Coral Reef - Sacramento CA

Hey Everyone. I've been lurking for quite awhile now, and finally decided to join.

I grew up in Sacramento California, and have very fond memories of the Coral Reef restaurant. It would always be a big deal when we went to the Coral Reef, and we had a number of large family events here. Sadly, the Coral Reef is long gone.... I was wondering if anyone had any pictures of it. I remember the outside having a cool tiki out front.

Also, after closing, the Sacramento Bee posted the recipe for their Mai Tai's, which were pretty famous in Sacramento. Does anyone happen to have this recipe? Pretty much any info would be great, I can't seem to find anything online and want to take a trip down memory lane. Thanks!!!

[ Edited by: Tangaroa Ru 2008-12-16 16:58 ]

All I got.

Welcome aboard there Tangaroa Ru,

I have a postcard with a nice interior shot of the Coral Reef which is pretty common, you should be able to find one on ebay etc. There is also a napkin and another matchbook floating around out there. Nothing on the Mai Tai recipe however. Keep up the search and post when you find it.

DC

Thanks for the pics everyone! I'm going to be visiting the fam for the holidays, I'll ask my folks if they have the Mai Tai recipe as well. Hope so!!

Okay, now this is going to get just too confusing.

There's already thee Tangaroa
http://www.tikicentral.com/bb_profile.php?mode=view&user=152

AND a Tangaroa-Ru
http://www.tikicentral.com/bb_profile.php?mode=view&user=5343

Let alone the other Tangaroa variations
http://www.tikicentral.com/bb_memberlist.php (plug Tangaroa into the search box to see)

Maybe Hanford will start allowing us to define specific font colors for our user names 'cause pretty soon I'm not gonna know whose post is whose (as if I already do...).

Nevertheless, welcome Tangaroa Ru.

I was there a couple times but don't remember the restaurant part of it. I just remember the bar with fish nets & various stuffed fish hanging from the ceiling and walls. It had been there on Fulton Ave. for a very long time. I wish now that I had gone in more often.

Coral Reef should have been saved as a Sacramento landmark.

Lauren at Swanberg's has a connection to the Coral Reef and at our first Sacramento gathering he had printed out the receipe for their Mai Tai...he would be able to provide that for you.

Here is a napkin, matchbook and menu from the Coral Reef.

These little ceramic masks are from there as well, Souvenier of the Coral Reef, Sacramento Made in Japan printed on the back. Not sure if these were sold at a gift shop or in the bar?

PTD

I didn't know you had those....bastid!!

Cool menu, and those flat mask are tres moderne! What is missing in this thread is the match book that shows that mid-century awning and reads "Lee Curto's Coral Reef", someone post that please! It is such a shame that the images on the older threads on this place and many other subjects did not get preserved!

And don't forget that the old Coral Reef sign now has a home inside the Bamboo Hut bar in San Francisco:

Greetings. The Coral Reef was also a very special place for my family growing up in Sacramento. Was too young to know how great the Mai Tais were, but can still remember the house salad dressing. It was SO good - we used to buy it by the pint. If anyone has the recipe, I would be eternally grateful to you if you would share it. Remember the house salad...iceberg lettuce, diced shrimp, maybe a radish slice and that DELICIOUS dressing. thanks!!

I was wondering what happened to the Coral Reef. My family dined there during New Year's Eve 1988. I can't recall the food since I was about 7 years old then but it would be awesome if somebody could find that Mai Tai recipe. Does anybody know what year the place closed? I might be able to find a Sac Bee article about that.

I am cleaning up some files and I recently saw this nice napkin from the
Coral Reef:

It says "Sacremento" and "Millbrae" on the bottom.

TabooDan

Another menu. Price on the fried prawns is .90 compared to 1.30 on the menu already posted.

I grew up in Sac, and always loved visiting this place. I remember being way into their foil-wrapped chicken. So sad that a Carl's Jr. is on the lot where the CR once stood. Love the images, everyone - thanks for posting!

A note about the Sacramento Coral Reef; there is a Stockton Islander connection in that Hop Louie was a Chef there before opening the Islander.

Also notable was that the Coral Reef was open sometime before 1950 based on this November 30th 1950 Lodi News Sentinel article.

I had previously posted this to the Hop Louie (the Lost Chapter) thread.

Awesome pics everyone! I used to love this place, still sad that it's gone!

Cross-pollinating this link that Psycho Tiki D posted in another thread:

http://www.sacbee.com/2011/02/16/3405316/coral-reef-reflections.html#

Great article in the Sacramento Bee filled with recollections of the Coral Reef. It also contains the Mai Tai recipe that Tangaroa-Ru asked for at the beginning of this thread, as well as several other food & drink recipes:

Recipe: Coral Reef Mai Tai
George Chew, former bar manager of the Coral Reef, said this was the restaurant's most popular drink. Its price in the mid-1970s was $2.65.

