After several disappointing date changes, the many postponings of the preview/practice run party night were worth it! This is summary of the highlights for Kenike, his lovely wife Eva, and me.
The Décor:
As Kenike’s photographs attest, the sealing of the doors since its closing saved this location from the ravages of senseless gutting suffered by so many tiki treasures. Instead, it seems pristine (not that I ever saw the original). There is nothing cheesy or non-fitting. Even the newly added entrance hallway seems original. Huge bamboo rafters & support poles and endless tapa cloth cover everything. There are also several nice old photos of Mr. Bergeron himself, as well as artists’ sketches of the original Suffering Bastard - and soon, a photograph of Kenike and me (as we were the only appropriately attired guests at this pre-opening party!!). The cocktail waitresses’ dresses were also very sharp: Chinese-inspired, and kind of sexy with being sleazy. Hats off to the musical choices, too. We heard only soft, island tunes. No Buffet.
The Drinks:
Starting with perfect Mai Tai’s (not too sweet, delicious murky-brown color), we worked our way through the traditional libations and one brand-new one: The Dallas Star. Although it is sweeter than I’d prefer, I shall nonetheless be getting one every time I go back; you get to keep the glass, which is only available in Dallas :wink: . Resembling the tapa cloth printed Mai Tai glass, this one is taller, slimmer and has a couple of stars in the tapa design, as well as the recipe printed in the design.
The Food:
Delicious. We started with fried calamari and jalapeno cheese poppers (very creamy-cheesy). Next came salads, Ahi Tuna Poke (which was fall-apart tender) and the perennial favorite: creamy spinach and oyster based Bongo Bongo soup. The last had Kenike moaning with pleasure. (“Orgasmic!” he wrote on the comment card.) Our entrees were melt-in-your-mouth sea bass, very tasty duck and chicken curry. Very pleasant surprises for me were the diverse mixture of greens and the Javanese dressing on the TV’s salad, plus the peanut butter, uh – dip? – for the flatbread. “-Er, peanut butter?” Eva feared Skippy and had to be coaxed into trying it; she was very glad she did. Think Thai, not Jif. Very addictive. Like we hadn’t eaten enough already. Oh, dessert. Because somehow we thought we could still stuff one more bite in our mouths a la Mr. Creosote, we ordered one order of fried banana fritters with vanilla bean ice cream. Although not as knee-weakening as the Bananas Foster at Northern Virginia’s now-departed Honolulu (sniff), the fritters were very good. I’d prefer more ice cream and less “cream” accompanying the bananas, but I’m not complaining.
The service:
Opening night jitters for the staff translated into bend-over-backwards service. Some had minimal experience, while others were well seasoned. But all were obviously excited to be a part of this historic event. I won’t expect such pampered catering on subsequent visits, but I’m happy with the tone set. Trader Vic’s Dallas wants to please. The bulk of the staff does not yet know the drink menu thoroughly, nor what drinks come in what mugs (something we tiki geeks all want to know), but I believe this will happen . After all, it takes time to drink the whole menu a few times through – enough to memorize all of them :wink:
Disco Trader Vic’s?:
The restaurant shares walls with the also-newly-refurbished Palomar Hotel. This means that when a fire alarm gets pulled in the hotel, it sounds in Trader Vic’s. Which it did. Which it has every night since they’ve been in there, according to the nervous but very eager-to-please staff. We did not have to evacuate at the alarm, but the strobe stayed on for a while. QUITE a while. It was a slow strobe, so the disco effects were minimal. Eva suggested lowering disco balls in front of each strobe to maximize them. I think they should echo the same giant clamshell light effect that’s on the walls; put smaller clamshells over the strobes. It will make them softer, while still emitting a pulsing light. Gently throbbing clams.
Special surprises:
Manager Rusty Fenton and Sven Koch, VP of US and German TV’s, took the two of us on a tour of the entire restaurant. I do mean, entire. As in, we went inside the tandoori ovens room (and came out deliciously smoky smelling). And through the kitchen (where saw the first ever female head TV’s chef). And after dessert, the biggest, BIGGEST treat of all. As in 15 or 20 feet tall big: we were led to the Top Secret location of the original giant Moai statue, still in a state of evolving repair. Since it will be displayed when finished, I suggest embedding a global positioning satellite chip to preclude any more mystery disappearances. It was extremely gratifying to see that the management finds it important to not only have an outstanding 4-Star restaurant, but also to maintain the traditions that make people like us go out of our way to patronize (and emulate in our homes!) places such as Trader Vic’s.
Looking forward to Destin, now.
Did we mention that several more Trader Vic’s are in the works? :wink:
