Bali Hai Supper Club, Maplewood, MN (restaurant)

Name:Bali Hai Supper Club
Type:restaurant
Street:2305 White Bear Ave N
City:Maplewood
State:MN
Zip:55109
country:USA
Phone:777-5500
Status:defunct

Description:
While surfing the Web the other day, I learned that at one time there was a Polynesian restaurant/Tiki bar in Maplewood, MN called the Bali Hai Supper Club. As best as I can tell, it opened in 1976 and closed in 2000. The building was subsequently torn down and now a wireless phone store stands in its place.

A local restaurant critic, Dara Moskowitz, reviewed the Bali Hai for The City Pages, a local weekly. The City Pages also gave the Best Cocktails (Paper-Umbrella Division) award to the Bali Hai in its Best of the Twin Cities 1998 edition.

[ Edited by: Scott McGerik 2007-07-13 06:53 ]

The Bali Hai was a great time. I miss it very much. They had a great band that played every weekend. They played mostly standard polynesian songs. Someone in the crowd always requested Tiny Bubbles. You could tell they were tired of playing it but they still did. They also had a couple hula girls performing along with the band. I'll never forget the drunken nights getting on stage to get some hula lessons. The drinks were fun but not very strong. A large selection of classics. The volcano bowls were always a good choice. Although I always managed to spill my drink in my lap from the straw. I remember going there one night with a friend and the parking lot was empty with a sign on the door that said "closed for remodeling". They never reopened.

Here are some images from the Bali Hai Supper Club menu that I tried for on ebay.

I was trying to figure out where the Tiki figure came from so I consulted the Arts of the South Seas bible on carving. The closest I could come were these two carvings from New Caledonia.

Any other guesses or closer examples of the art form?

DC