural elements, plus okay cocktails.

We landed in the area by having a drink at nearby Bamboo Club, where at six it was pretty dead until a bachelorette party came in for shots and drinks.

I had the Zombie that leaned on Pernod, but not in a bad way, and found it to be plenty boozy too. Meanwhile Julie had the Rico Guave with coconut rum, cachaca, Aperol, and Guava Rose Syrup and was really tasty and blended well.

Zombie

China Live was our dinner destination and coincidentally was next door to the Magic Cocktail Hour venue. We loved the dim sum including the world famous dumplings that were amazing. Our friendly waiter helped us go through the menu and was otherwise prompt and attentive, so we really enjoyed the meal.

Even with cocktails ahead of me I tried the Mai Tai and was glad I did since it was quite nice with aged Bacardi and Cointreau. We even got to talk a bit to bartender Christian Rivera (ex-Pagan Idol) who seems to be doing a great job with quality control. We’d return here for sure.