Hurricane Hopeful, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY (restaurant)

Name:Hurricane Hopeful
Type:restaurant
Street:139 North 6th Street
City:Williamsburg, Brooklyn
State:NY
Zip:10009
country:USA
Phone:718-302-4441
Status:operational

Description:
Smack-dab in the uber hip Williamsburg section of Brooklyn is an interesting new place called 'Hurricaine Hopeful'. Formerly known as 'Carmaya', this place isn't so much a Tiki bar as it is a sort of 'Endless Summer'-esque vintage Ho-Dad surfer bar. In fact it rates 0 on the TiPSY factor, but nonetheless it's worth a mention because it does somehow posess an honest Tiki vibe.

When you get there you'll find a small restaurant/bar with an awning covered in Tiki-hut grass. Inside, the place has several real surfboards suspended from the ceiling on PVC pipe. The authenticity is there. In fact the board that was hanging above my head still had sand on it. I reached up to see and a little sand flaked off wouldn't ya know. The walls are decorated with a combination of various home grown photos of packs of surfers, posters of guys riding waves, and other kinds of miscellaneous grungy 'Moon-dog' surfing experience type memorabilia. While looking around one gets the feel of being in the back of a surf van, or maybe Jeff Spicoli's garage.

Okay here's the straight up tiki part: A drink menu is offered behind the bar with several traditional Tiki drinks. Zombie, Mai-Tai, etc. and another cool sounding drink 'The Polynesian Tour Bus'. I tried the Zombie which was pretty potent. I'll give it high marks because it wasn't too sweet, and had a pretty good kick, but by the same token I gotta knock off a point or two because it wasn't sweet enough. Make sense? It didn't taste wrong...made with apricot brandy, but if I knew I was getting a drink that was a little rough around the edges, I would have asked for a Johnnie Black on the rocks instead of a Zombie if you know what I'm sayin'.

For any Tikiphile that finds themself in the sort of overdone at this point, Boho paradise of Williamsburg, and doesn't mind walking among a crowd of 20-something Strokes and Kings of Leon wannabes, 'Hurricane Hopeful' is worth a visit. Aloha. :drink:

[ Edited by: donhonyc on 2004-06-03 22:13 ]

I like this place, and have been coming here occasionally since 2004. True, it has no Tikis, but it's got more of that Aloha feeling than Otto's or Wally's on Manhattan. Discovering the sign in the middle of Williamsburg's hip bar and restaurant district, is like stumbling upon a hidden gateway to the Pacific.

The place itself has got surfboards in the ceiling and sand on the floor (I wonder how often the change it?), and they were playing Jan and Dean the last time I stopped by.

The drinks were of mid-level standard. No tiki mugs, but the Zombie was served in a rather cheesy female torso.