D
Joined: May 29, 2002
Posts: 113
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Psycho Suzi's Motor Lounge
Gourmet Pizza * Exotic Cocktails
Superb Coffee
2519 Marshall St. N.E.
Minneapolis ... 612-788-9069
I checked out Psycho Suzi’s last night and was extremely impressed. (Sadly, the camera did not make it along on this trip, so no pix yet.) Psycho Suzi’s can be placed firmly in the Neo-Tiki genre identified by James Teitelbaum in “Tiki Road Trip.” As mentioned above, the building is a converted drive-in restaurant with wood shingle roof and fake stone façade. The kitchen faces the street with big plate glass windows so you can see what’s going on back there. Upon entering (there are a couple of entrances actually) I was greeted by a newish CD jukebox. I paged through the selections and was happy to find 5 exotica/lounge albums along with some punk classics and jukebox favorites like Johnny Cash and various heavy metal.
The main seating area is done in the style of a ship’s galley, with a vaulted ceiling and heavy beams and posts, almost all of which have some tikis on them. (The tikis are reminiscent of the Florida school, but I’m not really a carving expert so I couldn’t be sure about who did them.) The carpet is that great kitschy wood-plank stuff a la a 1970’s rec room. The mug collection mentioned above sits on several shelves along the tops of 3 walls (the fourth wall has the bar). As far as I could tell, it is not vintage, although a few of the mugs could have been. It’s mostly Muntiki, Tiki Farm and the like. So nice, but not vintage. There is fishing net hanging from the ceiling, with some plastic puffer fish. One of the highlights of the décor is the lighting, provided mostly by a series of 1950’s-look hanging fixtures which consist of 5 nested fiberglass or paper cylinders in varying shades of red and orange. Very appropriate if not strictly tiki.
The service is almost all punk rockers (the joint is owned by Leslie Bock, proprietress of St. Sabrina’s Parlour in Purgatory, an Uptown piercing/tattooing/silly goth boot/skintight club gear boutique) and very friendly and efficient.
The menu seemed likely to please, if you’re not expecting Polynesian food. There’s all sorts of bar food like Tater Tots, homemade cheese curds and of course pizza. (Food menu only online at http://www.amorphousdesign.net/)
The drink menu is also decent. Almost all of the Polynesian drinks are either $6.50 or $6.75 with two bowl drinks that were, I believe, $13.75 and $18.95 respectively. All of the Polynesian cocktails are served in tiki mugs which you can purchase for $4.00 (a deposit of that amount or a credit card is required to discourage mug theft). I tried two drinks that sounded like they might be a Zombie (the “Paralyzed Polynesian” and the “One-Eyed Willy”) both were fairly strong and tasty. I also tried something called the “Dirty Rotten Stinker” or something like that, which was some kind of Pina Colada substitute I think. The only traditionally named drink is the Suffering Bastard. There’s also a rotating “special” cocktail. Same price, but different from the various menu choices. I believe there were 12 or 14 total fancy cocktails.
Also available were 5 or 6 beers on tap, including Ace Pear Cider (hooray!) and various other bottled and canned beer as well as all the premium liquors. You can get a sampler of 6 cans of cheap beer in a little cooler for $10.
Happy hour is 3 – 6 p.m. either Mon-Thurs or Mon-Fri, I can’t remember which. It consists of half-price wells and taps and I think half-price appetizers too.
Overall, I’d say this seems to be one of the better neo-Tiki establishments I’ve heard about. It’s definitely better than that one down in Dallas, where they didn’t even know how to make any kind of fancy cocktails. And if you’ve got the jukebox money, you can guarantee that you’ll hear plenty of exotica. As far as I could tell, they aren’t set up for live bands. I recommend Psycho Suzi’s to all tiki-philes without reservation.
[ Edited by: DaneTiki on 2004-01-07 10:39 ]
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