What is your personal cocktail fave at Trader Vic's Downtown L.A.?

I was wondering which of the many, many offerings at this new mixology haven are favored by Tiki Centralites, and why.

At the Beverly Hills Trader's I liked the Tortuga very much, but I have not tried it downtown yet.

So far, my vote goes to the TIKI PUKA PUKA. With its 151 in it, it is a man's drink, very rich, and rummy, a real sailor's grog.

Of course the name has nothing to do with puking, though I would not recommend more than three of these in one sitting.
It is derived from this lovely South Seas atoll...
http://www.cookislands.org.uk/pukapuka.html

...which was immortalized by Robert Dean Frisbie, the quintessential South Pacific drop out, in his 1929 book entitled (would you believe it ?) "The Book of Puka Puka" :)

Largely forgotten today, Frisbie's writings were required reading for any Polynesiac of the 1930s and 40s, and they were undoubtedly known by Trader Vic.

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki 2009-05-04 12:30 ]

Cool post, I wonder where he hung out? Did he live in So. Cal. Sven?

My favorite? Hmmm Since it's the day after the coolest Kentucky Derby I have ever seen, how about 1st, 2nd & 3rd? First place is the Gun Club Punch . Shot gun shell Gun Club Punch served to me by this lovely wahine made this a clear winner.

Wasn't this Phil's favorite? Oh wait, that was a Navy Grog wasn't it?
Normally I'd say a Mai Tai, that was a close second and a Navy Grog came in third.

I also tried the LA Trader Vic's Big Kahuna served in their signiture mug, flaming drink. Cool mug, different taste.

Unga Bunga, please don't order a flaming drink when you go there. We can't afford another accident like the Kinko incident at the Trader Vic's last year (Except Las Vegas, they are fair game)

I tried two of the drinks from the non-alcoholic section. I had the Coral Reef and the Queen Charlotte Fruit Punch. Out of the two I preferred the Coral Reef. I really appreciate the fact that I can go out and have a beautifully garnished, tasty concoction while I'm not allowed to have any booze. :)

honi-honi-....bourbon never tasted so good in this drink...must steal the recipe when able to...

Here's another first place vote for the Honi Honi.
We were back last night, Sunday, and the Navy Grog is now in second place.
All this could change as we set out to try every drink on the menu in the next few months.:D

Sven, since I am a light weight female drinker your macho Puka Puka drink was out of the question so I tried my all time T. V. favorite the Navy Grog. It was ok but not as good as the ones at Trader Vics in Bev Hills. I tried the Mai Tai and told the bartender to put a lot of fresh lime juice in it, this one I liked. So far my favorite is the Mai Tai. I ended up buying the Mai Tai glass they were using. I posted a picture of it in the Trader Vic Downtown thread.

HA!

I had Puka Puka AND Tortuga at Trader Vic's Chicago tonight.
Two of my faves.
Great minds think alike.

I feel that if the drinks are made properly, it isn't a question of "what drinks do you like at Trader Vic's LA / Chicago / Atlanta / Tokyo / Dubai / etc..."

But rather, which Vic's drinks do you like PERIOD.

They ought to be consistent everywhere.

And more often than not, they are!

Count me in for a Navy Grog, Tortuga, Puka Puka, Munich Sour... anywhere!

As a northeast person with no TV, I hate you all....aw, just kidding.

There's a rumor that the Plaza here in NYC (final location of the former TVNY) may do a TV tribute this summer, possibly at the newly re-opened Oak Bar.

This is both really exciting and really scary...I hope they want to do it right.

I had the Trader Vic's Grog and the Scorpion. Both very good...but the Mai Tai Sven had me try still haunts me. Trader Vic's Mai Tai...there is no equal!

here is my post from the Events area:
"I went last night for the 1st tiki night at Trader Vics.
had a From Scratch Mai Tai, tasted good, but seemed a tad light on the rum.
had a Navy Grog, tasted great, but they used 1 oz. light 1 oz. gold, and 1 oz dark rum. Isn't it supposed to be 3 oz. dark rum? hmmmmmmm???
had the Big Kahuna just to get the mug, the drink was not to my liking at all.
too light to much grenadine, and too much sweet stuff in it.
after 1/3 of it, I asked him to pour it out.
I got a headache from it. "

I must admit that I've only had about 8 to 10 drinks off the menu.
I've always been a Big Fan of the Navy Grog,
and Alfi the old Bartender at the BH TV's said it was one of the strongest.
I will have to give the Tiki Puka Puka another try.

