"temporary" tiki bar coming to minneapolis

sounds like they're going to be crafting up some proper cocktails, albeit in an otherwise nondescript, temporary setting.

http://minneapolis.eater.com/archives/2013/03/05/tiki-bar-coming-to-eat-street-social-patio-this-summer.php

"artisanal tiki bar"

I just threw up in my mouth a little bit.

I wonder what the "decor" of the Artisinal Tiki Bar will look like?

Maybe a Bamboo Fixie on the wall?

It's probably going to be like the weekly Tiki Tuesday nights at 320 Main in Seal Beach, Bar Pink in San Diego or La Descarga in Los Angeles.

Well I know for a fact the food at their sister location is pretty outstanding! Which makes me think they could be in line to do some pretty amazing stuff. I think we would be there all summer...if we hadn't moved 1200 miles away from there 6 months ago.
Dang it.

Didn't the Philadelphia Museum of Art do a temporary tiki bar on a patio last summer?
Oh yeah, there's Exquisite Corpse's post:
http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=43154&forum=4

I don't care what the decor looks like or how hipster their drink lingo is. The fact is these guys know their shit, and the drinks--like the ones at Eat Street Social--will be fantastic.

it's actually a pretty brilliant business model for a bar. reinvent a portion of your drink menu every summer, hitch onto a trend without committing the decor or food, profit!

i feel the same way about the buzzwords "artisanal, craft, house made, etc..." but they've become terms of distinction (as well as marketing) to put out there that you're taking the time to do it right. sure it comes at a price, and people flock based purely on those words regardless of product, but i'm all for businesses taking the time and pride in what they do.

Minneapolis was voted the hipster capitol of the world... :)

I have a wedding to go to in August, so I will happily check it out and tell you what I think.

I am always surprised at how so many of you don't get that this really has nothing to do with "Tiki"
I am all for good food & cocktails, go and enjoy

But a few Tiki torches & some temporary decor, does not a authentic Tiki Bar (new or old) make!

I was critical of "320 Main in Seal Beach" which had good cocktails served in a undecorated room
painted all black with zero ambiance & a DJ playing more electronica then exotica, where is the escapism in that?

The Bahooka is a good example, do we go for the food or cocktails (which are really not great)
or do we go for the experience (which is sublime!)

I have always preferred the history & escapism that the surviving Tiki Palaces & Mid Century dives
offer over these half arsed theme of the week places,
Is that not why we are into the whole Tiki thing in the first place?

I'm a little surprised at how dismissive everyone on this board is of the drink portion of the Tiki experience. Maybe it's because I spent a good chunk of the 1990's in my buddy's Milwaukee home bar slugging drinks from the old Trader Vic book while listening to Les Baxter; but I think the whole tiki thing is 33% decor, 33% music, and 33% drinks. Rare is the place that pulls off all three--the Mai Kai for instance--but there's an awful lot of places that have no clue about the non-decor 66%. Even the Tiki Ti fails miserably in the music part of the equation, but no one would question their excellence. Because DRINKS.

We all owe Beachbum Barry a HUGE debt of gratitude for keeping the drink thing alive--and for that matter inspiring the cocktail renaissance of the last decade. Without the Good Drinks Appreciation part of the equation, the Mai Kai would have been bulldozed years ago.

I feel like I'm talking to myself here--this is the same board where everyone SAVAGED the new Beverly Hills Luau (which had fantastic drinks by the way) because the decor dared to be less than 100% derivative of every Polynesian restaurant you've seen a million times. But that's another topic for another thread... End rant

Quince, Nothing bad about getting a great drink, But it is the history
of the old places, if we are still lucky to have, that is most important
I would say 75% for me, if the food & cocktails are good, then all the better.

But very few new places have that magic, isn't that what we are really here for on TC?
Drinks are a part of it, but not the main focus.....

OK One other thing--why does everyone automatically assume this thing isn't going to look good, just because it's temporary? It might be friggin AWESOME! And then again it might not be. But you don't know until you know. If it's good, it's good, period.

I realize it's so much easier to rip on it from 2000 miles away and 2 months before it opens than to hold the thought in your head that maybe someone, somewhere is doing something enjoyable without consulting the high priests of goddamn Tiki Central.

Yes, preservation is important. But it's a whole lot easier to do if the old places can make a good drink. Eye candy alone is not going to hold the attention of people outside do this forum. It's why Mai Kai lives and Bahooka is dead.

Somebody called me....?

Just different points of view there, buddy
So you go for the cocktails, I go to recapture a lost era.
no one is saying that's a bad thing.

