The Reef, Boise, ID (restaurant) - Locating Tiki

S Sneakytiki Tiki Socialite Boise, Idaho Joined: Mar 31, 2003 Posts: 1795	S Sneakytiki Posted posted on Fri, Jul 23, 2004 1:08 PM Name:The Reef Type:restaurant Street:6th and Main City:Boise State:Idaho Zip:8370? country:USA Phone:208-? Status:operational Description: The Reef, a bar and restaurant, is located on the corner of 6th and Main in downtown Boise, Idaho. The owner is Dave Crick (Spelling)?? He is also the owner of a piano bar called the Red Feather Lounge and Bitter Creek Ale House. Upon entering the ground floor stairwell, one is greeted by a large Hawaiian style tiki of faux stone/stone and a split bamboo pole interior with cork and hardwood flooring. The establishment is on the 2nd floor and peering upward, one sees a gigantic and beautiful blown art glass sculpture hanging down 30 feet or so from the upper story ceiling. It is in shades of ocean blue and bright organic, jellyfish like shapes form a huge tranluscent diorama. Now that you’ve ascended the stairs you notice the host podium is a split bamboo and formica home tiki bar. Gazing upward one sees humanoid stacked Melanesian figural poles at approximately 7 feet high which appear to be of Asmat region origin. Then behind these are 2 large Asmat region canoes with figures seated in them, one is quite large and probably 10 feet in length. There is a long bamboo and thatch roofed bar in the center of the main room. The ceiling of the restaurant is an exposed hard wood rafter roof. The Reef has bamboo pole walls, Indonesian masks, tropical plants and furniture of teak and other woods made specifically for the restaraunt in a village in Indonesia. There is a large well lit stage at one end of the great room and a semi enclosed area at the other. Many masks of Melanesian and ? origin greet the wandering eye along with wooden lizards and toucans. Outside there is a large round thatch and bamboo tiki hut over a large circular resin bar which is inlaid with seashells. The outdoor area overlooks a historic and scenic view of the city. The walls outside are of huge 12-15 foot whole bamboo poles and encircle a village of mini thatch tiki huts over tables that are reminiscent of the interior of San Fran’s Tonga Room. There is a single surfboard hanging from the wall. There are also many plants outside. There is a row of huge gas powered tiki torches on the outside wall facing the street. The visual aspect of this restaurant is one which I would give an A-. It’s just not quite dense enough for the purist and could use a few additional Polynesian type pieces. The Indonesian masks I can take or leave and there is some exposed brick which is a bit out of place but actually works fairly well. The cuisine is equatorial fusion. The chef is Argentinian and dishes are heavy on Cuban, Mexican and Latin American influences and far too short on Chinese American, pineapple pseudo poly pop pu-pu for any tiki old skool purist. This was only the lunch menu that I had a chance to peruse and sample so I’ll have to return later for a dinner review. The Banana wrapped pork pibil and other pork dishes are lunch favorites and combine Polynesian and Latin American influences. In short, the food was excellent but not old skool tiki. This did not bother me much as the interior more than made up for it. So too did the drinks, not a lot of precise old skool tiki drinks here but there were original recipies which were inspired by them. Case in point, the Lava Flow, which, like other drinks comes served in a gored out pineapple and is made like all of the Reef drinks with juice that is freshly pressed daily and sugar cane which is pressed every morning on location at the Reef. I believe this to be the only bar, anywhere, doing this with the sugar cane. My drink consisted of Rum, pineapple juice, Coco Lopez, fresh strawberry puree’ and was served in a pineapple and garnished with an orange wheel, cherry and an orchid. Many cool points for the drinks. If anyone is interested I can elaborate further on the alcoholic beverages but suffice it to say, presentation and taste were outstanding and many concoctions worthy of an old skool tiki imbiber’s pallette were available. Alas, the music, Buffet, reggae, surf guitar and more Buffet. The other stuff I didn’t mind so much but 2 out of every 3 songs were Buffet. Hell, I wouldn’t even mind the Buffet much if it wasn’t the majority of the tuneage. In a welcome pamphlet, which very well could have been written by the Argentinian chef due to the extremely poor use of English, there was a lot of talk of trying to cast a spell like Martin Denny and quotes of Denny album titles. Only get this, they called him Denny Martin. So the guy’s not good with English and he gets this wrong too. My girlfriend said maybe they are going for pidgin, but if they were it didn’t come close. Anyways it seems like they were trying to get it right but are guilty of ignorance of tiki culture, namely cuisine and music. The Denny comment, however dyslexic, did give me hope of redemption. I plan to write a complimentary letter to the owners and managers and politically slip in a few reminders of proper or traditional tiki tunes and say how wonderful it would be to hear those Denny records they spoke of so fondly. Perhaps I’ll request more poly-pu pu cuisine as well. Lastly dessert, We split a dish calle “Dia El la Playa” (a day at the beach). It consisted of dots of curry on the plate surrounding starfish shaped nougat and a meringue starfish that were living on coral made of fresh frozen prickly pear sorbet and mexican chocolate. When I ate this there was a whole party of tropical fruit flavors in my mouth. It was like Skittles were supposed to be and yet never were. So all in all not a purist paradise, but definitely worthy of a visit for anyone interested in tiki décor, architecture and drinks. Aloha Sneaky Update: I've been back to the Reef for dinner since my last posting and had a Mai Tai in a pineapple made with 18 yr. Appleton estate rum and this time the atmosphere was AWESOME!! There was a Polynesian group playing guitar and ukulele to old hawaiian standards and there were male and female vocalists and plenty of women and little girl dancers. Most of the Polynesian community in town seemed to be there and we had the front center table against the stage. This time I took many pictures of the canoes hanging from the ceiling, outside huts and lit torches etc... I'll be posting these soon. Mahalo Sneakytiki [ Edited by: Sneakytiki on 2004-07-23 13:15 ] Edited by Sabu to add City, State, to subject line [ Edited by: Sabu The Coconut Boy on 2004-07-26 11:19 ]

