Midnite's Global Journey of Spiritual Discovery* - Tiki Travel

M midnite Member 37? 47' N, 122? 26' W Joined: Mar 25, 2002 Posts: 1230	M midnite Posted posted on Tue, Jun 3, 2008 1:25 AM Installment Two: HUKI NOW* My personal "Tiki Mecca" is, of course, Alameda's Forbidden Island. She has served me well, been there for me faithfully, religiously quenched the thirst, so to speak. While it is far from my humble abode in Frisco to the exotic Isle de Alameda I have never shied away from making that arduous trek. Yet, as much as I like to think I am one of the faithful, a true believer if you, I have not taken in the waters, made the pilgrimage. I have not drunk from the one true well all tikiphiles should taste at least once in their lifetime. It is time, as I am able-bodied and can afford to do so, to journey to the Mai Kai. That's right, I've spent countless days roaming the capitals of Europe, luckily missed some suicide boom booms in Casablanca, even survived an afternoon at Walt Disney World, but I never made it to the Mai Kai. "Check his (tiki) papers!", I am sure you're thinking, but I assure you it was purely oversight on my part and not an intentional slight to the Mai Kai. I'd always get there I thought, "next trip" or "real soon." Well, it was time, time...time for Huki Now! It was a brief conversation I had with our illustrious proprietor during a sunny Saturday afternoon of Giants baseball that laid the foundation for this one-time-only wild tiki event. Mai Kai next week you say? I have no airline tickets, no room reserved. Hmmm, no problem, see you Wednesday, HL. The fair Michelle and I landed at Lauderdale International at 17:25 and I was sipping a Mai Tai in the Molokai Bar by 18:30. We walked from the local inn that would be our lodging for the evening and spotted the Mai Kai after but a few minutes out in the humid South Florida air. There it was, just at the bend, barely visible in the tropical greenery, light blue and beckoning...."Mai Kai". I was there, in the middle of a packed Molokai Bar, in the back at that well-known table. The alluring Mai Kai girl brought our Derby Daiquiri and Mai Tai and I sat there, a bit unsettled from the harried nature of a day's cross-country travels, with one thought clear in my mind (paraphrasing another well-known TC member): "I am STUPID for not coming here before!"* We had two nights, and as much of the cocktail menu as possible to get through. A daunting task, but I'll try....because it is there. We ordered the Pu Pu Platter, the Shanghai Chicken (hat tip to Martin for that call) and a shrimp cocktail. The place was exceeding all my expectations, it was simply put, a tiki palace with no peer. Sometime 'round our second cocktail we were joined by that mysterious man about town, HL. Thus, Huki Now* could begin in earnest. We drank, and drank some more. The cocktails were being checked off the list like so many non-paying phone company customers: 151 Swizzle? "Disconnect", Jet Pilot? "Disconnect", Mutiny? "Disconnect!" We toured the property, took countless snappies, reveled in the glorious surroundings. We took in the gift shop, drank some more, told tall tiki tales, opened a new tab after losing our first Mai Kai girl to shift change, toured the property again finding yet more treasures. Oh, we drank some more, too. Mara Amu? "Dis-connect"!...We closed the Molokai Bar. That was fun. No, that was a blast, an evening for the ages. It was Double Isaacs all around! The evening was not yet complete; we had to walk back to the motel. That's another story altogether (Toy or otherwise) and it shall be left for some other time. Things were getting a bit hazey by then (Mai Kai Swizzle? "Dis...Dis-co...Solid Gold!"), and we still had the following evening at the Mai Kai. Suffice is to say, "Hey HL, look at all the pretty purple neon!" Rather surprisingly, we awoke clear-headed and made it over to our next night's lodging: The Yankee Clipper. I mean, I said it was Huki Now, right? I wanted to see the Wreck Bar and touch the sand. Simple goals before our final evening at Mai Kai. The Wreck Bar was, putting this carefully, laid out well and appointed nicely (half of it) but was otherwise a disappointment. One cannot win them all. In another time I am sure it was superb. Now? Hardly. While the fair Michelle and I had planned to take in the Mai Kai floor show the available early seating would have cut into Happy Hour in the Molokai Bar. I had seen quite a bit of the show the night before, so priorities and all...more drinking time in the Molokai it was! We did enjoy a later dinner in one of the back dining rooms, overlooking the gardens, serenaded by a gent playing guitar. He covered many of the classics, all superbly sung, and I think he was better than the typical Mai Kai floor show. The whole dining experience was fantastic. The food's a bit overpriced, but who cares, this is Huki Now. Another Derby Daiquiri, please! With our dinner completed it was all engines full ahead for the Molokai Bar. I mean, really, that Mai Kai cocktail menu is lengthy. The dominoes fell, one by one, as I knocked off many of the "Strong" drinks and my first mate Michelle selected the weaker libations. K.O. Cooler? "Disconnect", Shrunken Head? "My cat's name is 'Mittens'!" All in all, seventeen...eighteen?...cocktails enjoyed (roughly half the menu), a notable accomplishment. My thoughts on Mai Kai mixology? Overall, about as good as I have had in any one tiki bar. There were some very good cocktails, a few I'd never revisit. Presentation could be improved and a few were rather(too?) similar in taste, but those were the exceptions. My faves: the Cobra's Kiss and the Shark Bite, with the Bora Bora a strong contender. We closed the Molokai Bar again. Before we left there was a photo op with the fair Michelle in front of her least favorite and somewhat scary tiki, along the requisite snappie of goofy Tiki dude with bewildered Mai Kai girl. Alas, with that we bid farewell to the Mai Kai. I hope I can see her again, the Mai Kai...not Thuy, our Mai Kai girl. Although, she was a lot of fun as well as quite helpful with the drink selections. The taxi pulled up to the front door, we rolled over the creaky Mai Kai bridge. The taxi driver inquired about the noise (Huh, you never been here before, Cabbie?), and the most spectacular tiki palace the world over was in the rear view mirror. "What was that, Michelle? Yeah, we're STUPID for never coming here before." Oh, I took in the club sandwich at The Florida Restaurant aka "Flo's", and it was fine. A-ok in my book, but after one has tasted Shanghai Chicken. Sigh. Huki Now* was the best of times. Oh sure, a bit expensive, slightly deranged, yet way overdue. Truly, how many times can one travel 1200 miles (sic) on a whim to meet a good friend in the greatest tiki establishment around? Special thanks to HL for getting my lazy butt out there and paricipating in the greatest Huki Now* ever known. Supplicatingly yours, cpt. midnite (Florida Native, Mai Kai Pilgrim) aka "How I learned to stop worrying and enjoy the Mai Kai Toy Story" Installment Three: To Luau or not to Luau?* has been postponed due to illness. Look for the final installment of the tiki travel month: Farm Fresh and Tiki-fied coming soon! Edited: Cause I am a perfectshunist! [ Edited by: midnite_tiki 2008-06-03 01:33 ]

