Tag: OrangeCounty

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The Best Tiki Bar in SoCal is Trader Sam’s

We had another great visit to Trader Sam’s Enchanted Tiki Bar at the Disneyland Hotel on our recent trip, arriving in the mid-evening on a Sunday during the holiday week between Christmas and New Year’s. Despite being such as busy weekend at the resort, we were paged and seated at the bar within just 20 minutes even without a reservation.

The cozy confines of this bar feel like home, thanks in part to the Skippers who recognize regulars or even irregular vacationers with a greeting. Such was the case for us again this time as Skipper Melissa said hello and took our order. For many years Mrs Mai Tai’s favorite drink has been the Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Rum, which is the Trader Sam’s version of a Painkiller. And they made it just as great as usual, though as her tastes are changing it now might be too sweet for her palette. I asked for a Mai Tai with Smith & Cross Jamaica rum and it was simply fantastic and made totally on point, thanks to Skipper Melissa.

The ability for the bar staff to adapt to customer requests and even develop their own custom “secret menu” items is truly what separates Trader Sam’s from many bars. Even in a high volume location like this, I’ve never seen them bat an eye at this and in some occasions they’ve even encouraged orders of off-menu items. The staff here from greeters to servers really work well together.

Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Rum and Smith & Cross Mai Tai

The Disneyland version of Trader Sam’s has a few special effects when certain drinks are ordered, but this is relatively mild to the Disney World version where you can barely breathe in between effects and gags; the Disneyland version is better where it is a special event not an onslaught. The immersive space is impressive as is the friendly customer service at this Trader Sam’s where we saw a bartender reposition a guest so that they could see the Shipwreck on the Rocks display for their order.

Trader Sam’s has been an intro to tiki bars for so many people who likely are forever spoiled by the dark immersive space with so many thematic elements and exotica music that’s always on point. It is about as good as any tiki bar anywhere given the size and it is our favorite in the region.

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Amazing Cocktails at the Blind Rabbit, Except One

We continue to enjoy visiting Anaheim’s speakeasy The Blind Rabbit. This was high on Mrs. Mai Tai’s wishlist and we secured a reservation for close to opening and were seated at the bar. In addition to a holiday cocktail list the standard menu had most of the drink names drawing seeming inspiration from the movie Beetlejuice or that film’s composer Danny Elfman’s band, Oingo Boingo. Is Tim Burton working for the Blind Rabbit?

The clarified It’s Showtime with notes of chocolate was perfect for Mrs. Mai Tai and I truly enjoyed the tropical and funky Dead Man’s Party served in a skull mug that featured two of Kuleana’s mixing rums in combo with the bartender’s secret weapon Smith & Cross Jamaica rum. In the next round, we did a combo of clarified drinks with similar names. I ordered the Turbo Man with rums and a hint of guava while Mrs. Mai Tai ordered the Come, Mister Tally Man with cachaca and sherry. I thought both were great, but Mrs. Mai Tai didn’t really like the sherry flavor and so we switched. For her last round, Mrs. Mai Tai ordered Otho’s Aura with cognac and spice, another killer cocktail.

For my last round I debated ordering the Mai Tai from their Classic Cocktails list. When I asked the bartender what rum was in the Mai Tai he said it was Kuleana Huihui, which is Kuleana’s blended white rum featuring three unaged rums from Papua New Guinea, Martinique, and Hawai’i. I’ve written previously that I didn’t think Huihui did that well in a Mai Tai or a Daiquiri but against better judgement I ordered the Mai Tai anyway and found to be good but simply doesn’t have enough flavor to sit alongside the rest of the Murderer’s Row at The Blind Rabbit. A little of that Smith & Cross would help immeasurably.

We enjoyed the holiday decor and the bartenders seemed a little more open and animated than in past visits where everyone seemed to be on hushed whisper mode. They’ve even relaxed the dress code here.

It’s Showtime / Dead Man’s Party
Come, Mister Tally Man / Turbo Man
Otho’s Aura
Mai Tai

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Return to Stowaway Tiki

As we left Palm Springs, we made sure to revisit the Cabazon Dinosaurs, looking fine for the holidays and we finally went up into the T-Rex. Our next stop was at Tustin’s Stowaway Tiki for lunch. We enjoyed our previous visit almost a year previous and once again really liked the unpretentious vibe and great food and cocktails.

We only stayed for one drink but really enjoyed the Singapore Sling as well as Stowaway’s signature Cococano cocktail and fire show. Both are well-balanced cocktails and I particularly like how the lemon juice in the Cococano turns this into something different than a Pina Colada with a different name. I really enjoyed the spam musubi and chicken skewers.

Stowaway has a great vibe, very relaxing and fun to hang out. There was still Christmas decor which made everything nicely festive.

It is hard for Stowaway to have the highest mind-share when it is in the same county as Trader Sam’s, Strong Water Anaheim, and The Royal Hawaiian, but we think that Stowaway is a cornerstone tiki destination and something to consider on a tiki road trip. I’d be here all the time if I was a local.

Spam Musubi
Skewers
Singapore Sling
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Witchy Good Time at The Cauldron 

We enjoyed the ambiance and cocktails at The Cauldron Spirits and Brews, a witch and black cat themed bar and restaurant located across the street from Knott’s Berry Farm. This was a perfect starter before our evening at Knott’s Scary Farm last Saturday, with many of the guests as elaborately dressed as the staff! Wearing black would be a smart choice.