Name:The Reef
Type:restaurant
Street:6th and Main
City:Boise
State:Idaho
Zip:8370?
country:USA
Phone:208-?
Status:operational

Description:
The Reef, a bar and restaurant, is located on the corner of 6th and Main in downtown Boise, Idaho.
The owner is Dave Crick (Spelling)?? He is also the owner of a piano bar called the Red Feather Lounge and Bitter Creek Ale House. Upon entering the ground floor stairwell, one is greeted by a large Hawaiian style tiki of faux stone/stone and a split bamboo pole interior with cork and hardwood flooring. The establishment is on the 2nd floor and peering upward, one sees a gigantic and beautiful blown art glass sculpture hanging down 30 feet or so from the upper story ceiling. It is in shades of ocean blue and bright organic, jellyfish like shapes form a huge tranluscent diorama. Now that you’ve ascended the stairs you notice the host podium is a split bamboo and formica home tiki bar. Gazing upward one sees humanoid stacked Melanesian figural poles at approximately 7 feet high which appear to be of Asmat region origin. Then behind these are 2 large Asmat region canoes with figures seated in them, one is quite large and probably 10 feet in length. There is a long bamboo and thatch roofed bar in the center of the main room. The ceiling of the restaurant is an exposed hard wood rafter roof. The Reef has bamboo pole walls, Indonesian masks, tropical plants and furniture of teak and other woods made specifically for the restaraunt in a village in Indonesia. There is a large well lit stage at one end of the great room and a semi enclosed area at the other. Many masks of Melanesian and ? origin greet the wandering eye along with wooden lizards and toucans. Outside there is a large round thatch and bamboo tiki hut over a large circular resin bar which is inlaid with seashells. The outdoor area overlooks a historic and scenic view of the city. The walls outside are of huge 12-15 foot whole bamboo poles and encircle a village of mini thatch tiki huts over tables that are reminiscent of the interior of San Fran’s Tonga Room. There is a single surfboard hanging from the wall. There are also many plants outside. There is a row of huge gas powered tiki torches on the outside wall facing the street.
The visual aspect of this restaurant is one which I would give an A-. It’s just not quite dense enough for the purist and could use a few additional Polynesian type pieces. The Indonesian masks I can take or leave and there is some exposed brick which is a bit out of place but actually works fairly well.
The cuisine is equatorial fusion. The chef is Argentinian and dishes are heavy on Cuban, Mexican and Latin American influences and far too short on Chinese American, pineapple pseudo poly pop pu-pu for any tiki old skool purist. This was only the lunch menu that I had a chance to peruse and sample so I’ll have to return later for a dinner review. The Banana wrapped pork pibil and other pork dishes are lunch favorites and combine Polynesian and Latin American influences. In short, the food was excellent but not old skool tiki. This did not bother me much as the interior more than made up for it. So too did the drinks, not a lot of precise old skool tiki drinks here but there were original recipies which were inspired by them. Case in point, the Lava Flow, which, like other drinks comes served in a gored out pineapple and is made like all of the Reef drinks with juice that is freshly pressed daily and sugar cane which is pressed every morning on location at the Reef. I believe this to be the only bar, anywhere, doing this with the sugar cane. My drink consisted of Rum, pineapple juice, Coco Lopez, fresh strawberry puree’ and was served in a pineapple and garnished with an orange wheel, cherry and an orchid. Many cool points for the drinks. If anyone is interested I can elaborate further on the alcoholic beverages but suffice it to say, presentation and taste were outstanding and many concoctions worthy of an old skool tiki imbiber’s pallette were available.

