Tikiphiles Unite in Austin, TX

Thanks for the heads-up, Hulacat. I'll tune in on-line.

Heelgrinder.....Speaking of Mai Tais...It's hard to find a good one. The best MTs, in my experience, were made by expert mixologist David Chan, former bartender at the original TV in DC. He made Navy Grogs for Nixon in the 70's! David and wife Anna were the owners of the now dearly departed Honolulu Restaurant in Alexandria, Virginia. After the Honolulu was closed, the Chans patented an excellent Mai Tai mix now available on their website: http://www.time2tiki.com.

Fortunately, Dobrolic makes a superb MT-which after several tasting parties-is very, very close to the Honolulu's magical elixir.

Check out the late, great Honolulu: http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=939&forum=1&vpost=7078&hilite=honolulu%20restaurant,%20alexandria
Hulacat

a good mai tai MIX? wow, i'd be willing to give it a shot.

everytime i make mai tais by my favorite recipe, they are really good but just ridiculously strong (right, Formika?)! which can be a good thing depending on if you don't have to drive!

last time i checked though, Terrible Bartender at El Tropicano, orange JUICE is not an ingredient in a mai tai. maybe she thinks orange juice and curacao are the same :wink:

[ Edited by: heelgrinder 2008-07-31 11:42 ]

That Dave & Anna's mix is very good...it's been a while since I've had it but I liked it better than Trader Vic's. Still, when made properly, nothing beats the original Mai Tai recipe.

Of course, the one thing that makes or breaks a Mai Tai is the RUM. Since I'm heading to Austin this weekend, I'll be stocking up on all the St. James Martinique I can get my hands on (it's not available anywhere in my part of TX). It's a crime that so many bars combine some kind of fruit juice with Bacardi and call it a Mai Tai. I never order them when I'm out because it's a guarantee it will be absolute crap.

Looking forward to seeing / meeting everyone on Saturday...now if we could just get this crowd to come to Dallas once a year...

Ted/Dobrolic- That was a killer radio show yesterday. Loved the tunes and your voice is smooth like... good sipping rum. Thanks for the shout-out about Saturday. I'm definitely going to have to check out your show again. I love all that kind of music. Every Wed 11-12 right?

Kenike- There is a Spec's very very near where you're staying, in case they have what you need.

If anyone still needs the address or other info, don't forget to PM me. I won't be checking my email very much on Saturday. Can't wait!

Aloha!

On 2008-07-31 17:26, Kenike wrote:
Of course, the one thing that makes or breaks a Mai Tai is the RUM. Since I'm heading to Austin this weekend, I'll be stocking up on all the St. James Martinique I can get my hands on (it's not available anywhere in my part of TX).

Are you planning to take out a second mortgage first? St. James has gotten PRICEY. The last time I checked, Hors d'Age was going for $46 at Spec's. One of the local shops had it marked at $55.

On 2008-07-31 19:54, Austin_Tiki wrote:
Are you planning to take out a second mortgage first? St. James has gotten PRICEY. The last time I checked, Hors d'Age was going for $46 at Spec's. One of the local shops had it marked at $55.

WHOA, that's about double what it was last time I bought it. We'll see what Specs has to offer and then I'll make a decision. It would be nice to find some Lemon Hart too.

On 2008-08-01 06:03, Kenike wrote:

On 2008-07-31 19:54, Austin_Tiki wrote:
Are you planning to take out a second mortgage first? St. James has gotten PRICEY. The last time I checked, Hors d'Age was going for $46 at Spec's. One of the local shops had it marked at $55.

WHOA, that's about double what it was last time I bought it. We'll see what Specs has to offer and then I'll make a decision. It would be nice to find some Lemon Hart too.

They have Lemon Hart for about $18.

If you're going to buy some St. James, don't make the same mistake I did choose the Extra Old to save a few bucks. Hors d'Age is expensive, but the marginal cost difference is well worth the huge difference in taste.

On 2008-08-01 07:24, Austin_Tiki wrote:
If you're going to buy some St. James, don't make the same mistake I did choose the Extra Old to save a few bucks. Hors d'Age is expensive, but the marginal cost difference is well worth the huge difference in taste.

Just don't get the cheapest of the three St. James varieties, Royal Ambre.
It doesn't deserve that St. James name!

Lately I have been using Brugal in Mai Tais, and I find it a good and affordable choice for this drink.

The St. James Hors d'Age at the Specs in Houston was about $38, the last time I bought it.

It is soooo worth it. Just opening the bottle smells like "Mai Tai" to me.
Seriously.

But Tikibars, I'm glad to hear of a great substitute! Much grass!

Now, what to wear tomorrow.........????
F

Which Brugal? The Anejo?

