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Tiki Tom’s is Still Killing It

Things were hopping on Saturday night for dinner at Tiki Tom’s, where we took our sons for a family night out at Walnut Creek’s amazing tiki bar and restaurant. There aren’t reservations on Fri/Sat and we arrived a little before 5:00, being seated after about a 15 minute wait. The exotic and Hawaiian music is still going strong here.

Three of us had Quesabirria Tacos featuring beef and a crispy cheese outer shell. Very filling and an interesting approach to the taco. We also tried the Loco Moco Dumplings, a beef and spice-filled delight. Mrs. Mai Tai enjoyed the Green Coconut Curry once again, and we find the food here to be pretty good and reasonably priced for the portions.

Tiki Tom’s still has the Ultimate Mai Tai on the menu, a $5 premium over the standard Mai Tai but totally worth it. They continue to do a great job with this, and boy the bold flavors of that Jamaican-led four rum blend really hit me in the right way. I have this all the time at home, of course, but Tiki Tom’s did it so good.

The cocktails were all wonderful, even with the crush of the patrons in the bar. We really liked the Crimson Tide, served flaming and a sweet blend of tequila, strawberry, and hibiscus. Mrs. Mai Tai’s favorite is the Ohana Punch with green apple and walnuts, a chewy and delightful blend. The Blue Hawaiian was a good option for our sons who don’t drink much, sweet and approachable. There are some new menu options from mixologist Jenn Crider, so we need to return soon to sample them.

Crimson Tide
Loco Moco Dumplings
Quesabirria Tacos
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Cane Juice Mai Tai from Mexico and Hawaii

We’ve got to thank Chris Parker for recommending this rum blend for a Mai Tai at The Kon-Tiki. It combines two cane-juice rums, one from Mexico and one from Hawai’i.

KōHana Kea is a 40% ABV rum from O’ahu, which we’ve had before and covered before. It is delicious and KōHana is greatly expanding the size of their sugar cane fields, poised to be the largest sugar cane grower on the island. Kea is their unaged expression and each bottle is made with a different cane variety, though I neglected to check which one on the label. I’ve yet to find any Kea that isn’t totally delicious.

Dokabend is a single varietal Aguardiente de Caña from Oaxaca, a pot still rum issued at 51% ABV. There’s a lot of very interesting cane spirits coming out of Mexico and this one comes from fields that are nearly 4000 feet high in the Sierra Norte mountains.

The end results was a very flavorful Mai Tai with traditional vegetal flavors but just a hint of smoke that I assume comes from the Dokabend, but not too smoky like the Mezcal from the same region. Definitely different than the cane rums I had from Haiti earlier in the evening and one of the best Mai Tais I’ve had at Kon-Tiki this year, which means it is the one of the best at any location.

This was my 100th visit to Kon-Tiki, which I guess maybe isn’t a lot since they opened in late 2017 but its more than any other tiki bar during this period. This visit was representative of why I love going here, being able to try different spirits neat or in a cocktail, fun retro-leaning music that isn’t always exotica but never Top 40, and great engagement with the crew.

That’s me on the wall
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Haitian Mai Tais

Despite what you may have heard on television, no dogs or cats were harmed in the making of these two fabulous Mai Tais made with rum from Haiti. The Kon-Tiki in Oakland has a large collection of cane spirits and it took me a while to choose for these two Mai Tais.

Clairin Vaval is a traditional clairin with light grassy notes, and a cocktail that presented these notes in balance with the lime and sweeteners.

Rhum Barbancourt is aged for eight years and has a less-assertive body that many rums aged for this length. The Mai Tai turned out to prominently feature the fresh zest of lime as a focus, not tart at all but certainly the most forward flavor.

They’re still making great Mai Tais at The Kon-Tiki. Quite an energetic crowd for Wednesday’s Ohana night, plus many non-tiki people as well.

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New Book: P/Fassionola

Fassionola: The Torrid Story of Cocktails’ Most Mysterious Ingredient is a new book from Gregorio Pantoja and Martin S. Lindsay. This passion project is finally reaching Kickstarter backers and is also for sale. The book covers the history of Fassionola syrup, a cocktail ingredient that started as the brand-name Passionola and evolving into a generic ingredient that was issued in Gold, Red, and Green varieties. The syrup was passion fruit-based, but with additional fruit ingredients.

As with Lindsay’s book about San Diego Tiki, there are hundreds of gorgeous photos and historical details about the products, people, cocktails, and bars where they were served. Daniel ‘Doc’ Parks provided additional insight and several of his cocktail recipes are included along with other modern bartenders.

There’s a lot to like here, though the organization does not cohesively track the syrups evolution or plainly state the current state of Fassionola products. There isn’t a clear-cut definition of how Fassionola specifically differs from Passion Fruit Syrup, nor tasting notes about the colored varietals, and important details are buried in the descriptions of cocktails or venues. There’s a recipe for a Red Fassionola on page 252, but that’s not in the recipe index, and disappointingly there are no other Passionola or Fassionola recipes.

The following cheat sheet may help:

  • The book’s name is technically Fassionola but social media refers to it as P.Fassionola
  • Passionola was a brand name and is essentially similar to Fassionola
  • Gold Fassionola is closest to Passion Fruit Syrup
  • Red Fassionola has cherry or strawberry notes, Green has lime
  • Jonathan English is the recommended modern Fassionola, but you can only purchase via eBay
  • The authors have discovered a historical recipe for Passionola and are working to turn it into a retail product, coming soon

This last part potentially explains the lack of syrup recipes and I’ve heard from many folks that this seems like a ploy to generate interest in the retail product. Still, I am still looking forward to it. The book’s narrative structure is challenging but there’s a lot to learn if you are willing to dig a little.

Additional Notes:

Book review from Jim “Hurricane” Hayward, who wrote the the foreword for the book

What is Green Fassionola? And how to make the green Passionola Cooler from Make & Drink on YouTube

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Blue Monday Mai Tai

Yes, it’s a Mai Tai. It has lime, rum, orange liqueur, and orgeat – just like a Mai Tai should. But we are substituting a high quality Blue Curacao in place of the Orange Curacao and using flavorful clear rum, letting that sweet blue color shine. Giffard is our strongly preferred brand of choice and the best Blue Curacao by a mile.

Any quality aged white rum would do fine here. I’m using Denizen Aged White rum but Probitas, Hamilton White Stache or Breezeway Blend, or even Planteray 3 Star would be fine. You just want to have a little age on the rum to impart some barrel notes that nod to the Mai Tai’s original long-aged rum. Any Overproof Jamaica rum such as Wray & Nephew, Rum Bar, Worthy Park, or Monymusk would fit the bill here though in this case I’m using Rum Fire.

Blue Mai Tai

1 oz Lime Juice

½ oz Orgeat (Latitude 29)

¼ oz Simple Syrup

½ oz Giffard Curaçao Bleu

½ oz Denizen Aged White Rum

1 oz Rum Fire Overproof Jamaica Rum

Shake with crushed ice and garnish with mint.

The clearer and less brown/cloudy your orgeat is the better. Latitude 29 fits the bill perfectly and could be used at ¾ oz to omit the simple syrup entirely.

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“Impress Me” Mai Tai with Monymusk Special Reserve

You can’t do this at every bar, and even at some bars where they know you it can be a dick move if they’re completely slammed, but sometimes it’s amazing when you ask the bartender to riff on something or use a special ingredient for drink. Such was the case on Friday when I popped into downtown Oakland’s Kon-Tiki while on my way to a party.

Kon-Tiki is now using a somewhat pared down menu, though it still includes the Grog, Zombie, Uma Uma, and Virgin’s Sacrifice that have been on every menu since day one. There’s also their standard Mai Tai, which is a steal at $14 and remains one of our Top 10 Mai Tais in the world. There’s also a $44 Mai Tai using some rare Samaroli rum, if you want to spoil yourself.

The bar was busy but not yet overly so, so I asked for an “impress me” Mai Tai. What came back was a really great one using Monymusk Special Reserve Jamaica rum, a blend of rums aged for at least 10 years. Comparable to Appleton 8 or 12, with a tad more funky taste. This was a rich Mai Tai that was perfect for a one and done visit. We thank Carlos for making a great choice.

Kon-Tiki was playing a nice mix of soul-leaning tunes, nothing too familiar or poppy and nicely giving off 1970s vibes. A couple big groups came in as I was finishing, and it really remains a place where the guests and staff give off a lot of great energy.