Post #239546 by MrBaliHai on Sun, Jun 25, 2006 7:00 AM

MrsBaliHai and I just spent 3 nights at the Venetian, and I made a point of stopping at the China Bar for one of their advertised "Don the Beachcomber" cocktails. The bartender was MIA, he'd gone hunting for a donut fix, so we sat there for a few minutes and contemplated the sad fate of Taboo Cove. When the barkeep came back (with Krispy Kreme smeared all over his lips), he informed us that the cook for the new off-strip Beachcombers had gone AWOL with the drink recipe book, but that he would try to make us something. My red danger flags went sailing up the pole hearing that, but I ordered a Mai Tai anyway.

Despite the fact that the bar was loaded with top-shelf rums, he proceeded to mix my Mai Tai with Cruzan Mango Rum and sweet/sour mix with a floater of Myers Dark on top, no limes were in evidence. The result was pretty sweet for my tastes. I struck up a conversation with him about sweet vs. sour mixology, and he told me that the China Bar owner was "modifying" the original Beachcomber recipes to make them more palatable to modern tastes (i.e. the fratboys and sorority chicks who were roaming the Venetian in swimtrunks and hooting at the top of their lungs), by, among other things, eliminating the Pernod that Don used in many of his recipes. Having had many a drink ruined by too much Pernod, I couldn't blame them too much, but getting rid of lime and lemon juice, just shows a basic misunderstanding of mixology to me.

He also told me that the owner was in litigation with the current owners of the Beachcombers in Hawaii over the copyright of the name. He claimed that the China Bar owner has actually purchased the trademark. Apparently, China Bar is up for sale, and the owner intends to break ground for the new Beachcomber as soon as the deal closes. I didn't know whether to be excited or not, because it sounds like it's probably going to be another Mickie Finnz-style surfer bar with a few random tikis tossed in. I hope I'm wrong.