Blood Lapu Lapu

I tried this Chief Lapu Lapu riff with my remaining Blood Orange juice. This was far more satisfying than the Paradise Cooler, thanks to the heavier rum included. The recipe calls for Passionfruit Syrup but since I was out of that I substituted some of Pearl’s Hideaway Fancy Falernum instead. This was quite good.

Blood Lapu Lapu
1½ oz Blood Orange Juice
¾ oz Lime Juice
½ oz Simple Syrup
½ oz Falernum
¾ oz Dark Jamaican Rum (Worthy Park 109)
¾ oz Light Rum (Denizen 3)

Off-Menu Saturn at Dr. Funk

You know that a bartender knows their stuff when don’t flinch when you order an off-menu cocktail. In this case, it was the ask for a Saturn at Dr. Funk in San Jose, and Paul McCoun  made a great one.

The Saturn is a late-classic era tiki cocktail with Gin, Orgeat, Falernum, Passionfruit Syrup, and Lemon Juice. Every tiki bar should have these ingredients and this is a well-known cocktail so it shouldn’t be an issue to order one, but sometimes you never know. I like Dr. Funk’s Mai Tai, so wanted to try a cocktail that also used Orgeat, and the Saturn is one of my favorites. The original specs called for the Saturn to be blended, but I find it is better when served up – and that’s exactly how Paul prepared it. Paul even made a cool planet-with-rings garnish.

Every cocktail I’ve had a Dr. Funk has been great, and I hear an updated cocktail menu is coming soon. Looking forward to see what else the medical staff come up with.

Paradise Cooler

I had some Blood Oranges and thought I’d try using them in some cocktail recipes that normally call for Orange Juice. First up is the Paradise Cooler, from the Total Tiki app for iOS. According to the notes from Beachbum Berry, this recipe comes from the Denver Hilton, circa 1960. I thought that this cocktail with Cherry Heering might go well with the Blood Orange juice. At least the color would be consistent.

Paradise Cooler
1 oz Orange Juice (sub blood orange)
½ oz Lime Juice
½ oz Falernum (Pearl’s homemade)
¼ oz Cherry Heering
1 oz Light Rum (Denizen 3)

This wasn’t bad, and the Falernum was a nice addition (I used Pearl’s Hideaway Fancy Falernum No. 1, made by Laura Murphy). But with only 1 oz of light rum there wasn’t a lot of character to this cocktail.

South SF Bay Area Tiki Ohana at Dr. Funk

Now that San Jose finally has a legit tiki bar, …actually, scratch that. Now that San Jose finally has an amazing tiki bar, some of the locals are deciding to get together on a regular basis.

Working out of the “South SF Bay Area Tiki Ohana” Facebook group, local tikiphile and all-around mensch Michel von Schiltach decided to get the ball rolling. Michel lives within walking distance and helped with some of the build-out, so is the perfect ambassador for these meetups.

As of now the schedule is, starting at opening at 4 pm and lasting as long as it lasts:
1st Sunday of the month
3rd Wednesday of the month

Last night was the third Wednesday, and I arrived a little late around 7 pm. So nice to see a few friendly faces interspersed with San Jose locals doing the tiki thing midweek. With Dr. Funk’s central location and convenient parking garage across the street, I’ll definitely be returning more frequently.

Dr. Funk is now serving food, and from what I’ve been told the portions are quite large for the price, and everyone seems to enjoy the meal. There was some discussion about Dr. Funk possibly being an all-ages place once food was starting to be served, but the decision is that it was stay as 21 and over. Dr. Funk is also now offering reservations, so be sure to make one if you’re coming with a larger group.

Check out “South SF Bay Area Tiki Ohana” group in Facebook for more details.

Tiki Haven’s Island Mai Tai

My route back home from Trad’r Sam went right past Tiki Haven so I thought I’d pop in to check this place out again, too. The bar is located in the Sunset District and is a neighborhood sports bar with a tourist-tiki theme. No confusing this with the craft places downtown, but on the other hand it is still quite a friendly bar where your wife won’t be frightened to enter. The parklet outside features some very nicely themed tables and stools that are in great condition. There are plenty of restaurants nearby.

Service was friendly, similar to my previous visit, and the Mai Tai was prepared quickly. This very good Island Mai Tai was shaken prior to serving, and had a well-balanced ratio of juices to spirits.