Dallas, Don The Beachcomber - General Tiki

K Kenike Tiki Socialite McKinney, TX Joined: Jul 24, 2003 Posts: 1207	K Kenike Posted posted on Fri, Apr 6, 2007 10:01 AM On 2007-04-04 19:18, CallDon wrote: BTW, I went down to the new Trader Vics. After looking at the rather pricy menu, I don't remember DTB being that expensive for that time. How were the prices relative to the $30 entres that TV's has?? Never having eaten at Don's, hard to say how the two would compare now. I know that these days Trader Vic's is geared more toward an upscale clientele...meaning more toward people willing to spend that kind of money and not your casual diner (I usually only do drinks and an appetizer). Who was Don's target customer? Judging by what I've read, they were geared more toward casual dining but I could be wrong. As far as why Don's closed, not really sure. I know that they opened at the worst possible time for those types of Polynesian restaurants. It had to be hugely unprofitable to have only lasted 8 years. The Dallas Morning News archives are not available between 1977 and 1983 so if there was anything in the paper about it I can't get access to it. Repeated calls to the Dallas Morning News have gotten me nowhere. I figured out the year they closed by going through old telephone directories. On 2007-04-04 20:23, bigbrotiki wrote: Kenike, do you know HOW MANY Don B's had that "organic" architecture? I would love to know. Not a clue, bigbro. I thought YOU would be the one to ask, ha ha. I love that rendering of Don's and the one pictured in BOT is fantastic. For what it's worth, here's the only pic I've been able to find of the Dallas location. This is without spending hours in Photoshop trying to fix it up.

On 2007-04-04 19:18, CallDon wrote:
BTW, I went down to the new Trader Vics. After looking at the rather pricy menu, I don't remember DTB being that expensive for that time. How were the prices relative to the $30 entres that TV's has??

Never having eaten at Don's, hard to say how the two would compare now. I know that these days Trader Vic's is geared more toward an upscale clientele...meaning more toward people willing to spend that kind of money and not your casual diner (I usually only do drinks and an appetizer). Who was Don's target customer? Judging by what I've read, they were geared more toward casual dining but I could be wrong.

As far as why Don's closed, not really sure. I know that they opened at the worst possible time for those types of Polynesian restaurants. It had to be hugely unprofitable to have only lasted 8 years. The Dallas Morning News archives are not available between 1977 and 1983 so if there was anything in the paper about it I can't get access to it. Repeated calls to the Dallas Morning News have gotten me nowhere. I figured out the year they closed by going through old telephone directories.

On 2007-04-04 20:23, bigbrotiki wrote:
Kenike, do you know HOW MANY Don B's had that "organic" architecture? I would love to know.

Not a clue, bigbro. I thought YOU would be the one to ask, ha ha. I love that rendering of Don's and the one pictured in BOT is fantastic. For what it's worth, here's the only pic I've been able to find of the Dallas location. This is without spending hours in Photoshop trying to fix it up.

Post #297281 by Kenike on Fri, Apr 6, 2007 10:01 AM