Slightly OT: Señor Pico's

I just found a menu from the early 60s for Señor Pico's here stateside. For those who don't know, it is a chain (I think only overseas now) of Mexican restaurants owned by Trader Vic. Anyway, they had specialty drinks as well, including some of the same, like the Potted Parrot. The signature drink was the Pinky Gonzales, which was served in a souvenir glass that looked like the honi honi mug, only with some randy Mexican stereotype guy in a sombrero chasing a piece of tail around the cup.

Does anyone have or collect these things? Strangely, I found the mug the very next day after never seeing one, and passed it up because I thought it was too pricey. Does anyone know waht would be a good price to pay for these? I might go back....

-martin

Martin,
I happen to collect Senor Pico mugs. I have the Honi Honi style mug as well as a ceramic cup with the same graphics as the Honi Honi but without the protruding base. Oceanic Arts has quite a few things from Senor Pico's for sale. Oddly enough, they don't sell very well. Some of the really cool stuff they have (like the large ceramic face bowl with grill top - sorta like a hollowed out pumpkin) have sat on their shelves for months. I have a feeling that nobody really knows they are a Trader Vic's restaurant.

I believe Senor Pico's was only open in the United States for something like 2-3 years with only two locations. The restaurant failed miserably here although they are still in business in other countries. I would think that with such a short life span in the US their items are less common and as such, more collectible (from a rarity standpoint). Of course, if nobody wants the stuff, then nobody will preserve it - which makes it even harder to find!

BTW - Mama Gruber's Fishouse was another TV failure. They had a drink called The Potwasher with a special mug depicting an old lady (Mama Gruber) carrying a frying pan. When this restaurant closed, the drink was moved to the Senor Pico menu. I don't know if its still served in the Senor Pico restaurants overseas but Oceanic Arts had a whole case full of these mugs.

Here are some images of the mugs:

The Senor Pico ceramic cup. The Honi Honi mug has the same image but in color.

Mama Gruber in all her splendid glory.

PolynesianPop,

In the Trader Vic's Mexican Cookbook which contained recipes from Senor Pico's, there's a photo in the drink section of some neat glasses, including a stunning glass sangria pitcher in the shape of an aztec head. Have you ever seen it? Was it part of the Senor Pico chain's barware?

Sabu

Sabu,
I don't have a copy of TV's Mexican Cookbook so I don't know what the pitcher looks like. I do know however, that Trader Vic's generally uses mugs specifically manufactured for their restaurants. As such, I would assume that if this pitcher was used in their Senor Pico chain of restaurants and depicted in their book, it would be part of the Senor Pico chain's barware.

Do you have a way of posting the page? I would love to see what that picture looks like!

*** * * The Polynesian Popster * * ***

[ Edited by: PolynesianPop on 2002-10-06 10:23 ]

Polynesian Pop,

Here's an ebay link to an issue of "Ladie's Home Journal" from 1973 that has an article on the Senor Pico cookbook. Thought you might be interested in it.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1579188607

Sabu

Sabu,
Thanks for the link. I would be interested in reading the article on Senor Pico's. Maybe I can see if my library has this issue so I don't have to spend any $$$.

While making the rounds this weekend, I came across a Senor Pico menu. Is this the same Senor Pico that was/is owned by Trader Vics? The locations on the menu are San Francisco, Ghiradelli Square, Century City, and Los Angeles. The date on the menu is 1964.

Info on these restaurants seem pretty slim, even on TC. One post by PolyPop says Senor Pico had only two locations, and the only extant SP locations today are overseas. So I am not sure if this is the same Senor Pico.

The cover of the menu (ignore the PMP cup)

Inside the menu. Interestingly, there is an entree called Son-of-a-B***h Stew!

The Tikipedia
www.tikipedia.com

[ Edited by: tikipedia 2007-03-24 20:41 ]

Definitely the same Pico.

Cool menu. I picked up this large, candle holding plate warmer, which I like because of its modernist style:

Seems like Trader Vic's is getting nostalgic for their long lost sibling Mexican restaurant.

They've got limited edition reissues of the Señor Pico double rocks glasses available for order. Apparently this was the glass that held the Pinky Gonzales (aka. the Tequila Mai Tai).

https://shop.tradervics.com/collections/bartending-glassware/products/senor-pico-glass

I had to see how the Pinky Gonzales tasted in the proper glass. :)

It's definitely an adult theme :

And for those of you who can make it to Trader Vic's Emeryville. Apparently they have changed the menu for the entire month of May to half Trader Vic's and half Señor Pico.

http://tradervicsemeryville.com/eat/dinner/

Strange to see Enchiladas and Chimichangas next to "All-in" Fried Rice and 5 Spice Half Duck.

I was thinking about Señor Pico the other day, and wondered if there'd be a post about it here somewhere. I suppose this as good a place to post as any.

I'd wanted to try a Pinky Gonzalez for Cinco de Mayo, but I'm currently out of tequila and was too lazy to go to the liquor store. However, it did get me to start to look around and find this quick walk-through of the one location in Dubai:

https://youtu.be/rnSbzxQUOL4