Post #484901 by JOHN-O on Wed, Sep 23, 2009 10:59 PM

PiPhiRho, Jason Wickedly, Sperm Whale, Hiltiki, and especially Tikiyaki,

You guys were 100% right about DTBC and I was 100% wrong.

I had business in HB today so I swung by DTBC afterward.

I was floored. I had no idea it was so expansive. I'm embarrassed to say I never visited when it was Sam's Seafood. I pride myself on knowing all of the old-school places in LA and I admit to having had a knee-jerk bias against anything in the OC. That was a big mistake.

I met Beth Gates and her husband Greg while I was enjoying a cocktail at the bar. Beth is the events coordinator there. Greg took me to the outside entrance and showed me the original 1960 Sam's Seafood metal insignia they retained. He also explained that even though Sam's dated back to the 1930's, it completely burned down in a fire and was rebuilt in 1960. He did mention there were underground rooms from the original building that still existed. These rooms were used for illicit activities like prostitution and I assume as a speakeasy during during prohibition.

Later Beth took me around and showed me the parts of the restaurant which were original from Sam's (which was a lot). She pointed out some of the new stuff that was done by Bamboo Ben. Very cool. I liked the fact the place was fixed up but I could still sense the Tiki ghosts of almost half a century.

My bartender for the evening was Rachel who mixed what was probably the best Navy Grog I've ever had. I also had a Mai Tai which was pretty good but that Navy Grog was sublime. I wanted to try a Zombie but she advised against it since I still had a 35+ mile drive back to Samo. (Are they really that strong or is it just hype? The Zombies at Tiki-Ti are no stronger than any of their other drinks.)

It's funny, I mentioned that I had an initial bias since my cousin wrote a scathing review on Yelp. She said "You mean that guy, Scott and his girlfriend? I was the bartender mentioned in the review". She explained she was super busy that night and her inability to explain the exact ingredients in some drinks was because she didn't know. Apparently some of the ingredients were pre-mixed and thus were a "secret" to her. Anyway she was a real sweetheart and I'll probably post a follow-up Yelp to counteract the bad review.

Getting back to Beth, she said she would be happy to help host a TC event in one of the back rooms. I thought that was kind of funny since the only other TC person I've met in person was Ojaitimo (and that was at Frankie's). If any TC regulars want to take the initiative please PM me and I'll give you her contact details.

Even though the new Trader Vic's is only 15 miles from where I live, I'll probably drive double that to get the authentic (meaning historic) Tiki palace experience at DTBC. Actually though, I kind of wish they didn't change the name from Sam's Seafood. What was good for almost 50 years should still be good now. What do you guys think?

I probably still refer to it as Sam's. :)

Thanks again to everyone for their helpful input.

JOHN-O