Tag: SanJose

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Pilo Pilo Recipe

Each Trader Vic’s location has a signature cocktail that initially is available only at that location, though sometimes these cocktails come to other Trader Vic’s locations. This is a really great perk for those who seek out and visit the various Vic’s locations, and these cocktails are chosen with great care because the team a Trader Vic’s know they have to good.

Signature cocktail examples:

  • E’Ville Ewa, Emeryville
  • Munich Sour, Munich
  • Peachtree Punch, Atlanta

The signature cocktail at the Trader Vic’s location at the San Jose International Airport is the Pilo Pilo. This cocktail uses two juices, two sweeteners, and three rums and comes in a mug that’s exclusive to the San Jose location as well (the mug is also available on the Trader Vic’s website).

The cocktail was developed by Daniel Velize and the recipe was shared a couple years ago at Tiki Oasis by Eve Bergeron. Notably, it’s a cocktail that uses the top-secret Navy Grog Mix syrup that  is available for purchase on the Trader Vic’s online store.

Pilo Pilo by Daniel Velize
1 oz Lemon Juice
¾ oz Lime Juice
¾ oz Trader Vic’s Passion Fruit Syrup
¾ oz Trader Vic’s Navy Grog Mix
½ oz Trader Vic’s Spiced Rum
¾ oz Trader Vic’s Dark Rum
¾ oz Trader Vic’s 151-Proof Rum
Shake with ice, garnish with three cherries and a spent lime shell.

I really liked this cocktail when I tried it a couple weeks ago before my flight to Seattle, and the blend of three rums really worked for me. I found it to be well balanced, despite all that citrus too.

The World’s Best Airport Bar
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Dr. Funk’s Rum Asylum Level II Complete

We had a great time at the quarterly Rum Asylum rum club meeting at Dr. Funk on Sunday. Dr. Funk has been building their momentum with these quarterly Sunday meetings, where each meeting includes a rum brand with tasting and education, plus recognition for rum club milestones.

The featured rum brand this time was Hamilton, with Ed Hamilton himself speaking to the assembled masses and walking us through a bunch of Hamilton rum expressions. Ed is always an entertaining speaker and it never hurts to have some of his greatest hits to taste, including the Breezeway blend and my favorite Jamaican Pot Still Blonde. We also got to try the new Café Carib coffee liqueur that was really delicious. A featured cocktail called the Crimson Castaway featured a triple berry shrub and was fantastic.

By completing Level II: Deleri-Rum, I received a Dr. Funk asylum pin as well as this very nice pith helmet. Yes, another funny hat for completing a rum list! Level II featured over sixty rums from Dr. Funk’s vast collection, including some rare rums that are truly special. My last one was completed a couple days before and was Cadenhead Trinidad 18 which was really great.

The next quarterly Rum Asylum meetup is June 28.

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Alter Ego: San Jose’s Best Speakeasy

We’ve had two great experiences at Alter Ego recently so wanted to highlight the excellent cocktail and food program. Located in the back of Still OG on First Street, Alter Ego has a lounge feel and features a cuisine oriented cocktail program featuring Japanese flavors in many items, along with sometimes elaborate garnishes.

The food menu has been recently revamped to provide less expensive options with larger portions, though thankfully the deliciously seasoned Bread and Butter remains. I really enjoyed the amazing new Sizzling Cheeseburger which is simply made but served over a hot plate of melted cheese, while Mrs. Mai Tai enjoyed the Cold Soba Noodles.

The cocktails at Alter Ego are easily the best in the city, incorporating a variety of spirts and using a host of different and interesting ingredients. Easy Tiger will appeal to tiki fans with its two rums and rich walnut flavors and I also enjoyed the foamy Asteroid Blues served in a bubble glass with an astronaut figure. We both were super impressed by the Busters & Babs, a clarified cocktail for two that has delicious baking spice notes. Mrs Mai Tai enjoyed the melon flavors of Silk Road Project and she absolutely loved the Proxima Vida which pairs smoky Mezcal with actual smoke, which I also found the flavors to be complimentary and very approachable.

Busters & Babs

The vibe inside Alter Ego is refined, but our dealings with the staff are anything but pretentious. The team take their craft seriously but they’re accommodating and friendly. Music inside is a mix of dancy hip-hop but the volume’s perfect for conversations, with the dimly lit space that’s walled off from the outside world making it a true retreat. A reservation is usually required most nights, though there’s often room at opening. We think that Alter Ego is San Jose’s best speakeasy experience.

