Post #736492 by Dr. Coruba on Mon, Feb 2, 2015 9:37 AM

Some people have asked recently, what's this all about, is this just a restaurant posting on our boards?

Tiki Thirstday is social meet up currently gathering at House of Foong Lin in Bethesda, Maryland near the Maryland/DC line. As mentioned in the early posts here, our area has lost all of its once great Tiki bars long ago. While there are some Craft Cocktail places that on and off have some incredible takes on the exotic cocktails of yesteryear, none of embrace Tiki beyond that. If you go to those places, chances are good you won't find any Aloha shirts (some rolled eyes if you are wearing one), zero decor, and not a note of Exotica playing anywhere.

HoFL is not yet a full blown Tiki bar, but they have been upping the Tiki Factor. On any given "Thirstday" night, you'll find others in Aloha shirts and dress, a thatched bar, Exotica playing all night, relaxing beach vids playing on the screen - and worthy drinks which range from pretty good old school Chinese restaurant style Tiki drinks, to great versions of Tiki classics like the Mai Tai '44 which would make a Trader Vic's regular happy and feel right at home. The food is some of the very best Chinese in the area.

Tiki Thirstday is not something owned by or run by the restaurant, nor do we represent the restaurant. Our posts here are not some sneaky way that the restaurant is using the boards for advertising. Nor is Tiki Thirstday a club or membership thing. It's a great core of regulars who do come almost every week plus others who come once or twice a month. It is a very loose thing where people come and go as it suits them. It's a Tiki night out and a spot where everyone is Aloha-glad to see you when you can make it, and will miss you when you don't - but everyone knows you'll be back soon enough :wink:

Over time we've built up a local pool of well over 150 that we draw from (our local email list). If you do show on any given Tiki Thirstday night, you can be sure there will be other Tikiphiles to socialize with. Some times it is in the teens, some times it is crazy big. On an average night we'll have twenty something to thirty something drift in and out over the course of the evening. Rarely is it so slamming that there isn't a spot for you at the bar or in the lounge. (Early birds do get the best bar spots!)

The purpose of posting here is to reach out to Tikiphiles in our area and to keep a torch burning to let the larger Tiki community posting here know that there's a fun, weekly Tiki night out and a quality Mai Tai waiting for you if you're ever passing through. Trader Vic's might never move back to DC, but in the meantime, we share this little lagoon of a spot and dream about the islands. Aloha!

(If you're local to us and would like to get on the mailing list, please email us at TikiThirstday(at)gmail(dot)com.)

[ Edited by: Dr. Coruba 2015-02-05 07:23 ]