If done right the Mai Tai is great. but Often it tastes too light for me.
I think I got used to Alfi's heavy pours.

looking forward to trying many more drinks at the New Trader Vics.
:)
Jeff(bigtikidude)

On 2009-05-07 10:30, bigtikidude wrote:
had a Navy Grog, tasted great, but they used 1 oz. light 1 oz. gold, and 1 oz dark rum. Isn't it supposed to be 3 oz. dark rum? hmmmmmmm???

Not necessarily. Navy Grog recipes tend to differ from place to place and over time. Currently the Trader Vic web site gives a recipe that calls for 2 oz. dark, 1 oz. silver. I think the TV bartender's guide calls for 1 oz. light, 1 oz. gold and 1 oz. Demerara.

yes and Gator Rob posted this in Gen discussion by Martiki a few years back.

On 2005-09-10 22:07, martiki wrote:
The restauant recipe is juice from 1/2 lime, 3/4 oz grapefruit, dash simple syrup, 1/4-1/3 oz rum grog concentrate, and then the rum. This is where some of the locations differ. Emeryville uses 1 oz silver, 1 oz gold, 1 oz dark- all Trader Vic's brand. SF uses 1 oz gold, 1 oz dark and 1/2-3/4 oz Lemon Hart 151.

Jeff(bigtikidude)
"Where Good Rum is Immortalized, and Drinking is an Art"
"And, When that old "Demon Rum" slips past the lips it still works its ancient,cheerful magic" (Don the Beachcomber)

[ Edited by: bigtikidude 2009-05-07 11:17 ]

Chiming in late as I missed this topic when Sven posted it.

I ordered a Tortuga at Trader Vic's LA on my first visit last Spring and the bartender actually asked me if I had tried it before. He was concerned that I wouldn't like it because of the creme de cacao. But it is one of my favorites also, so I said "don't worry, I'll take it!" I thought it was cool that he asked though.

My other Trader Vic's favorites are (in approximate order from most favorite) the Gun Club Punch, Navy Grog, Honi Honi (a Mai Tai w/bourbon), Samoan Fog Cutter, Tiki Puka Puka, Trader Vic Grog, Mai Tai, Dr. Funk, Funk's Son, Stinker.

[ Edited by: THEJAB 2009-10-02 14:38 ]

I tried the Gun Club Punch last night, and while extremely good, it doesn't de-throne the Navy Grog yet as my favorite.

I'll try the Honi-Honi next visit.

I have this weird pet peeve about Vic's menus that I wish they'd fix someday. On the old menus, in the strong section, it always said "Pirates, Buccaneers, and Beachcombers never bandy with their drinking". Then at some point a few years ago, I saw a new menu show up (probably Emeryville) that said, "Pirates, Buccaneers, and Beachcombers never bandy their drinking". And for whatever reason, this typo has spread to all the new locations, and all the menu reprints at the old locations.

Shoot, I had to look up "bandy" in the dictionary. No longer a common word I guess. Perhaps it should read "bandy about their drinking". I agree, "bandy their drinking" isn't right.

1 : to bat (as a tennis ball) to and fro
2 a : to toss from side to side or pass about from one to another often in a careless or inappropriate manner b : exchange; especially : to exchange (words) argumentatively c : to discuss lightly or banteringly d : to use in a glib or offhand manner —often used with about
3 archaic : to band together

Well, I figured I'd chime in since I actually made it out there on a recent family trip to Disneyland. I had two drinks while I was there, the Big Kahuna (because I wanted the mug) and a Pupule (I think that's how it was spelled). The Pupule was good but nothing spectacular. I really liked the Big Kahuna, enough that I've been trying to recreate it, unsuccessfully. I agree that it was a little light and fruity, but I thought it was great. Anybody have the recipe?

Popped in last night for a couple of cocktails. The place was DEAD, but for the most part so was all of LA Live.

At least it was a quiet relaxing environment, when I was there last it was like a USC Frat party.

The Mai Tai and Navy Grog were pretty good, not great, but pretty good. A lot of the other drinks all seem to taste the same to me. The burgers were very tasty. Happy Hour is a great deal but it's only during the week and ends at 6pm.

Here's question for you all. Does anyone ever ask them to substitute the TV rum with something else? If so what? Will they even do that?

[ Edited by: JOHN-O 2010-03-08 13:30 ]