Don The Beachcomber

I started to really think about which tiki bar I would talk about first. I think it’s only appropriate to start with the classics!

Stop #1 on my tiki journey is a little spot on the Pacific Coast Highway named Don The Beachcomber. A friendly place that is usually quiet during the day but definitely picks up at night. The origins of the restaurant can be found here Don the Beachcomber Wiki. This location actually has been there since the 20s but was originally called "Sam's Seafood"; it changed titles for about a year and was known as "Kona" before recently joining the Beachcomber Chain. The service is great with just about everyone checking in with you to make sure everything is all right. There are 2 parts of the location. One part is a restaurant room and the other part is the actual bar. They also have 2 banquet rooms for social events. 

The tie this company has to the Mai Tai is a long one. While Don had claimed he invented the Mai Tai, a certain fellow restaunteur by the name of Trader Vic claimed he was the one who created this tiki staple. They were friendly enemies throughout their careers. According to the Bartending wiki this is as close to the original Don The Beachcomber's recipe as it gets:

Don the Beachcomber Mai Tai

This version is much closer to what Don the Beachcomber served in his restaurants. It can be garnished with various fruits, as in the above recipe. Falernum is flavored Caribbean syrup with a very different taste from the Orgeat syrup used in the Maitai #1.

Ingredients

·       2 oz (or 1/4 cup) water

·       3/4 oz or 1-1/2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

·       1 oz or 2 tablespoons fresh grapefruit juice

·       1 oz or 2 tablespoons sugar syrup

·       1 oz or 2 tablespoons dark rum

·       1-1/2 oz or 3 tablespoons golden rum

·       1/2 oz or 1 tablespoon Cointreau or triple Sec

·       1/4 oz or 1/2 tablespoon Falernum syrup

·       2 dashes or scant 1/2 teaspoon Angostura bitters

·       1 dash or scant 1/4 teaspoon Pernod or other anisette-flavored pastis

Shake all the ingredients in a shaker with ice and strain into a tall highball glass filled with crushed ice. Garnish with fruits and serve with a straw.

Of course I’m sure the recipe is much different. I don’t really care for whoever invented it first but as you can see there are quite a few ingredients that go into this drink. Because there are so many different versions of the Mai Tai recipe for me it is about finding the recipe that creates the most balance. The drink is also very sweet. Upon my first visit, I ordered a Mai Tai and what stood out to me the most is the initial bitter flavor from the grapefruit. After... I felt maybe my drink was a little too sweet and bitter for my liking. I will always say that the Trader Vic's Mai Tai is the best I have ever had until I find a better one. My trip was not wasted - I love the laid back atmosphere of the midday crowd and its perfect for those days when you just want to take a long lunch and have some cocktails. 

Unfortunately for my wallet, whenever I go to a tiki restaurant I can't just have one drink! I had 3 other drinks on other visits while I was there and I have to say their Jungle Jetsetter is simply delicious. This is another sweet drink but to me has the after taste of cherry juice that is refreshing. I also like to pair it with the pulled pork and sweet potato fries.

Another tiki ritual is the mug it comes in! On my last visit I went up to the bar and saw the barrel. Now there is a drink called the Barrel but I wanted my last drink of the day to be something I was familiar with. I ordered the barrel with the Don's improved Hurricane. The drink was pretty good. Any alcohol was barely tasted but that didn’t matter because I got my drink in a barrel. 

Check out my pics and if you are in the SoCal area I highly suggest this restaurant. I can do without their mai tai but they have delicious drinks that will definitely make up for that. I have also had the scorpion and the vicious virgin. The scorpion definitely packs a punch where the vicious virgin just maybe a weaker version of it.    

Drink Menu

Vicious Virgin

Orchid in the Hurricane

Jungle Jetsetter on a good Friday

There's nought no doubt so much the spirit calms in rum and true religion.

Random Performances

Inside the bar

Pulled Pork sandwich

Empty drink fatalities

Main dining room

Waterfalls

Alright well 1 down and how many more to go?

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everyone!