The Bahooka was doing just fine with the non-craft cocktail-savvy regular customers - in fact THAT is why it has lasted so long. There were no cocktailians living in that neighborhood. They closed because they wanted to retire. Talk about passing judgement long distance.

On 2013-03-06 18:15, bigbrotiki wrote:
Somebody called me....?

Your thoughts, Sven....

You're right Sven, I did make an unfair assumption about the Bahooka--sucky drinks didn't close it down. I guess I'm just looking for a little support for the guys who are getting the drinks right. Or at least people not assuming the worst about "outsiders" trying the tiki thing

I think it's ALL GOOD! I have repeatedly stated that Jeff Berry's work has given the Tiki revival its second wind. Not everybody might agree with your percentage count, but it's for each Tiki lover to decide for their priorities.

Recently I was recommending to see Bahooka's cocktails as a interesting, unique history lesson, experiencing live HOW "umbrella drinks" got their bad name - until I was reminded that there are various Chinese establishments on the East coast where that experience can be had easily. :)

My attitude is know what to expect, and love the good and accept the bad.

I support the Tiki menu idea, if that's as far as it goes as long as it's delicious my taste buds can do the escaping for me. If they pull it off right and it sounds like they will maybe it'll stick around longer than just the summer.

I don't know the geography of Minneapolis but couldn't you get a drink at Eat Street Social, then take your picture with the Mary Richards statue and then head over to Psycho Suzi's or Donny Dirk's Zombie Den for more Tiki drinks in a funner atmosphere?

Sounds good to me FLY ME OUT! (~~)

I am with ATP and QAD on this. If it had the old skool Tiki ambiance of the lost era, all good. If the cocktails are great, even better. But, if its lacking one of these which it probably will. Then it is what it is. Like Sven said, except the good and the bad.

I agree fully that the decor should put you in awe when you enter a tiki bar. Entering La Mariana, you think what is all the way back here in the middle of nowhere? And then you walk in and are speechless for 15 minutes looking at every little detail on every tiki. Every tiki bar should make you feel like you have been transported to a strange new land that few people get to experience.

I like drinks too. The Red Dragon's Wonderous Punch fueled many wild nights in Minneapolis. That drink might have made me fall in love with rum drinks.

I don't know how they are going to make it look, but I really doubt it will look cool or authentic. This place is after my time and looks pretty hipster. I don't think that I will like it but I will try to keep an open mind.

My favorite bar in Minneapolis is the Triple Rock. Punk dive bar. They have a bacon night where they offer free all you can eat bacon. No tikis though.

[ Edited by: lunavideogames 2013-03-06 19:57 ]

I for one am super excited about this "temporary tiki bar" that's happening here in the Twin Cities. These guys know how to make cocktails, and i can't wait to down a few of them. Psycho Suzi's drinks are horrendous. They're so bad they've been compared to those grotesque popurri candles. Imagine drinking a really sweet version of one of those things. Yuck is one word that comes to mind. BUT the exotica house band - Exotik-a-GoGo - is fabulous and worth the trip and the decor is very cool. Still i don't go there often because the drinks are so hiddeous, i feel like it's blasphemous and risking the rath of the tiki gods. In other words, we're depserately in the need for an establishment in the Twin Cities that can make Jeff Berry / Martin Cate level Exotic cocktails - even if its only temporary.

On a related note: the drink with the red wine in it was pretty good at the Bahooka.

[ Edited by: I, Zombie 2013-03-07 06:14 ]

On 2013-03-06 17:55, Quince_at_Dannys wrote:
I'm a little surprised at how dismissive everyone on this board is of the drink portion of the Tiki experience. Maybe it's because I spent a good chunk of the 1990's in my buddy's Milwaukee home bar slugging drinks from the old Trader Vic book while listening to Les Baxter; but I think the whole tiki thing is 33% decor, 33% music, and 33% drinks. Rare is the place that pulls off all three--the Mai Kai for instance--but there's an awful lot of places that have no clue about the non-decor 66%. Even the Tiki Ti fails miserably in the music part of the equation, but no one would question their excellence. Because DRINKS.

We all owe Beachbum Barry a HUGE debt of gratitude for keeping the drink thing alive--and for that matter inspiring the cocktail renaissance of the last decade. Without the Good Drinks Appreciation part of the equation, the Mai Kai would have been bulldozed years ago.

