Trader Vic's Portland Anniversary - General Tiki

T TraderVic'sPDX Member Joined: May 04, 2011 Posts: 29	T TraderVic'sPDX Posted posted on Fri, Jul 27, 2012 12:43 PM On 2012-07-27 04:34, AceExplorer wrote: Very cool! I drank and dined at Vic's on a recent trip to Portland. I was very pleased to find that they served the best salmon of any I had during the course of my trip. The bar was great fun, although the drinks I tried, including their signature Mai Tai, were mixed significantly sweeter than the original or historical recipes. My bartender was very open and honest about that, and I was impressed by his willingness to talk openly. I concluded that the general public may prefer sweeter cocktails, so the bartenders (or management?) take this into account. The atmosphere inside was good although definitely "updated" as opposed to a dimly-lit tiki environment. I went on a weeknight and it was busy but there was only a short wait for a table. My group had a great time and a very good experience here that night. Glad you enjoyed it. The bartenders pretty much go by the book on the Mai Tai recipe. As you point out, the book has changed over the years for a number of reasons (not the least of which is the availability of particular rums). And, of course, the ingredients themselves change from time to time (suppliers change the make up of their Orgeat or whatever). There's also quite a difference between the standard issue Mai Tai and the 1944, the latter having a bit more alcohol -- particularly if you get a float of 151 -- as well as slightly different ingredients. The good news is that the bartenders are pretty solid and can make tweaks to suit individual tastes. In addition, we've added quite a bit to our rum library, so there are options for an ever-increasing number of variants. The Portland bartenders have also been working on a few drinks that aren't sweet at all. One of the featured drinks this month, The Sandy Bottom, is anything but sweet. BTW, if you haven't seen it, here's an interesting article on the evolution of the recipe over the years (you should also know that some of the recipes you see in books, etc, sometimes aren't quite the same as what they use in the bar). Cheers.

On 2012-07-27 04:34, AceExplorer wrote:
Very cool! I drank and dined at Vic's on a recent trip to Portland. I was very pleased to find that they served the best salmon of any I had during the course of my trip. The bar was great fun, although the drinks I tried, including their signature Mai Tai, were mixed significantly sweeter than the original or historical recipes. My bartender was very open and honest about that, and I was impressed by his willingness to talk openly. I concluded that the general public may prefer sweeter cocktails, so the bartenders (or management?) take this into account. The atmosphere inside was good although definitely "updated" as opposed to a dimly-lit tiki environment. I went on a weeknight and it was busy but there was only a short wait for a table. My group had a great time and a very good experience here that night.

Glad you enjoyed it. The bartenders pretty much go by the book on the Mai Tai recipe. As you point out, the book has changed over the years for a number of reasons (not the least of which is the availability of particular rums). And, of course, the ingredients themselves change from time to time (suppliers change the make up of their Orgeat or whatever). There's also quite a difference between the standard issue Mai Tai and the 1944, the latter having a bit more alcohol -- particularly if you get a float of 151 -- as well as slightly different ingredients.

The good news is that the bartenders are pretty solid and can make tweaks to suit individual tastes. In addition, we've added quite a bit to our rum library, so there are options for an ever-increasing number of variants.

The Portland bartenders have also been working on a few drinks that aren't sweet at all. One of the featured drinks this month, The Sandy Bottom, is anything but sweet.

BTW, if you haven't seen it, here's an interesting article on the evolution of the recipe over the years (you should also know that some of the recipes you see in books, etc, sometimes aren't quite the same as what they use in the bar).

Cheers.

Post #645820 by TraderVic'sPDX on Fri, Jul 27, 2012 12:43 PM