Installment Two: HUKI NOW*

My personal "Tiki Mecca" is, of course, Alameda's Forbidden Island. She has served me well, been there for me faithfully, religiously quenched the thirst, so to speak. While it is far from my humble abode in Frisco to the exotic Isle de Alameda I have never shied away from making that arduous trek. Yet, as much as I like to think I am one of the faithful, a true believer if you, I have not taken in the waters, made the pilgrimage. I have not drunk from the one true well all tikiphiles should taste at least once in their lifetime. It is time, as I am able-bodied and can afford to do so, to journey to the Mai Kai.

That's right, I've spent countless days roaming the capitals of Europe, luckily missed some suicide boom booms in Casablanca, even survived an afternoon at Walt Disney World, but I never made it to the Mai Kai. "Check his (tiki) papers!", I am sure you're thinking, but I assure you it was purely oversight on my part and not an intentional slight to the Mai Kai. I'd always get there I thought, "next trip" or "real soon." Well, it was time, time...time for Huki Now*!

It was a brief conversation I had with our illustrious proprietor during a sunny Saturday afternoon of Giants baseball that laid the foundation for this one-time-only wild tiki event. Mai Kai next week you say? I have no airline tickets, no room reserved. Hmmm, no problem, see you Wednesday, HL. The fair Michelle and I landed at Lauderdale International at 17:25 and I was sipping a Mai Tai in the Molokai Bar by 18:30.

We walked from the local inn that would be our lodging for the evening and spotted the Mai Kai after but a few minutes out in the humid South Florida air. There it was, just at the bend, barely visible in the tropical greenery, light blue and beckoning...."Mai Kai". I was there, in the middle of a packed Molokai Bar, in the back at that well-known table. The alluring Mai Kai girl brought our Derby Daiquiri and Mai Tai and I sat there, a bit unsettled from the harried nature of a day's cross-country travels, with one thought clear in my mind (paraphrasing another well-known TC member):

"I am STUPID for not coming here before!"

We had two nights, and as much of the cocktail menu as possible to get through. A daunting task, but I'll try....because it is there. We ordered the Pu Pu Platter, the Shanghai Chicken (hat tip to Martin for that call) and a shrimp cocktail. The place was exceeding all my expectations, it was simply put, a tiki palace with no peer. Sometime 'round our second cocktail we were joined by that mysterious man about town, HL. Thus, Huki Now* could begin in earnest.