I feel like I'm talking to myself here--this is the same board where everyone SAVAGED the new Beverly Hills Luau (which had fantastic drinks by the way) because the decor dared to be less than 100% derivative of every Polynesian restaurant you've seen a million times. But that's another topic for another thread... End rant

It's driving me nuts. What's the other 1%!?

"Temporary Tiki Bar" also could mean "We're testing this, and if it works, there will be more."

Be nice and go easy on these guys. You may be rewarded. If not by them, then possibly by someone else.

On 2013-03-06 14:59, porco wrote:
i feel the same way about the buzzwords "artisanal, craft, house made, etc..." but they've become terms of distinction (as well as marketing) to put out there that you're taking the time to do it right. sure it comes at a price, and people flock based purely on those words regardless of product, but i'm all for businesses taking the time and pride in what they do.

Yes, buzzwords, we must consider coming up with new buzzwords to replace the old suspicious and out-of-favor buzzwords! :) :drink:

On 2013-03-07 04:38, Hale Tiki wrote:

On 2013-03-06 17:55, Quince_at_Dannys wrote:
I'm a little surprised at how dismissive everyone on this board is of the drink portion of the Tiki experience. Maybe it's because I spent a good chunk of the 1990's in my buddy's Milwaukee home bar slugging drinks from the old Trader Vic book while listening to Les Baxter; but I think the whole tiki thing is 33% decor, 33% music, and 33% drinks. Rare is the place that pulls off all three--the Mai Kai for instance--but there's an awful lot of places that have no clue about the non-decor 66%. Even the Tiki Ti fails miserably in the music part of the equation, but no one would question their excellence. Because DRINKS.

We all owe Beachbum Barry a HUGE debt of gratitude for keeping the drink thing alive--and for that matter inspiring the cocktail renaissance of the last decade. Without the Good Drinks Appreciation part of the equation, the Mai Kai would have been bulldozed years ago.

I feel like I'm talking to myself here--this is the same board where everyone SAVAGED the new Beverly Hills Luau (which had fantastic drinks by the way) because the decor dared to be less than 100% derivative of every Polynesian restaurant you've seen a million times. But that's another topic for another thread... End rant

It's driving me nuts. What's the other 1%!?

Softness of the toilet paper.

I used to be the ultimate tiki purist when I first joined this forum, so I applaud the Quixotic tendencies of someone like Atomic Tiki Punk. Having said that, I stopped insisting and stopped looking for the real tiki scene and culture as demonstrated in bigbro’s books. That culture does not exist anymore, and in my opinion, has not really been duplicated by the neo tiki scene. Let’s face it: we have a culture here that bears little resemblance to the original poly pop scene. Believe me, it does not! Of course, my area of specialty is in music…so that for me is where I start my comparisons. Rock is not a part of the original tiki scene. Neither is burlesque, kar Kulture, hot rods, punk, surf, rockabilly or garage rock. All those things were definitely of the MCM era, but they were part of the youth culture. The kennedy generation, whereas the original tiki was part of the Eisenhower generation. After I realized that, I sort of gave up. Now I no longer look for authenticity except in my private outlook. Furthermore, if someone wants to start something up that is not tiki, but says it is…who are we to judge at this point? That’s the pot calling the kettle black.
Interestingly, I now point my efforts to finding modern day comparisons to the lounge culture of the 50’s and 60’s. And believe me, I find them in the weirdest places, and none of those places are tiki. What I am looking for now is not so much the authenticity, but the sentiment. For example, I find that there are cocktails that exist today that did not exist then, but are just as good for different reasons. I also find music today that is created by musicians that if transplanted back in time, would have been part of the easy listening music scene of the 50’s and 60’s.
In another thread (perhaps by john-o?) it was posited that the direct descendants of tiki music were in fact, artists like Baja marimba, Tijuana brass and Sergio mendes. My opinion is that what came next was smooth jazz and crossover jazz, as well as world music and so-called new age music. I am not sure where it went after that, but I am sure that rock has no place in it. Tiki culture (and most cocktail culture) was not a youth movement. It was the “yuppies” of that time that were the main adherents, not the long haired hippy youth or even punkers.
As to “craft” beverages, I don’t look down my nose at them. Hell, I can’t stand Budweiser, miller and coors, finding them to be disgusting tasting. All the craft beers I have ever had have been great, same goes for wines and spirits.

As to tiki restaurants, it’s true that a great many of them went out of business because the food sucked, and the service was lousy. Nowadays, I go to places that are not tiki, but capture the same spirit….it’s hard to define what I mean, but I know it when I see it. Theme bars, colorful lights, architecture, cool furniture…there are a lot of modern day analogues if you know where to look!