Alas, the music, Buffet, reggae, surf guitar and more Buffet. The other stuff I didn’t mind so much but 2 out of every 3 songs were Buffet. Hell, I wouldn’t even mind the Buffet much if it wasn’t the majority of the tuneage. In a welcome pamphlet, which very well could have been written by the Argentinian chef due to the extremely poor use of English, there was a lot of talk of trying to cast a spell like Martin Denny and quotes of Denny album titles. Only get this, they called him Denny Martin. So the guy’s not good with English and he gets this wrong too. My girlfriend said maybe they are going for pidgin, but if they were it didn’t come close. Anyways it seems like they were trying to get it right but are guilty of ignorance of tiki culture, namely cuisine and music. The Denny comment, however dyslexic, did give me hope of redemption. I plan to write a complimentary letter to the owners and managers and politically slip in a few reminders of proper or traditional tiki tunes and say how wonderful it would be to hear those Denny records they spoke of so fondly. Perhaps I’ll request more poly-pu pu cuisine as well.

Lastly dessert, We split a dish calle “Dia El la Playa” (a day at the beach). It consisted of dots of curry on the plate surrounding starfish shaped nougat and a meringue starfish that were living on coral made of fresh frozen prickly pear sorbet and mexican chocolate. When I ate this there was a whole party of tropical fruit flavors in my mouth. It was like Skittles were supposed to be and yet never were.
So all in all not a purist paradise, but definitely worthy of a visit for anyone interested in tiki décor, architecture and drinks.
Aloha
Sneaky

Update:
I've been back to the Reef for dinner since my last posting and had a Mai Tai in a pineapple made with 18 yr. Appleton estate rum and this time the atmosphere was AWESOME!! There was a Polynesian group playing guitar and ukulele to old hawaiian standards and there were male and female vocalists and plenty of women and little girl dancers. Most of the Polynesian community in town seemed to be there and we had the front center table against the stage. This time I took many pictures of the canoes hanging from the ceiling, outside huts and lit torches etc... I'll be posting these soon.
Mahalo
Sneakytiki

[ Edited by: Sneakytiki on 2004-07-23 13:15 ]

Edited by Sabu to add City, State, to subject line

[ Edited by: Sabu The Coconut Boy on 2004-07-26 11:19 ]

Post #103687 by Sneakytiki on Fri, Jul 23, 2004 1:08 PM