Post #770183 by mikehooker on Fri, Nov 11, 2016 3:35 PM

DAY 4

More hiking at Yosemite to see Vernal Falls, explore the Happy Isles area and check out the cemetery.

Hit the road before 1 to arrive at Trader Vic's Emeryville for our 5 o'clock reservation with a window seat to watch the sunset. I've never been to a Trader Vic's and was super stoked on this night. The decor did not disappoint. Fabulous, towering tikis everywhere, tapa covered walls, tiki lamps on the tables, and hanging fish floats galore. Even some Hinky Dinks stuff.

I started with the '44 Mai Tai cuz I just had to have one at a Vic's. It was less than stellar, as I expected. Pretty sure they used the Mai Tai mix in this in lieu of fresh ingredients. My wife had the Moku Nani. She said it tasted like fruit punch. It was served in a port light glass.

I then tried a Navy Grog since Vic's version is an all time favorite to make at home and a friend of mine who has been to the Atlanta location numerous times said it was his favorite drink there. Sadly this one disappointed. The rock candy stick was nice though.

My wife had the Passion Punch next. It came in a bowl big enough for two and had a gardenia in it. She liked it better than the previous but said it was like a peach slushy, not unlike a Wallaby Darned at Outback.

For food we started with the cheese bings which were basically just mozzarella sticks. For our meals we wanted to get something from the Chinese ovens so my wife had the 5 spice half duck and I had the pork chop. Neither was spectacular but they weren't bad by any means. I had brussel sprouts for the first time in my life and enjoyed them.

We skipped dessert, despite how awesome the suffering bastard menu looked.

I had a Samoan Fogg Cutter before we left and it was the best drink of the night. Dropped 100 bucks on ceramics and glass ware. Overall it was a very expensive outing but was glad for the experience. I didn't have high hopes for the drinks going in and didn't feel cheated in the slightest when we left.

Onward we go to Forbidden Island!

Was worried about parking and it being too busy since it was a Friday night but we got a spot a couple blocks away and two seats at the bar. The bartender was super nice and right off the bat was giving us coasters, swizzles and back scratchers to take home. My wife began with a Planet of the Apes which was basically a banana milkshake and delicious. I for the life of me can't remember the first drink I had and photo evidence became much scarcer by this time of night. EDIT: Found my receipt, it was a Navy Grog and I remember now it was much better than the one at Trader Vic's.

Upon finishing that, I happened to notice two bottles of old yellow label Lemon Hart on the back bar.

I asked if they still use the LH in anything and she said they just did for a special Halloween zombie with the 151. "I'll have that!" I declared. It was hands down the best zombie I've ever had. She told me of one of the "secret" ingredients and of course I can't recall what it was.

This being my fifth strong drink of the night I started feeling pretty tipsy, unlike my experience at Smuggler's Cove. My wife decided to stop drinking after her first one there (third of the night) since we were actually driving tonight and had to cross the bay safely.

I was enjoying it there. The atmosphere was that of a neighborhood dive bar. They had some cool tiki stuff but you're not totally submersed in it. There was a TV playing cool clips of tiki bars and other fun stuff. I decided I was going to have one more drink and use their Lemon Hart 80. They let me get a sip of it neat and then put it in a Three Dots and a Dash. I think I enjoyed this one a lot but by the time I was done I was full on drunk like I haven't been in a long time. I mean really drunk. And it was getting really crowded so my wife was happy to head out.

Cue: bed.

More to come...

[ Edited by: mikehooker 2016-11-13 08:48 ]