Post #160628 by Kukoae on Sat, May 21, 2005 6:26 PM

My mailman had many happy gifts for me today, including a nice hardcover edition (pricey!) of Sven's The Book of Tiki and Beachbum's three food+drink books.

Hats off to Berry for his excellent research into the food and drink of a cultural movement I was alas too young to properly experience (the drink part at least).

I wonder if "Pu Pu Platters" can still be gotten without resorting to the ebay ripoff scene. I rather like the idea of little iron hibachis, even for non-Tiki purposes.

Paging through the recipes, I'm also reminded of a "Hawai'ian Teriyaki" sauce [I am fully au fait with genuine teriyaki, which is made on the spot with mirin and japanese soy sauce as opposed to the heavier/cloudy chinese soys.] This soy sauce had some ginger in it, and was often served as a "dipping" sauce for grilled filet mignon steaks at period steakhouses (non-Tiki) like "Chuck's Steak House" in my home state of Connecticut [the Farmington location in particular], which appears to be still open.

Anyway... I guess it's too much to hope for that there are actually any places still SERVING this kind of food. Trader Vic's in Beverly Hills looks too "Hollywood Beautiful People" for such "tacky" cuisines. :/ It's a pity, really, because LA seems to be big enough to retain alot of "evil food" trend resistance... Phillipe's and Philip's, Roscoe's, Woody's, Pink's, et al seem resilient in the face of tofu hot dogs, chicken sausage, and turkey bacon.

Any SoCal'ers know of a little retro-hidey-hole that dares to serve Tiki/Faux-Polynesian food?

Mahalo,
=Kukoae=