Post #39845 by ZuluMagoo on Wed, Jun 18, 2003 1:29 PM

I also have this long review of the place shortly after it opened. The review was published in the Denver Post on September 1, 1964 (written by Barry Morrison).

"Susu Curry and 'Suffering Things' at Tiki Kai"

It was a trader's moon that was hanging all golly-wampus and out of shape on the eastern rim of the city's skyline. It backlighted the huge tiki god that peered sightlesslt down at the folks walking beneath it. We started looking at what appeared to be a huge bamboo hut with a thached roof standing at the corner of E. Colfax Ave. and Ash St. and felt the excitement building within us. After all, how many times do you see a bamboo hut on E. Colfax? Obviously, it was a night for adventure. You could feel it in your very finger tips. As Brigham Young once said, "This is the place." And this place was the Tiki Kai, a new restaurant that we were going to roam through.

The parking attendant had taken our car and we stood beneath a thached awning that led to the door. Through that door was- we knew not what-but you could practically hear the rumble of Polynesian drums. As we stepped across the threshold we were met by a short man with a big smile. He turned out to be Harry Jew, the lessee and operator of Tiki Kai. Harry showed us about a bit and then took us to the lounge. We carefully selected from the drink menu. We chose an unholy terror of a drink, called a Suffering Bastard, while Pinky, being of more cautious nature, picked a Tiki Kai Sling.

As we sipped the drinks-and these things should be sipped-we gazed about the room. paper in the design of tapa cloth adorned the walls. bamboo has been used extensively, both to separate the booths and make partial walls. Fish nets are strung from the ceiling. Glass float balls are hanging here and there artistically, and big blowfish with lights in them cast a romantic light through the room. The formerly barn-like room has been split up for the sake of intimancy. There is one large dining room, a lounge, and then to the side, another, smaller dining room.

Waitresses clad in cheongsoms and waiters in mandrain coats were hustling about in great style to care for the capacity crowd. Harry introduced us to Bill Marchiorda and Mike Matarza, owners of the building, and while we sipped another one of those "suffering things", as the waitress called them, we also partook of some appetizers. Foremost, among these was Po-Po, which is pronounced "poo-poo", and they are tiny seasoned meatballs covered with a cheese that smells remarkably like Romano, and impaled on bamboo splinters. One cooks the meatballs to desired doneness over a small Hibachi stove. Trick is to get the meatball done before the splinter burns through. We also tried some butterfly shrimp, which is served with regular and hot sauce; some small and excellent barbecued ribs, and some crab Raingoon, which is done up in a ball, seasoned with all sorts of goodies, and is delicious.

We had been moved-during this operation-to a secluded nook in the small dining room and perused the menu. There are a host of goodies to be had and so we decided to roam at will. We decided on beef with oyster sauce, a Cantonese dish, in which the beef is sauted with an oyster sauce and scallions and is very rich but also very tasty. The next decision was for sweet and sour pork, wherein they fry the pork tenderloin in a batter, sauce it with pineapple and green peppers, and their own special sweet and sour sauce. Turning to the curry menu we chose Susu Curry, which is an exotic cream style. It is a mild and flavorfully blended cream curry base with fresh vegetables and the shrimp. We were "fraidy cats" about trying the Calcutta curry because we have, on occasion, wept tears over this sort of thing. Then to make sure we had the Far Eastern "potato", we ordered Yang Chow fried rice. In this case the rice is mixed with peas, bits of shrimp, and barbecued pork. It's great. We completly skipped the Luau dinners, three in number, in which you can have a variety of things. And we all eschewed the American type items available from the charcoal broiler.

The food came and silence fell as all hands began working on the delightful cuisine. With it we sipped the delicate Chinese tea. It seemed but moments before we all gave up. We would love to have tried some more Susu curry but there just wasn't room. Instead, we all settled for some kumquats and almod cookies, which settled down the full feeling and left a clean taste in the mouth.

We stepped into a star-shrouded night amd swore the sound of Polynesian drums was louder. but Pinky just laughed and assured us we were under the influence of a fertile imagintion sparked by "suffering things".

A side note is added to the bottom of the review and reads "Trader Vic's will open a new restaurant - its 15th- in Dallas in the spring of 1965, and also plans to move its New York restaurant before the end of that same year."

[ Edited by: ZuluMagoo on 2003-06-18 21:28 ]