Post #511733 by midnite on Thu, Feb 18, 2010 12:00 AM

Get Back, Back to Where I Never Belonged

TUCSON 2010

The 2010 travel season begins and although I have received my new passport it wasn't needed for this quick trip out to Arizona. A few days out West (East, really) to hang with family and take in some of the state's best tiki offerings. I have spent many months, a year or more, in the Phoenix area and I had never really visited Tucson, never went to Kon Tiki. Time to change that. Road trip!

A few months ago when this weekend was planned I realized the magnitude of my oversight in never making it down to Kon Tiki. Sure, it is a veritable time capsule of tiki, but there was more, something more significant than a few wood carvings and some bamboo. Kon Tiki serves food, more precisely a...club...sand...wich. Oh. Oh, yes.

Over the years I have heard much of Kon Tiki and when we arrived I was surprised at the location and setting. I expected a larger property, a bigger building, not wedged in like a small book on the shelf next to larger tomes. That bit of disappointment was quickly remedied by the "No Firearms" sign on the door and the few old timer rummies taking in the waters at about 11:45am on Saturday. My kind of place: serious drinking safe from any ricochet danger. I prefer my gun play in a brighter room anyway.

Kon Tiki was fairly empty and therefore primed for the random tiki fiend, moi, to take it all in and capture numerous snappies. A friendly regular even turned on the lights in the empty rooms for me, a nice gesture. We settled in for some lunch and a few cocktails. Is it afternoon yet? I started, and stopped, with the new classic mai tai Kon Tiki is offering in their souvenir highball glass. Ten dollars, five bucks for refills. Me likey, me drinky three-ey. A very solid mai tai, much better than the other mai tai on the menu which my Sister ordered. The fair Michelle took a random walk through the drink menu, with varied results. Starting out great with the Hawaii Five-O (a suggestion from a fellow Tucson TC'er) after it things went downhill fast. I was happy with my mai tais and a solid club sandwich.

Yes, a club in a classic old tiki bar. This place is about as close to "mine" as I have come across in my travels. To say I dug it would be a serious understatement. While the sandwich would garner only passing marks on its own the fact it was served in a forty-seven year old tiki bar moves it to the head of the class. Kon Tiki's club sandwich is valedi--hic--torian! Think about it. The world's perfect club could be served at the local Renaissance Faire or tractor pull, but I ain't going to enjoy it. Vintage tiki and a club sandwich, hallelujah.

Tucson's Kon Tiki is now one of my favorite spots on Earth. I'd move out there, but where would I boogie board? The decor is much better than I imagined, even with a few too many painted tikis. I know we are blessed with some nice tiki destinations up here in the Frisco area, but you Tucson folk have a real gem. I am particularly happy I got to introduce my niece and nephew to this place as their first exposure to tiki. I will be back to Kon Tiki, and not just because of those five dollar mai tai refills, although that really really helps.

TRADER VIC'S SCOTTSDALE

We had three nights out Phoenix way so were only able to make it to Trader Vic's twice. Bummer. Still, we did make the most of our stay with introducing my niece to the Trader Vic's universe by taking her there for her early birthday dinner. Fulfilling my duty to recruit new initiates into the fold I figured it was time, she's seventeen now, to start showing her the ropes. I think it went pretty well, perhaps she will become a tiki connoisseur like one of her cousins. If not, I have other nieces to take over her MFN (most favored niece) status.

Dinner at Vic's was good, solid, respectable. Not quite on par with the food at Munich but much better than what continues to be served in the dining room at our local Emeryville. I do like the Vic's out there in Scottsdale. It's not classic decor by any stretch, but I can appreciate the modern design desert aethestic as appropriate for a Trader Vic's in Arizona. The place does well merging some new sensibilites for the local market to the traditional Vic's menu, both dinner and cocktail. We were there on Valentine's Day so maybe things were skewed due to the holiday, but the place was hopping.

It was good drinking all around. Mai Tais a la old fashioned and a cocktail server who made the ingenious, and much obliged, decision to bring me a "side" of grog with my ever present Navy Grog. One of my bright line drinking rules is the groggier the better. Also, one little known codicile to the midnite life guide is multiple sugar sticks always work better than one.

We maximized our tiki fun for such a short trip and found a new pearl of a destination in Tucson's Kon Tiki. The weekend allowed me to cross off one more old time tiki destination that I should have visited years ago. I got to spend some time with family, introducing them to places their uncle always rambles on about. Plus, I furthered my role as good uncle, passable musician, by gifting my very first Fender Strat to my nephew "Ringo", a burgeoning guitar player.

February was a familiar dip in the travel pool, April awaits with a dive head first into the deep end.

I really think so,
midnite