The Search for the Ultimate Mai Tai
Traveling the Bay Area and beyond to find the best Mai Tai in the world! Tiki, cocktails, and adventures by Kevin Crossman
I decided to celebrate early with this fab 1991 rum from Trinidad, made at an undisclosed distillery, during a visit to Smuggler’s Cove this week. Quite a full bodied flavor.
It is truly a blessing to be able to try these super old rums at Smuggler’s Cove. Time machines in a bottle.
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.
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.
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.
San Francisco’s Zombie Village launched their first major menu refresh since they opened in 2018, offering several new cocktails and also adding in some classics such as the Port Light and Three Dots & a Dash. Thankfully, our favorite Zombie Village favorites including the Disco Banana, Coco Pandan, and Doc’s Grog remain on the menu.
Many of the new cocktails include coconut, including the creamy Catamaran that features pisco, Jamaica rum, and apricot. This cocktail isn’t too sweet and is supposedly inspired by the Tradewinds cocktail, but the apricot is more in the background. We also liked Over the Garden Wall that has rum, elderflower, coconut, and absinthe – again very balanced and not too heavy on the absinthe or coconut.
Our favorite new menu item was the Beach Hopper, with rum, cacao, mint, and coconut – this isn’t your grandfather’s Grasshopper but it’ll give you a lot of those same vibes. The balance for drink like this can be tricky and Zombie Village has it dialed in perfectly. We were impressed by the new menu that features 17 cocktails and seems to have a little bit of something for everyone, including cocktails based on bourbon, tequila, and mezcal plus a few well-known tiki favorites including the Mai Tai and Painkiller.
The new menu includes interior illustrations by Tony Canepa and is available for purchase. The menu launched on Wednesday with a low-key launch party that included a DJ set by Woody Miller who is also one of the artists who contributed to the venue. We think this is a great step forward for Zombie Village which previously had been resting on the laurels of the original cocktail menu and hopefully sets the place up for a fresh round of tropical cocktail converts.
Popped into Pagan Idol on our way to the Go-Go’s show on Tuesday after dinner. I threw my back out on Monday but thankfully there was relief in the form of Pagan’s signature Zombie which is called the Daywalker. This longtime favorite was just what I needed and while I’m not a connoisseur of Zombies I did think it was really great.
Mrs. Mai Tai had the Banana Be’ with butterscotch, cinnamon, pineapple, and coconut which we both also really liked, creamy but not overly sweet and very well balanced. This was my third visit in the last couple months and have had great cocktails each time, so I probably should come more often to try some of the other menu items.
Service at Pagan Idol on a weeknight is a little bit of an unknown, since they only open the back room when warranted by the amount of guests in the venue. We like the front room and sat at a table by the fish tank, but it did get a little crowded when a couple large groups came in.
The Go-Go’s played very well over at the Warfield and sounded pretty good despite some mixing issues by the sound team. This is now the third or fourth tour we’ve been to since they announced they were retiring in 2010. LOL.
I wrote fairly glowingly about the refreshed interior at Trad’r Sam after their surprise and ultimately short-lived temporary shuttering in the fall of 2023. The world’s oldest continuously operating tiki bar was quickly back in business including a decor upgrades and graffiti-free restrooms.
After our wonderful dinner at Tommy’s Mexican we walked a couple blocks up Geary to see how the ol’ Trad’r was doing. There weren’t a lot of people in there just past six, and we settled at a table for conversation over drink. Greg and Debbie had been here before dinner so went with Cokes and Julie and I scanned the menu for some cocktails we’d like to try.
I had a great experience with a Singapore Sling on a past visit, and decided to skip the Mai Tai made with apricot brandy, sweet and sour, and pineapple juice (but at least it wasn’t blended like the Zombie and Navy Grog are). The Sling was, well it was fine – but really sweet. Meanwhile Mrs. Mai Tai went with the Toasted Almond cocktail which is a frozen drink and thanks to being frozen tasted pretty great and not so sweet. Maybe a frozen Zombie isn’t a bad choice next time.
I’m sad to report the restroom has regressed. While the walls are white they’re now covered in graffiti that was pretty raunchy, expressing to customers that Trad’r Sam is still quite divey and likely will remain so forever. Nonetheless, I do enjoy my visits here to remind myself of the history that’s been in place for almost 90 years.
The winds of fate conspired to once again land us at the birthplace of a seminal local cocktail, after Greg and Debbie suggested checking out Tommy’s Mexican Restaurant in the Richmond District of San Francisco. This is the birthplace of the Tommy’s Margarita, which uses agave syrup rather than triple sec as the sweetener in the cocktail.
Greg smartly suggested arriving before opening so we were able to sit at the bar and talk to the bartender. Enrique is third generation member of the family that founded Tommy’s in 1965, and he walked us through the cocktail while preparing drinks and constantly juicing limes. All the staff were super friendly throughout our visit, talking about the history of the venue and showing us mementos and such.
The creator of the Tommy’s Margarita is Julio Bermejo, Enrique’s uncle, and it includes 2 parts of 100% agave tequila, 1 part fresh lime juice, and 1 part of agave syrup (equal parts agave nectar and water). The ingredients are measured in a blender and then shaken with plenty of cubed ice. The cocktail comes ungarnished and if you order a pitcher it makes four cocktails and you save a little off the cost.
This my friends is easy drinking right there! The Tommy’s Margarita was so simple yet had so much flavor that is perfectly balanced. The key is great tequila, but the ice is made with San Francisco water so would be hard to replicate exactly outside the City. And that lime juice is minutes fresh, not stored overnight or juiced hours before service, adding brightness that really makes a difference.
There’s a large selection of tequila here, and the restaurant claims to be the world’s best tequila bar. Enrique walked Greg through a recommended pour, and there’s a tequila club you can join if you visit on weekdays. We also ordered some food and found the dishes to be exemplary. The vibe at Tommy’s was really great, we’re bummed it took us this long to visit. But as they say, better late than never. We will return.
