Trader Vic's: Delectable Barbecued Pork and South Pacific Ambiance
by Donald Dresden
The Washington Post; Jul 20, 1975;
Deluxe Chinese/Polynesian/American cuisine.
Lunch main courses $2.95 to $6.50; Dinner, $3.25 to $10.75.
In the Statler Hilton Hotel, 16th and K Streets NW. EX 3-1000.
Lunch Monday through Friday 11:30 to 2:30, none Saturday or Sunday. Dinner Monday through Saturday. Dinner Monday through Saturday 5 to 10:30, Sunday, 4:30 to 9:30. Reservations, major credit cards.
Food: [smileyface] [smileyface] [smileyface]
Style: [whisk] [whisk] [whisk]
Value: $ $ $
Restaurants are rated on an ascending zero-to-four scale compared with similar places; thus the food in a modest restaurant would rate four smiles and that of a sophisticated establishment, zero. Whisks indicate ambiance, again with emphasis on how the restaurant compares with those in its general class; service is also a part of this classification. Dollar signs appraise value received; this a poor $10 lunch would get a zero, but a superb one, at $2, a four.
Victor Jules Bergeron changed the name of his first restaurant (in Oakland, California) from Hinky Dinks to Trader Vic's for several reasons, not the least of which was that he had a trading operation going in the South Pacific, and in his eatery he traded exotic artifacts such as a carved figure of Buddha with a secret compartment -- he once was offered three shrunken heads.
Bergeron, now a feisty 73-year-old who describes his speech as ribald, has taken up art seriously but adds that "food is just as artistic as painting." He still keeps his hand in the business that comprises 21 Trader Vic's in the United States and abroad. (No connection with Trader Vic's in Hawaii.) He chose the South Pacific decor for his restaurants because it suggests "beaches and moonlight and pretty girls without any clothes on." In the early days of his restaurant career, Bergeron went to any length to please his customers ("I even let them stick an ice pick in my wooden leg"). Despite the uniformity of menus, marinades and other things in the restaurants, Bergeron insists that "they are not like a chain where a guy has to look on page X for his instructions." He says managers are given a chance to exercise some individuality, but adds that since many of them are Orientals "they understand that they were hired to do things the way the boss wants them done."
The Federal City Trader Vic's has lots of decorations indigenous to the South Pacific area, including Hong Kong chairs with their flaring ratan backs. The lighting is Stygian, doubled in spades, but the tables are well spaced. Two enormous Chinese ovens dominate a glassed-in area and lend an Oriental note.
The lunch menu has an aloha accent, but with sufficient variety to satisfy diverse tastes, including those that opt for steak, sandwiches, salads and such fare. For instance, the standing menu offers eight fish entrees that include three plain filet of sole items, scallops in two forms, and dolphin (called mahi mahi) from Hawaii. Fourteen salads range from fruit to crab with many other ingredients.
In addition to the set luncheon menu, specials change with the day, and include items such as a mushroom omelette, $2.95 and sweet and sour spare ribs with steamed rice at $3.35. Also, calf's liver, $3.95, sometimes is offered, which is thinly sliced and cooked tableside. It came off well when I had it last, and the serving included potato and green vegetable.
Also, the special on Thursday always includes barbecued pork tenderloin, which is a refinement of conventional barbecuing since it is cooked in the Chinese oven. The ceramic oven resembles a huge barrel. Its removable metal cover has hooks on the inside from which meat and fowl are suspended for cooking. The heat comes from burning hardwood in front of an aperture at the base of the oven, the hot and slightly smoky air rising into the oven. The merit of this kind of cooking is that nothing drips into the fire, which generates smoke, especially from fat, that permeates food. With the Chinese oven, all drippings fall into a receptacle below the oven. The result is a piece of finely cooked meat or fowl with a subtle taste of smoke. The pork tenderloin done this way is $4.25; beef tenderloin, on the menu daily, is $5.25. Both are delectable dishes, served with a brown sauce that I think is unnecessary.
Another standing lunch dish is Malagasy pepper steak, $6.50. I've had it twice, and found it disappointing because of gristle and sparse taste.
Mandarin Kau Kau, $4.50 was better: breast of chicken in a sweet and sour sauce and nicely cooked shrimp in a mild Cantonese sauce. Good fried rice and broccoli came with the dish. Almond duck, $3.95, was another winner. Oversimplified, this is cooked, boned and pressed and pressed duck. When cooled, pieces of it are deep fried until quite crisp. It was a tasty rendition of this Chinese dish, better than versions of it I have had elsewhere.
Over the years I have had several soups at the restaurant, most recently a moderately thick chicken curry one with bits of fresh tomato, and a cream of asparagus, both of which were tasty. Bongo bongo, which is cream of oysters, was not bad, but I have had it better elsewhere.
The dinner menu is more extensive than lunch. More than two dozen Chinese dishes are listed, along with many specialties that include steak and veal, and lots of seafood. In addition, ten dishes cooked in the Chinese oven are offered daily, except suckling pig for which a week's notice and 20 guests are required. My most recent lamb dish from the oven was overdone, but I have had steak and other offerings that were timed just right. The Indonesian lamb roast, $8.85, is marinated in a mixture of honey, pineapple and onion. Squabs, chickens and rock cornish game hens ($6.50 to $7.85) are dipped in a soy-based sauce before going into the Chinese oven.
Desserts are extensive and include an enticing rum ice cream with praline sauce.
The wine list is adequate and rum drinks are a hallmark of the place.
Service is polite and swift.