I feel like Saint Patricks Day was just yesterday! It was wasn't it? Well Easter has come very early this year and so I thought I'd share a simple Easter drink with you! Ok so when I began researching Easter drinks, there was allot of Peep, Skittle, Jellybelly infused vodka recipes and quite honestly I just don't care for vodka and marshmellows together :) plus to literally infuse something like that actually takes planning. While I do plan, I just like to make simple drinks that require little effort. Unless someone is making a drink for me then well, whatever you want to make me please do! This year I really tried to think of what would be a tropical easter drink? I finally thought of one and luckily there are plenty of easy recipes for it. This year I chose a chocolate banana drink. My husband asked me what chocolate bananas and tikis even had to do with eachother and my answer, even though I was reaching for one, was this "chocolate is for Easter and there are a lot of bananas in tropic islands"

This recipe I got was one of the simplest I had seen. Its actually been a pretty busy week so we didnt really have time to do a lot of shopping but we literally pulled up into the parking lot of Bevmo at 8:57 and begged the guy who was closing the doors to please let us in since it was not technically 9 pm and he was nice enough to do so. See! thank goodness it was a simple recipe I knew exactly what I needed and where I needed to find it. I know the layout of Bevmo pretty well and I should really put that on my resume! Just Kidding. About the resume part. Anyways, This recipe I found was from Idrink.com its extremely easy and very yummy! here ya go:

1.25 oz Banana Liqueur
1.25 oz Creme de Cacao
     1 oz Milk

Shake, pour over ice, add peep for easter garnish and voila!

Happy St Patricks Day!

Happy Saint Patricks Day everyone! I hope everyone is enjoying their green themed everything and I hope the touchy feely people are enjoying being able to freely pinch people who aren't wearing green ;)

I could lie and tell you I made this amazing green tropical drink to celebrate this holiday but who am I kidding? Just up until yesterday I thought it was still February! So I give you the lazy man's green zombie!

I used Bacardi's pre mixed Zombie and used yellow food coloring. Voila! Husband is enjoying an old fashioned. It's his staple. Enjoy the holiday everyone!

Happy Birthday Don Beach

Happy Birthday to one of the Tiki legends!! I promised I wouldn't blog daily so I'll just leave you guys with a picture and a link to Wikipedia ;)

Don The Beachcomber personal Wiki

P.S. Don't worry I plan on celebrating this weekend!

The newest additions to my Tiki glass family!

It was actually just about the same time 4 years ago I acquired my first tiki glass. I really do remember it like it was yesterday. We were in Clovis, California for my husband's (we were not even engaged then!) uncle's funeral. We decided to get something to eat before we headed over since we spent all morning getting ready and didn't want to go on a empty stomach. We finally decided on a little place called Red Robin. I read the menu and saw a Mai Tai on there so you know I had to order it. I really do believe in love at first sight and thats exactly what happened when I saw this cup! I couldnt leave without it.

Love at first sight! taken on February 20th 2009!

Flash forward to four years later and that cup is one of my most prized possessions, it's seen as my good luck cup! I had a ex-college roommate over for dinner last night and she gifted me four more of these precious beauties!

While I can't disclose where or how she got them I can say this, I was more then thrilled to add these to my collection! Thinking of getting your own? Of course there are places online where you buy them but if you are out and about, restaurants like Red Robin and other tiki places might be a good place to ask!

I happen to know for a fact that places like Trader Sam's also sells them for their Mai Tai drinks. You will see them on the menu as a "HippopotoMai-Tai" As seen in this next pic from when I was out with a friend :)

Don't have a restaurant or bar near by? No worries! Just google "tiki two face mug" (thats how I searched for it). A couple of listings will come up like this:

Found in this etsy shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/gatormom13

Source: etsy.com via Tiki on Pinterest

The Todo List

Well, here it is! This is a VERY rough draft of the first list I have made. I didn't include counties like the Inland Empire or Santa Barbara ish.  San Diego and Los Angeles offer a wide array of TIKI services and restaurants - as they come and go I will definitely be making upgrades to the list! I definitely want to start with Orange County first since that is the most familiar county to me. I must admit I have already been to some but a second or 14th visit wouldnt hurt right? ;)

Behind the search

Before I began to write this blog I was presented with the idea of the 30 things to do before turning 30. Being 26 almost 27 I thought this was a great idea to kick start some of those opportunities that you might otherwise put off. Since I'm a notorious procrastinator I thought this would be a better push for me since who knows how long I might put off a bucket list. It was honestly hard to come up with things I wanted to do before I turned 30. Up until I was 23 my only life long goals in life were to go to Walt Disney world, move to California and work for Disneyland. Well now I've done all of that plus more! So now what?

As long as I could remember I LOVED Hawaii. I was so fascinated by the idea of this mystical island in the middle of the ocean. That has somehow led me into a tiki obsession. Even though the Hawaiian and American versions of the word "tiki" are completely different I love everything about both interpretations! So of course when I was coming up with my before 30 list I knew that HAD to be apart it. My new goal before 30 is to visit every tiki bar in the SoCal region. With the exceptions of Las Vegas since that's where we most frequent. Even places I have been before I will go again. I have compiled a list of tiki bars and restaurants and will continue to edit them as I complete them and along the way we will discuss everything tiki. To tiki gatherings, music and mugs.