We drank, and drank some more. The cocktails were being checked off the list like so many non-paying phone company customers: 151 Swizzle? "Disconnect", Jet Pilot? "Disconnect", Mutiny? "Disconnect!" We toured the property, took countless snappies, reveled in the glorious surroundings. We took in the gift shop, drank some more, told tall tiki tales, opened a new tab after losing our first Mai Kai girl to shift change, toured the property again finding yet more treasures. Oh, we drank some more, too. Mara Amu? "Dis-connect"!...We closed the Molokai Bar.

That was fun. No, that was a blast, an evening for the ages. It was Double Isaacs all around! The evening was not yet complete; we had to walk back to the motel. That's another story altogether (Toy or otherwise) and it shall be left for some other time. Things were getting a bit hazey by then (Mai Kai Swizzle? "Dis...Dis-co...Solid Gold!"), and we still had the following evening at the Mai Kai. Suffice is to say, "Hey HL, look at all the pretty purple neon!"

Rather surprisingly, we awoke clear-headed and made it over to our next night's lodging: The Yankee Clipper. I mean, I said it was Huki Now*, right? I wanted to see the Wreck Bar and touch the sand. Simple goals before our final evening at Mai Kai. The Wreck Bar was, putting this carefully, laid out well and appointed nicely (half of it) but was otherwise a disappointment. One cannot win them all. In another time I am sure it was superb. Now? Hardly.

While the fair Michelle and I had planned to take in the Mai Kai floor show the available early seating would have cut into Happy Hour in the Molokai Bar. I had seen quite a bit of the show the night before, so priorities and all...more drinking time in the Molokai it was! We did enjoy a later dinner in one of the back dining rooms, overlooking the gardens, serenaded by a gent playing guitar. He covered many of the classics, all superbly sung, and I think he was better than the typical Mai Kai floor show. The whole dining experience was fantastic. The food's a bit overpriced, but who cares, this is Huki Now*. Another Derby Daiquiri, please!

With our dinner completed it was all engines full ahead for the Molokai Bar. I mean, really, that Mai Kai cocktail menu is lengthy. The dominoes fell, one by one, as I knocked off many of the "Strong" drinks and my first mate Michelle selected the weaker libations. K.O. Cooler? "Disconnect", Shrunken Head? "My cat's name is 'Mittens'!" All in all, seventeen...eighteen?...cocktails enjoyed (roughly half the menu), a notable accomplishment. My thoughts on Mai Kai mixology? Overall, about as good as I have had in any one tiki bar. There were some very good cocktails, a few I'd never revisit. Presentation could be improved and a few were rather(too?) similar in taste, but those were the exceptions. My faves: the Cobra's Kiss and the Shark Bite, with the Bora Bora a strong contender.

We closed the Molokai Bar again. Before we left there was a photo op with the fair Michelle in front of her least favorite and somewhat scary tiki, along the requisite snappie of goofy Tiki dude with bewildered Mai Kai girl. Alas, with that we bid farewell to the Mai Kai. I hope I can see her again, the Mai Kai...not Thuy, our Mai Kai girl. Although, she was a lot of fun as well as quite helpful with the drink selections. The taxi pulled up to the front door, we rolled over the creaky Mai Kai bridge. The taxi driver inquired about the noise (Huh, you never been here before, Cabbie?), and the most spectacular tiki palace the world over was in the rear view mirror.

"What was that, Michelle? Yeah, we're STUPID for never coming here before."

Oh, I took in the club sandwich at The Florida Restaurant aka "Flo's", and it was fine. A-ok in my book, but after one has tasted Shanghai Chicken. Sigh.

Huki Now* was the best of times. Oh sure, a bit expensive, slightly deranged, yet way overdue. Truly, how many times can one travel 1200 miles (sic) on a whim to meet a good friend in the greatest tiki establishment around? Special thanks to HL for getting my lazy butt out there and paricipating in the greatest Huki Now* ever known.

Supplicatingly yours,
cpt. midnite (Florida Native, Mai Kai Pilgrim)

*aka "How I learned to stop worrying and enjoy the Mai Kai Toy Story"

Installment Three: To Luau or not to Luau? has been postponed due to illness. Look for the final installment of the tiki travel month: Farm Fresh and Tiki-fied coming soon!

Edited: Cause I am a perfectshunist!

[ Edited by: midnite_tiki 2008-06-03 01:33 ]

Post #384261 by midnite on Tue, Jun 3, 2008 1:25 AM