Post #448740 by Bongo Bungalow on Tue, Apr 21, 2009 7:23 PM

Well I could use some typing practice. Here's the copy, story by Paul Clarke:

ISLAND TIME
While once home to Polynesian palaces, such as the Aku Aku, which served exotic drinks at the Stardust in the 1960's and '70s, Las Vegas has been without a full-blown tiki bar for years. This all changed last December with the arrival of Frankie's Tiki Room, on West Charleston Boulevard about three miles from the strip. A legendary dive bar for decades, Frankie's was purchased by Vegas nightlife legend P Moss (who also owns the infamous Double Down Saloon) and Chris Andrassay, and now features a Polynesian-themed interior created by legendary tiki designer Bamboo Ben, as well as a drink menu that draws heavily on the work of exotic-drink historian Jeff "Beachbum" Berry and an ingrediant list that includes fresh-squeezed juices and house-made syrups, such as the lime-and-clove-flavored falerum.
For bar manager Allison Hartling, who worked with the new owners on the concept for Frankie's makeover, the decision to go tiki made perfect sense. "There's no other tiki bar in Las Vegas," says Hartling, who is married to co-owner Andrassay. "And all of us love vintage Vegas from the '50s and '60s, so it all came together." A veteran of casino bars, such as Rum Jungle at Mandalay Bay, Hartling says the smaller-scale approach at Frankie's allows her to fully represent the tiki tradition. "I like the personal touch of it; Rum Jungle was such a high-volume bar and restaurant, you didn't have time to really craft a cocktail for somebody," she says. At Frankie's, the bars modest size and focused scope allow bartenders to employ that one-on-one creative approach. "That ties into tiki as well, and the time period when it was at its peak. It really was about making one person a great drink, every time."
Alongside tiki classics such as the Navy Grog and the Zombie, Frankie's serves original drinks, such as the Thurston Howl, a potent mix of spirits and juices that's spiced with cinnamon and ginger. (Typically served in standard glasses, many of Frankie's house drinks can be ordered in custom-made tiki mugs to take home for an additional price.) With a rum-rich Murky Lagoon on the bar in front of me and snippets from Bikini-a-Go-Go playing on the flat-screen behind the bartenders, I feel right at home in this island oasis in the middle of the Mojave.
While progress may be slow and Las Vegas may still lag behind some cocktail capitals, there's a definite desire and a momentum, both on and off the strip, in the direction of quality. "I'd say fresh cocktails are now more the norm than a novelty," Abou-Ganim says. "There's still a long way to go in Las Vegas when you compare it to someplace like New York or San Francisco, but I'm waiting for the next revolution in Las Vegas. I sure hope I'm part of it."

edit: I should mention that the above is just an excerpt from the article titled: Searching for Authentic Cocktails in America's Most Wildly Self-Inventive City

[ Edited by: Bongo Bungalow 2009-04-21 19:27 ]