End rant.

On 2013-03-06 17:55, Quince_at_Dannys wrote:
I think the whole tiki thing is 33% decor, 33% music, and 33% drinks. Rare is the place that pulls off all three--the Mai Kai for instance

you know, i asked this question a while ago:

On 2012-05-22 18:51, porco wrote:
At the hukilau this year, one of the presenters (my apologies for forgetting) mentioned that there are only three variations of facial expressions found in tiki carving/gods/idols. I forgot what they were, any help?

i think i've finally found my answer. the faces i was looking for were in fact the hawaiian gods Kane/Kanaloa, Ku, and Lono. as it turns out, these guys represented a primitive rating system for the quality of a proper tiki establishment. follow me here....

Kane: the god of creation, father of all living creatures, fresh water, and to a lesser known extent, cocktails. cocktails being the cornerstone and common bond of most declared tiki establishments, their creation, prominence, and quality are all oft attributed to the god Kane.

Ku: the most misunderstood due to his lust for noise, chaos, and mayhem was thought to be the god of war. in reality, he was just a big fan of music. his elements are key in the atmosphere created within an establishment, its mood setting, and subsequent ability to summon ones inner warrior to the dance floor.

Lono: god of growing things and harvest was obviously responsible for the food. simple dishes of renamed chinese fare can all be traced back though the ages as blessings from the great Lono.

then there's Kanaloa...

Kanaloa is often associated with the duties of Kane. as the story goes, the big gods "spit out" these four guys to work their magic in each of their respective domains. the result? kick ass tiki bars/restaurants. the problem? the big gods did not like all the fun these guys were having, and said "no more booze!". Kanaloa said "screw that!" and led these guys on a rebellion for the liberation of libations. the big gods squashed that, and banished them to the underworld.

if one god did more work than the other, or one decided to take the day off, mankind would argue about which god was most important. only when the gods chose to work in harmony was all right with the world.

On 2013-03-06 15:41, Atomic Tiki Punk wrote:

I was critical of "320 Main in Seal Beach" which had good cocktails served in a undecorated room
painted all black with zero ambiance & a DJ playing more electronica then exotica, where is the escapism in that?

To be fair, it was never 320 Main's goal to create a Tiki atmosphere as far as decor goes; it's just not in their business model to be that kind of place. Their intent was to present extremely accurate renditions of classic Tiki cocktails, under the direction of owner Jason Schiffer and Matt "Rumdood" Robold, using recipes from Beach Bum Berry and Martin Cate, amongst others. And they were quite successful in doing so.

As the guy who provided the music, though, I take extreme exception to being accused of playing even one note of "electronica." That's just abjectly incorrect. I have copies of playlists for every night, and they show that the majority of the music played those evenings was in fact classic exotica with a few modern bands like Combustible Edison, Ape, Waitiki and Tikiyaki Orchestra thrown in. None of which I'd call "electronica" under any circumstance.

It's just uncool that you found it necessary to embellish to make your point.

Ken

We stopped in at Eat Street Social about a week ago during our trip to Minneapolis. No sign of the temporary outdoor bar yet. When we asked about it, our bartender said they were finalizing the drink menu but it didn't sound like there's any planned opening date yet. Apparently the wet weather hasn't created any urgency (we had a pretty good hail storm during our stop there.)

It also was not open when I was there. Something to do with permits. Now they are building a tiki bar inside their establishment. Here is an article about it and the craft cocktail movement in Minneapolis.

http://m.startribune.com/?id=221682081

This place is now open in the back of Eat Street Social. My friends just went there so I will let you know what they thought of it.

They didn't really mention the décor, except to say, "not really what I am looking for in a tiki place." So I would assume that it wasn't over the top. They really liked the mugs that you got to drink out of. I guess they serve their drinks in Tiki Farm mugs (hopefully not the rip offs) and everyone loved that. They say the rum selection was very good. They didn't have many of the classic staple tiki bar drinks that you would hope to find though, mostly just their own recipes with no Zombies or Navy Grogs. My friend who is into tiki drinks said he drank Cuba Libres all night with Smith and Cross. Another friend rated it 5 out of 8, whatever that means.

So it is now open. Someone should go and give it a try and write a personal review about it.

I don't like the name of the place and I can't get over it. Eat Street Social?

tried to go in but a friend i was with said there was a private party in there. it has a tiki which is sufficient to qualify as a tiki bar to me. i don't know anything about drinks beyond they should come in a Polynesian ceramic mug anyway...