Post #327879 by midnite on Fri, Aug 24, 2007 12:00 AM

Arizona 2007

Hey, did somebody step on a duck?

At one point in my addled existence I rather proficiently chased a wee ball around the verdant fairways of Southern California and Arizona. However, those were the old days when I used to could. Now, I chase club sandwiches with a tropical beverage chaser. Still, I hate to have a year go by with no golf. So, I winged it down Phoenix way to play, or at least fake my way through, a few holes. Word to the wise: If you break a window with a solidly hit but otherwise errant shot the homeowner must witness you doing the deed to assert your liability. Who, me?

Lordy, it's hot down here! Too hot. Anywho, my game is mucho grande rusty so let's grab some lunch at the 19th hole (the only one I parred). Lunch at the Phoenician is the aforementioned chicken club...seasoned poultry & spicy bacon deliciousness. Very good, and when you dine outside the food stays nice and warm. While in Phoenix I was able to score, with the help of my connected sister, some sweet seats to the Diamondbacks game. Great stadium, one more off that list, too. It was trucker hat give-away night...my luck is truly boundless.

Golf, hot, club sandwich, Phoenician, super hot...blah blah. We’ve heard it all before. Alrighty, how 'bout some tiki with my first ever visit to Scottsdale's Trader Vic's? Yessir, that's one more off the list toward the goal of visiting every Trader Vic's on the planet. Must say I was a bit trepidatious before my visit. I'd heard some conflicting reports on the place. But hey, can it be worse than Frisco? Well, from the huge Marquesan tiki standing as a lone sentinel out front to the glass enclosed room of Chinese ovens I liked this Vic's. No, I really dug it, Moondoggy. I've been to my share of Vic's and this is what I'd like to see for the more modern variations on the Vic's theme. It works and quite well at that.

As I bounded about the place in my snappy golfwear taking copious snappies and oggling the digs, my sister chatted up the bar staff. She urgently explained to them why the goofball she was with was acting like such a...goofball. Hey, not goof...it's "golf" ball. Ok, I was a bit goofy, goofy from the ungodly heat. A delicious and quick, maybe too quick, Tiki Puka Puka and all was much better. The Tortuga, not a drink for the feint of palate, was so-so. My sis enjoyed her Mai Tai and seemed to like Vic's as well, notwithstanding her drinking company.

Great decor. I dig the brown, tan, and reddish stonework throughout. The bar "drum" tables are a sleek yet fun detail. The outside areas looked inviting, but not when it is 109 in the shade for crissakes. Loads of bamboo and my favorite PNG masks. Some cool tikis, especially my trio of faves inside the reception area. It's Trader Vic's meets 1950's modern with a taste of 21st Century aesthetic. I would not complain if this were my local Trader Vic's. The staff was friendly and competent. Our bartender knew what he was doing along with enough about the menu/history to hold a good conversation. That may seem a perfunctory, if not requisite, trait for Vic's bartenders but sometimes it is absent.

This part of Arizona is not new to me, but the new Vic's surely makes the place more attractive. Seeing Vic’s back in the Valley of the Sun is great as it was one of the few locations I had any history with before the great purge of the 90's. To shockingly bad golf (nowadays) and decent club sandwiches one can add a fine Trader Vic's as reasons to make Phoenix a travel destination for me. Just travel though? Come on, they have a nice Vic’s, good sandwiches, a decent baseball team. I do know the area, hmm? Maybe, perhaps, wait a sec...nahhhh! No way. The heat, it is dry but it’s still 112!

Be the ball,
cpt.midnite