We're getting ready to head up to Austin! I made a special CD as a gift for Koitiki and as a commemoration of our first Austin Tiki Roundup, but I will make it available for download with the cover here, so if any of you attendees like it you'll be able to get it here! I'll put it up tomorrow.

Thanks for a WONDERFUL time, Koitiki! Your home is beautiful, and the Enchanted Lagoon was paradise! It was so great to meet so many local TCers.

I'd love to see some pictures because regrettably I didn't take any.

But, as promised, I have uploaded the songs and the cover design for the 1st Annual Texas Tiki Roundup, and you can get it here!

http://rapidshare.com/files/134830379/texas_tiki_roundup_2008.zip

(***NOTE: this link wasn't working earlier, but has now been fixed)

Enjoy! And Koitki, mucho mahalo to you and your husband for one of the best evenings I've enjoyed since the Hukilau!

[ Edited by: heelgrinder 2008-08-04 12:12 ]

A big thanks to Koitiki for hosting such a fun evening. It was great meeting y'all and I look forward to more get-togethers in the future.

Lovely LOVELY time, Koitiki and Dane!

Mucho fun meeting the newer Texas Tikiphiles, and even better getting to see Chez Koitiki! I'm feeling especially lucky, because I got to swim in that gorgeous pool both last night and this morning.

Folks, it was even better in the hot sun.

I'm so glad so many came from Austin, and even happier that so many made the 3 and 4 hour drives from their various cities in the Lone Star State (even Heelgrinder and Scott, whose hour drive from San Antonio turned into a 4 traffic hour nightmare - Yikes!). I LOVE TEXAS TIKI FOLK! We got some real goodies! Thanks to everyone for making this such a success.

Now we gotta get this kind of turnout (especially from Dallas folks) at the next Dallas Trader Vic's gathering!!

F

Koitiki - Many Maholos for the wonderful party! Your home and the enchanted lagoon earn a double Me-wow. We had a great time meeting everyone we hadn't met at the Dallas TV gatherings. Loved seeing ya'll in your finest tiki-inspired threads too. Thank you also to Crash and Lars for the cool door prizes. Looking forward to the next event....perhaps in San Antonio...there are rumors.
Hulacat

Monica and I want to add our thanks to Koitiki and Dane for the hard work of putting this event together, and for allowing us to spend a few hours in another world - their appropriately named Enchanted Lagoon. It's the backyard space we all dream of. Also, thanks to all those who helped with door prize donations, food, booze and drink mixing, etc. It was a wonderful, memorable party and experience, in so many different ways.
What a great turn-out! We saw several familiar faces from the Dallas TV's meet-ups, met several new folks, and are looking forward to the next Texas event, whatever and wherever it might be.
I know Kenike will have some good pictures posted soon, but here's a few 'cheap camera' pictures, to tide us over.

Door Prize Table - paintings by Crash, Lars, and items donated by Formikahini:

The beautiful salt water hot tub and pool (no chlorine odor, but beware of sharks!) were soon filled with partiers:

Koitiki and Kenike - the Austin/Dallas Tiki Axis:

Lars (SwampCreature) and Monica:

[ Edited by: Limbo Lizard 2009-07-30 09:42 ]

Great pics! That last one must have been right before I did the face-plant into the table. Many thanks to Julie for such a wonderful evening, it really was a blast! It was a real pleasure to meet everyone, and I look forward to meeting up again. But I think I'll stay away from the painkillers next time.

Definitely was a magical evening…

Huge Mahalos to Koitiki and family for inviting us to your beautiful home, Crash and SwampCreature for donating some of their artwork, and everyone involved in the preparation (and cleanup) for such a fantastic event.

I have to say the mood was perfect…sipping tropical drinks poolside listening to Martin Denny at sunset…It doesn’t get any better than that (at least not in TX). The drinks, food, music…all perfect. Koitiki lives far enough away from the city so that city lights didn’t lessen the view of a perfect night sky. It’s been quite a while since I’ve seen the constellations so vividly, add to that the tropical setting of Koitiki’s Enchanted Lagoon…man oh man, almost too much to ask for.

I’m still editing the pictures I took but wanted to hurry and post a few now while it’s all still fresh in our minds. These are the “safe” ones…I managed to capture a few special moments with some drunken bikinis and someone pre-faceplant-into-the-table as mentioned in the previous post.

Pronounced keh-NEE-kay

[ Edited by: Kenike 2008-08-04 12:41 ]

The link in my post above is now working, for anyone who had trouble downloading the original CD. sorry 'bout that!

On 2008-08-04 10:33, SwampCreature wrote:
That last one must have been right before I did the face-plant into the table... I think I'll stay away from the painkillers next time.