Asteroid Blues, Easy Tiger, and Silk Road Project

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The Crush of NVIDIA GTC

Wednesday night found us at Dr. Funk in downtown San Jose for dinner, cocktails, and a few more rums for my final push to complete level II of Dr. Funk’s Rum Asylum list.

We immediately sensed the energy of San Pedro Square with a crush of people filling every bar and restaurant in the area, due to the attendees of the NVIDIA GTC (GPU Technology Conference). Luckily, the crew found us a booth inside and Riley and I both had excellent cheeseburgers while we watched the decidedly uncommon crowd pack the patio and interior of San Jose’s best tiki bar. So many lanyards and backpacks and a couple people even doing laptop work with their Mai Tais. Shhh, don’t tell the office back home.

Foursquare Rums

I’m getting to the end of my Level II list, and most of the remaining rums are top shelf items, so I made a concerted effort to savor the pairing of excellent Barbados rums from Foursquare – the 2010 vintage and Isonomy. After Riley polished off a Dr. Funk Mai Tai we shared a really crisp and delicious daiquiri with the limited edition Ron Superior De Bacardi Y Cia from Mexico, supposedly more like the old Bacardis used to taste like.

The Dr. Funk crew have had quite a week, given the weekend’s St. Patrick’s Day revelry, corporate buy-outs, and a true crush of customers on our visit Wednesday. It was basically all hands on deck and we saw the crew really working well together. Our sever Michelle did an especially stellar job.

Just a few more rums to go ahead of Sunday’s quarterly Rum Asylum meeting.

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Kenneth’s Mai Tai at Dr. Funk

Dr. Funk has a special cocktail menu to celebrate the regional premiere of Pulitzer Prize-winning Primary Trust, showing at the Lucie Stern theater in Palo Alto through March 29. The special menu featuring two cocktails also runs through the 29th, with ticket holders getting a $3 discount.

Primary Trust is humorous and emotional tale written by Eboni Booth and features a bookstore clerk named Kenneth who spends his nights at a local tiki bar. The plot turns when unemployment jolts Kenneth and requires him to face new life challenges.

For this menu, the team at Dr. Funk aren’t merely renaming existing menu items. We were drawn to Kenneth’s Mai Tai which features some funky rums that are different from Dr. Funk’s standard issue. Featuring The Funk, Coruba, and La Favorite Agricole, this Mai Tai is incredibly balanced and features just a touch of grassy and savory flavors that add complexity to the cocktail that you’ll definitely want to take your time with.

Kenneth’s Mai Tai
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Rock Candy Mystery Solved

Our trip to Vegas started at the San Jose Airport with some dinner and drinks at the Trader Vic’s Outpost. Our flight was delayed two hours so this wasn’t a bad place to spend some time (and turned out to be our only tiki bar visit that night due to the delay). Following Atlanta and Emeryville, this was our third Trader Vic’s location in 27 days – all on U.S. soil with three other stateside locations in development in Kona, West Hollywood, and Oakland Airport.

Navy Grog

The Mai Tai was good here as usual, as was the poke bowl. I decided to go a little off script by ordering a Navy Grog for the first time in forever. I like my Navy Grogs a little sweeter, so asked for extra Grog Mix syrup and it was really delicious and had a rich mouthfeel.

There’s some sort of story that the rock candy stick that comes with the Trader Vic’s Navy Grog can use used to sweeten the drink. Well, I stirred that thing for five minutes straight and it didn’t dissolve any appreciable amount. The reason Vic’s uses a rock candy stick for a garnish is because it takes five seconds to prepare vs. the Don the Beachcomber traditional ice cone garnish which takes considerably longer. But from several feet away they have the same sort of look. That tricky Trader!

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Chance Encounter at Dr. Funk

This was the one drink on Dr. Funk‘s special February cocktail menu that I didn’t try, so decided to give it a spin in between rum tastings.

Chance Encounter includes strawberry-infused cachaça, Chinese grain spirit, vermouth, a sparkling apéritif, and lemon juice. Thanks to the bubbles this does drink a little lighter in body, with that vermouth and infused cachaça providing some atypical flavors for San Jose’s best tiki bar.

I thought it was pretty good, meaning that this themed menu is among the best that Dr. Funk has done over the past 18 months. You can catch Fortune X Romance at Dr. Funk now through February 22.