Chicago... what's up with this?

Looks like trendy tiki to me after surfing their website...

Didn't see anything "tiki" about the place, decor or otherwise...

http://www.lepassage.tv/index2.html

[ Edited by: Lake Surfer 2005-07-06 07:59 ]

I don't know what to call it. "Tiki" does not come to mind, that's for sure.

PapeToaTane
[email protected]
"The deepest circle of hell is reserved for betrayers and mutineers." Captain Jack Sparrow

[ Edited by: PapeToaTane 2005-07-06 08:03 ]

I've heard about this place, but we have never been there. It's an upscale club in the Gold Coast. They apparently have a bartender of note who makes very good tropical drinks. No real Tiki decor that I know of. We have not gone if for no other reason than we figure we can have dinner and drinks at the Chef for what a few cocktails would cost there. Maybe someone should go on a recognizance mission and report back.
-Duke

On 2005-07-06 08:43, boutiki wrote:
They apparently have a bartender of note who makes very good tropical drinks.

Yes, it says on their website that they have a 40 year veteran bartender of Chicago's Trader Vic's... seems they dedicated a whole bar to him at this place...

I still fail to see the tiki theme... even though they call it that... oh well.

hmmm...never been there, but while at the barefoot hawaiians 2nd annual recital in des plaines last month, i plucked a flyer off their merch table that mentioned a new place coming in the ohare area that will be called tiki terrace, and will be a restaurant,bar,entertainment venue, i belive it will be owned or made up by the guy who does barefoot hawaiians prop tiki rentals.....anyone know anymore info on this?...duke?amy?james?krys?anyone????

....on another funny note, someone at the canoe club was emailing their pr person, and for some odd reason included my address in the email, at the end of which was a link to the reviews of that place here on tiki central!!!...so big brother is watching!...lol!...seriously though, i hope they take the suggestions from the review pages seriously, they have some cool stuff in there, but its no hala,chef,traider,or tongs....

I did do a reconnaissance mission to this place in 2002.
It is in Tiki Road Trip, on page 117.

The scoop is:
As predicted above, this is an uber-trendy, expensive Gold Coast night club with nothing Tiki about it whatsoever.
EXCEPT: they got an ex-Trader Vic's bar tender to design a drink menu, and for a while he (David Yow) was tending bar there once in a while.

Avoid this place at all costs.

Surly bouncers with walkie talkies, velvet rope, $20-ish cover charge, can't get in without being dressed in trendy fashions, everyone posing trying to seem like money.... it'll make you gag.

There's a reason why this place was not approached for Exotica this year, or any other!

Oh, and the deal with Tiki Terrace is just the opposite: Scott Zuziak who runs the Fires of Polynesia performance troupe (which includes the Barefoot Hawaiian dancers, Samoan musicians, and the props his company builds... 12-foot high moai, etc) is opening this place. He signed the lease this week.

He has been talking to me a lot latley, asking advice on drinks, music, decor, etc, and I truly think he is going to do this place right. If the reality is half what he is talking about, Tiki Terrace is going to do us proud.

The space isn't huge, but he's got all the right ideas and the vibe should be perfect.

Hopefully!

[ Edited by: tikibars 2005-07-06 09:36 ]

It must be so "underground" (secret) that they don't have tikis so only those "in the know" will know they are in a tiki bar! Not that IS underground!!! :wink:

On 2005-07-06 07:58, Lake Surfer wrote:
Looks like trendy tiki to me after surfing their website...

Didn't see anything "tiki" about the place, decor or otherwise...

http://www.lepassage.tv/index2.html

[ Edited by: Lake Surfer 2005-07-06 07:59 ]

With people stinkin' up the joint like pictured below, I'll never ever go!

Everything Tiki at: http://www.bartiki.com

Visit http://www.tiki-mug.com for The Art of Polynesian Pop

[ Edited by: Tiki Matt 2005-07-06 14:54 ]

TIKI meets Hooters!!!!! Zazz or Razz?

On 2005-07-06 14:54, Tiki Matt wrote:
With people stinkin' up the joint like pictured below, I'll never ever go!

After freezing all winter, these kind of things pop up in Chicago all over the place to attract a summer drinking crowd. It is more for yuppies, college kids, and people that just turned 21-- and they just go to get very drunk, to get laid, and then to get a very bad hangover. Basically, if the ad looks like a spa, you won't like it and it will be too expensive. If the ad looks like Hooters, it will be very annoying with people shouting into their cell phones.

On 2005-07-06 16:15, EsQui wrote:
they just go to get very drunk, to get laid, and then to get a very bad hangover.

Well, reduced to that level, it doesn't sound so bad...!

With a name like "Le Passage" . . . .

and yet French Polynesia does NOT come to mind.

Oh GOd...Oh GOd...turn the music off.

Oh.... BARF!!!

This reminds me of (what could be a) very cool place in downtown Orlando called "Waitiki." We played there a year and a half ago, and it was tiki in DECOR ONLY. Everything else about it was rich kids spending daddy's money getting plowed on martini's and cosmo's, and lookin' to hook up. HATED IT...

Too bad, because I loved the decor, and had really high hopes (not this joint -- the place in Orlando, that is).

http://www.critiki.com/cgi-bin/location.cgi?loc_id=490

T

[ Edited by: Kanekila 2006-02-07 06:26 ]

Hi Sailor, new in town? Buy a girl a drink?

Ewww....gross...

Maybe they call it "underground" because the bartender can make such great tropical drinks? I don't know, just a guess. Looks like the word "tiki" is out of place though, well for people like us that is. I would rather throw on a Hawaiian shirt over a T-shirt and hang loose with my friends.

On 2006-02-07 14:58, Basement Kahuna wrote:
Ewww....gross...

I second that...