OK, but they were working, because you were definitely feeling no pain. Now, Sunday morning, you may have discovered a few boo-boos. :)
Since you brought it up, I'll admit that I've enjoyed Monica's detailed recounting of the incident. Such as,
"Somehow, his hand got stuck in my shoe (a strapped sandle) and I couldn't get it out. I was afraid he was going to hurt his fingers. I finally had to take my shoe off to get his hand untangled."
It goes on,... the stuff of tiki party legend.

Oh man, that is funny as hell!! Yet another thing I don't remember from that night.

Wow! It looks like y'all had a great time. Koitiki, congrats on your beautiful place too. All those Texas Roses too, gotta love 'em.

I really wish we could have gone.
We'll try to shoot for next year!

Thanks folks for all the kind words about the Enchanted Lagoon. We have put some work into it and it feels good to know you enjoy it as much as we do. I had a great time Saturday and was overwhelmed by the fact that so many made the trip here and by the generosity of the ohana. I got fantastic help from Crash, Formikahini, MartiniTiki, and Maholio. Crash was incredibly generous to donate three paintings for door prizes. Lars donated one too and loaned me a few tikis he had carved for added ambience. Formika brought a ton of fun things too. Heelgrinder- that CD was too cool, and I love the cover art. House of Koitiki. Yeah! Thanks to everyone who brought food and drinks to share. Highlights include Austin Tiki's Nui Nuis and Hulacat's Spring Rolls. I also must say I will be filled with shame to ever give anyone a set of scented soaps again after the lovely hostess gifts we received. We're going to have to have another party to drink all the booze we got! Anyway, I had a blast and my only regret is that I didn't get to talk more to each tikiphile.
Here's a few more pics:

The food stylings of Formikahini

And as the sun sets over the Enchanted Lagoon... Aloha til next time!

Wow.... this looked wonderful! Sorry I missed it. I'm catching up on all the Dallas/Texas notes and see if anything is happening in the coming months. I'm heading out to Traders again tomorrow...

Blixathecat (Sean)

On 2008-08-03 19:23, Formikahini wrote:
Lovely LOVELY time, Koitiki and Dane!

I'm so glad so many came from Austin, and even happier that so many made the 3 and 4 hour drives from their various cities in the Lone Star State (even Heelgrinder and Scott, whose hour drive from San Antonio turned into a 4 traffic hour nightmare - Yikes!). I LOVE TEXAS TIKI FOLK! We got some real goodies! Thanks to everyone for making this such a success.

Now we gotta get this kind of turnout (especially from Dallas folks) at the next Dallas Trader Vic's gathering!!

F

In case anyone didn't get a look at the large paintings Crash brought to the party:

This one is going to live in my tiki room. Thanks Crash!

Wow, those are beautiful, I must of missed them at the party. She really is a great artist.

Finally got the scoop on the "tiki" bar on 6th St. Sorry for the crappy cell phone pic.

It's called Malaia. We didn't stay long, just looked, so this is my 5 minute impression. It's very similar to Pangaea, melding a sort of bamboo/tropical/exotic/African/tribal thing with a sort of ultra-modern thing. It's worth a look to check it out, but definitely not tiki in our sense of a tiki bar. It's a dance club with several floors. Walls are covered in bamboo and the DJ booth in matting. Several framed tiki masks right when you walk in. HUGE black mask over the bar with glowing red eyes and stick hair. Elephant head sconces with orange flicker bulbs. Bar front faced with modern sculptural ivory colored panels. Techno music pumping loudly. So there you have it.

that's a pretty awesome sunset on the previous page!

On 2008-08-26 20:07, RevBambooBen wrote:
that's a pretty awesome sunset on the previous page!

Thanks Ben! We get quite a few of those. The neighbors even call me with sunset alerts to make sure I don't miss one. :) If you like that one, here are a few more of my faves from the balcony.

For the Austinites reading this: Please support your local musicians on Oct.7 during HAAM Benefit Day!
http://www.healthallianceforaustinmusicians.org/innerpage.php?pageid=173
HAAM provides financial assistance with medical and dental needs for uninsured local musicians. Sponsors donate 5% to HAAM on Oct. 7. Check website for list of sponsors and show schedule. It's a great cause!
I am working this event. If anyone would like to meet up for drinks and/or more music at the end of my shifts that evening, PM me if you're interested. Right now it looks like my last band might be changing, but I'll have more complete info later.

What a great party, wonderful setting at your beautiful home! The lagoon pool = unbelievable! Can't wait for the 2009 luau party. Thank you Koitiki and Dane.

...speaking of which, here's the link back to the 2009
2nd Annual Texas Tiki Round-up thread.
See ya'll there, Dobrolic!

We are in count-down mode now ....!!!!!! Can't wait until Saturday for the 2009 luau party!