The main room features ornate decor with a few special effects. Not too dark and spooky but plenty nice to get you in the mood. We were seated on the enclosed patio that has conservatory vibes and the music was dark leaning classic modern rock for the most part.

I enjoyed a pumpkin ale and others tried the cocktails with thematically appropriate names. Mrs Mai Tai enjoyed the Knotty Kid Martini that is a lemon drop riff featuring Boysenberry Cotton Candy. The cocktail even featured a ghostly apparition!

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Make & Drink Lapu Lapu

There are a number of historical recipes for the Lapu Lapu / Chief Lapu Lapu cocktail, described in a recent video from Derek on the Make & Drink channel on YouTube. Besides going into the history of the cocktail and its notable presence as the featured cocktail at The Royal Hawaiian in Laguna Beach, Derek came up with his own Lapu Lapu recipe that we are trying tonight.

Make & Drink Lapu Lapu
½ oz Lemon Juice
½ oz lime Juice
2 oz Orange Juice
1 oz Passion Fruit syrup
¼ oz Rich Simple Syrup
1½ oz Light Rum
1 oz Pot Still Rum
1 oz Club Soda
¾ oz 151 Rum
Flash blend all ingredients except 151 rum for five seconds, then pour over crushed ice in a large snifter. Float ½ oz of 151 rum. Garnish with mint and a passionfruit shell with 151 rum, set on fire.

I took a few liberties here, notably on the garnish side since I had no mint and decided to use a lighted lantern pick. I used Liber Passionfruit Syrup, a light rum blend of Trader Vic’s white and Hamilton White Stache, Hamilton Pot Still Black Jamaica rum, and Hamilton 151 Demerara rum.

This is a really juicy cocktail and the excellent tangy Passionfruit Syrup from Liber really shines in this. I’m not getting much of the Pot Still rum, and if I was going to do this over I’d probably go 2 oz Pot Still and 1 oz Light rum. Or maybe just incorporate all the rum and not leave the 151 as a float, since a little of that famed Overproof Demerara rum can really add some great flavors to a cocktail.

Nonetheless, this is a really great version of this cocktail. Do you have a favorite Lapu Lapu recipe? Leave it in the comments.

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Palm Breeze Bar at Disneyland Hotel

The new DVC Villas at Disneyland Hotel opened recently and so we went to check it out during an afternoon break from park touring. The midcentury-inspired touches look nice, though this wing does not really integrate with the rest of the hotel towers. There’s only a minimal lobby space here, but the Palm Breeze Bar is adjacent to that entry and also to the small pool for this wing.

There are a lot of fun touches here, and plenty of midcentury design elements. We sat at the bar and ordered a Blue Bee’s Knees, which is a traditional gin-based Bee’s Knees with muddled blueberries. The level of skill and technique from the bartender was not as strong as we’ve grown accustomed to at Trader Sam’s / Tangaroa Terrace across the way, and so the drink was just so-so. Hopefully, this will improve over time.

We did see some other guests order an off-menu Mai Tai, which was prepared with BG Reynolds Orgeat (same is as used at Trader Sam’s). But, the limited rum selection at the Palm Breeze Bar meant this was mostly made with the sugar-heavy Diplomatico Reserva Exclusiva Rum, so not really a great choice for this cocktail.

The rest of the cocktails at Palm Breeze Bar lean to inspired but tourist friendly recipes, including a few highballs, some frozen drinks, and quite a few mocktails. There’s a food menu which we didn’t try, but otherwise this place looks like a nice place to hang out if you can’t get into Trader Sam’s or Tangaroa Terrace.

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Rebirth at the Royal Hawaiian Laguna Beach

There’s been a Royal Hawaiian restaurant in Laguna Beach for decades, but the venue has gone from great to terrible to okay to terrible and now once again to great thanks to an impressive rebuild led by Notch Gonzalez (Dr. Funk, Smuggler’s Cove). We made sure to visit the refreshed location on our trip and met up with friends but had a late 8 pm reservation on a Wednesday.

Inside, the Royal Hawaiian looks completely gorgeous and the modern “Fire Grill” elements that led the 2019-2022 RH version are completely gone. Instead, it’s an explosion of bamboo and thatch that is quite immersive. We were seated in a booth in a back corner of the restaurant and indeed we seemed completely shut off from the outside world (and the staff, as it would happen). Food is Polynesian inspired and we liked what we tried.

The cocktail menu is nicely varied, including the Royal Hawaiian’s signature Lapu Lapu, a bold grog served flaming. I found the Mai Tai to be just okay but did really love the Saturn riff Passionate Maiden, with Elderflower liqueur subbing for the Orgeat in the original. Really great.

Our service was good and we were having a great time. At some point the excellent surf and exotica soundtrack transitioned to a nice but out of place post-punk / post-punk revival soundtrack. This should have been our clue we were staying past closing at 9 pm, though remember we were all the way in the back corner and didn’t catch the drift (nobody reminded us of the closing time, either). Sorry about that, RH crew, alcohol may have been involved.

On the way out we saw jade tiles, artwork, and other lighting elements that were a feast for the eyes. The overall build and vibe here is absolutely breathtaking and we enjoyed the traditional cocktails and food inspired by tiki bars of the past.

Lapu Kapu
Mai Tai
Passionate Maiden