Delmonico's, Mexico City , Mexico (restaurant)

Name:The Red Rhinoceros
Type:bar
Street:Londres 87
City:
State:
Zip:
country:Mexico
Phone:
Status:defunct

Description:
Upstairs bar inside the Delmonico's restaurant.

[ Edited by: Zeta 2010-03-25 06:35 ]

Vintage Postcard from the restaurant

Zeta, how is this Tiki?

Hakalugi, man of little faith, have I failed you before?

Review from a 1964 AAA Mexico travel guide

I think you're pushing it with this one.

Are those Tiki mugs on the table? It's very hard to tell in that photo. Can you zoom in on that portion? Are there Tikis in the restaurant/bar? Tropical decor?

The travel guide review says "exotic drinks". That alone is not really enough for inclusion here.

Oh "Exotic Drinks" ok then here are the Locations for the TGI Fridays in Mexico City so you won't need to enter them in Locating Tiki.

I took a long time to ponder and reflect about if I should post this place on TC because I really don't want to fill it with tikiless spam topics and ruin my "reputation" by doing so. I truly believe this place was really something (tiki). I never went there, but when I ask about old exotic theme bars in Mexico city, many people mention this place as "exotic and weird" like Mauna Loa,

I thought the same about those mugs on the table, but I am not sure and I don't own that postcard which is for sale on ebay right now:
http://shop.ebay.com/i.html?_nkw=delmonico+mexico&_sacat=0&_odkw=delmonico&_osacat=0&_trksid=p3286.c0.m270.l1313#

I have no idea how this bar looked like and that's why I posted it here, hopefully someone someday will find something somewhere. What I DO know, is that it was exotic and served exotic drinks in exotic mugs and that the owners had something to do with the Mauna Loa bar that was close by...

Whoa! Bora Boris! Why the hostility?!?!

And anyway, I don't see any "exotic drinks" mentioned on your rude comment above!

Well, count me as one person who'd like to see more info on Delmonico's and the bar (bars?) inside. I have a menu from the "Otros 4 Ases" (or, Four Aces More) which is apparently a cocktail bar inside Delmonico's, at the same address as this Red Rhino. I wonder what's the relationship. Perhaps Delmonico's itself should be the title for the Locating topic.

Probably several of the illustrious TC paper collectors have the Otros 4 Ases menu. I just scanned it the other night, to possibly post somewhere (I was thinking maybe the crypto mug thread). The drink renderings are more whimsical and less realistic than your typical menu. Kind of Vip-style mini-comics. In fact, quite a few appear as clip art in the original Grog Log, and VERY recognizable. I think Jeff and Annene had a couple collaborators who helped on gathering the little graphics for the Grog Log - I forget who they were, but it might have been Otto.

Anyway, this is a place that would be fun to learn more about, and especially see more imagery. I've never heard of the Red Rhino before though, and that name appears nowhere on the menu (other than the shared location at Delmonico's).

-Randy

On 2009-04-08 07:14, Zeta wrote:

Vintage ad.

On 2010-03-18 09:14, Zeta wrote:
Whoa! Bora Boris! Why the hostility?!?!

Hostility? Nah just taking precautions. If you would have put your follow up information in the original post then maybe I wouldn't have said anything but I agree with Hakalugi that "Exotic Drinks" is not enough. Why not present all your information at once, instead of having it trickle in slowly? Also being owned by the people who owned the Mauna Loa isn't really enough, Trader Vic's Señor Pico isn't in Locating Tiki and it shouldn't be. I think it's great those guys had other business interests but that doesn't make those places Locating Tiki material, however an entry in Beyond Tiki would be fine.

Didn't you retire from Tiki Central a few days ago?

:cry:

Don't let these guys run you off again, Zeta. Your contributions and your diligence to urban archeology are appreciated. You just filed this in the wrong place. La Descarga isn't Tiki, either. It's a Cuban rum bar in Hollywood, but it's got it's own thread in BEYOND TIKI which is where this report would have been better suited. We just need to move it. :)

Done!

Holy guacamole! That was quick!
Gracias Grog! but I think this place was something between a tiki bar and a "Safari bar" I just need to find the evidence... La Descarga doesn't serve drinks in exotic mugs, right? This place did... My instinct tells me this place had some tikis in it's decoration... But I am OK with moving this thread to Beyond Tiki anyway.
And don't worry, I won't leave Tiki Central again for a while, actually, I'm saving to become a grand member. I don't get easily offended and I don't take comments on TC to heart... the only thing that makes my blood boil is when someone steals my credit. Whatever... :)

Here are the cocktail menu scans from Delmonico's restaurant in Mexico. I realized just now that "otros 4 ases" is just a title for the back page, referring to the 4 additional drinks listed there (as opposed to a name of a bar, as I was guessing earlier). No mention of the Red Rhino bar here, so this is probably the cocktail menu for the restaurant.

The motto on the front is great ("Work is the curse of the drinking classes"), and the humor is evident all over the menu. Like how the "Last Will and Testament" drink is intended for "4 heirs". I wonder if they served the drinks in these shaped vessels - volcano bowl, depth charge, jibaro, pinata, and whatever that shape is for the Kon-Tiki. That one might even be a "crypto mug."

It's a tall and narrow menu, so this post will be a tall tale. As I mentioned earlier, Grog Log readers will recognize many of these illustrations. I'm still not sure why this topic was singled out as something that has to be moved to Beyond, but so be it.

Front cover:

Inside:

Back cover ("Four Aces More"):

-Randy

Awesome! Mucho mahalo aquarj!!
I think this thread should go back to the locating tiki forum as fast as it was removed from there.

From the Crypto-mugs thread:

On 2010-03-19 07:18, woofmutt wrote:
"With the whimsical nature of the illos on this menu, there's less of a case for the existence of real-world counterparts."

I've encountered (but never bought) the Jamaica Bamboo mug several times:

It's made from a piece of bamboo with woodburned designs. I assumed they were from Jamaica and would guess the hotel used mugs made for use in Jamaica.

This vessel:

Looks like one of those 1950s fiberglass planters/cache pots in a metal stand filled with ice and a container for the booze nested in the ice. (The drink is meant for four people and the image implies the metal stand is sitting on the floor.)

As someone pointed out above the artist renderings on these various menus usually stuck close to the actual mug designs. Based on that and known existence of other vessels on the Delmonico's menu I'd say the Kon-Tiki mug probably existed.

Zeta, change the name of this thread to indicate Delmonico's and we'll get this back into "Locating Tiki".

Randy, thanks for the compelling evidence.

Zeta, if you change the name to Delmonico's, then while we're at it I had a question for you. Any idea what's up with the prices? Dollars? And huge numbers at that, like $75 for the "Last Will"? I had to assume this is an old menu, so do you know anything about Mexican restaurants in the 60s that would explain those prices?

-Randy

Hey Randy, I am not sure how expensive this drinks where, but I assure you they where not cheap. This place was top notch... Maybe if you give me the year of the Menu I could try to figure it out...
Now I have a question for everyone...
What was the name of the other bar inside Delmonico's? I don't know, I am not teasing you...

1962 Travel magazine review