INGREDIENTS

1 ounce light rum
2 ounces sweet and sour mix
1 ounce lemon sour (see note above)
1 ounce orgeat syrup
1 ounce orange curacao
Squeeze of lime
Crushed ice
1 ounce 97 proof Appleton Jamaican dark rum
1 canned pineapple ring
1 maraschino cherry

INSTRUCTIONS

In a double old-fashioned glass, build drink by layering light rum, sweet and sour mix, lemon sour, orgeat syrup, curacao and lime juice. Stir. Pack with crushed ice. Float Appleton dark rum on top. Place pineapple ring on top with cherry in center of ring.

======================================================
:up: unfortunately the key to making the "lemon sour" doesn't seem to be included in the article.

Here are some photos from the article:

:down: another menu pic

:down: a nice interior shot:

:down: and the famous sign with the tiki mask...

...that eventually made its way to the Bamboo Hut in San Francisco:

Sabu,

Thanks for cross-posting those pictures from PTD's post. Great to finally see a photo of the sign in its original state.

DC

I got a postcard from the Coral Reef Lodge that was located across the street from the Coral Reef Restaurant. Not much to look at

But, the back of the postcard has a rendering of the logo Tiki that belongs in the Tiki Library when the kids are getting too loud!

DC

I love that one. These are the uses of primitive art that would only happen in American pop culture and which to me define Tiki style. They also used it on the matchbook, and I bet you they had it on their "Do Not Disturb" doorknob signs.

Here is another postcard from the Coral Reef Lodge that shows the sign.

Same style as the restaurant.

Makes one wonder if there wern't some Tiki over there at the lodge.

DC

Thanks for sharing those DC. Just like bigbro says about the shushing tiki, that sign shows the funny way that styles are combined in pop culture - in this case, the lettering. There's the "Coral Reef" in the nice casual optimistic script, coupled with "ye olde englyshe" style LODGE.

-Randy

On 2011-02-16 12:34, Sabu The Coconut Boy wrote:
Cross-pollinating this link that Psycho Tiki D posted in another thread:

http://www.sacbee.com/2011/02/16/3405316/coral-reef-reflections.html#

Great article in the Sacramento Bee filled with recollections of the Coral Reef. It also contains the Mai Tai recipe that Tangaroa-Ru asked for at the beginning of this thread, as well as several other food & drink recipes:

Recipe: Coral Reef Mai Tai
George Chew, former bar manager of the Coral Reef, said this was the restaurant's most popular drink. Its price in the mid-1970s was $2.65.

INGREDIENTS

1 ounce light rum
2 ounces sweet and sour mix
1 ounce lemon sour (see note above)
1 ounce orgeat syrup
1 ounce orange curacao
Squeeze of lime
Crushed ice
1 ounce 97 proof Appleton Jamaican dark rum
1 canned pineapple ring
1 maraschino cherry

INSTRUCTIONS

In a double old-fashioned glass, build drink by layering light rum, sweet and sour mix, lemon sour, orgeat syrup, curacao and lime juice. Stir. Pack with crushed ice. Float Appleton dark rum on top. Place pineapple ring on top with cherry in center of ring.

======================================================
:up: unfortunately the key to making the "lemon sour" doesn't seem to be included in the article.

There was a note in a cross-referenced article from The Sacramento Bee regarding the undefined "lemon sour" employed in the Coral Reef's drink recipes... "Note: The recipes for the Mai Tai, Fog Cutter and Blue Hawaii each call for 1 ounce of lemon sour. This ingredient is no longer available. Chew suggests using 1 ounce of regular, unsweetened lemon juice as a substitute. Each recipe makes one cocktail."

http://www.sacbee.com/2011/02/16/3405198/bar-served-up-potent-sweet-and.html

Hope this can be of some help:

Lemon Sour
2 parts freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 part sugar
1 part boiling water

Stir sugar into boiling water until dissolved. Stir in lemon juice.

Mahalo!
Chris

On 2010-02-07 18:01, TabooDan wrote:
I am cleaning up some files and I recently saw this nice napkin from the
Coral Reef:

It says "Sacramento" and "Millbrae" on the bottom.

TabooDan

Does any one have any info on the Millbrae location??

Well...an internet search on the Millbrae location turned up a book on Amazon. You can see some images on Page 101-search Coral Reef. I don't know how to capture those images, but here is some of what it said; One of Millbrae's exciting restaurant and nightclub destinations was the tropical Coral Reef seen here in 1946. It was owned by Buddy and Roberta Maleville (see the Lodge sign images in Sacramento)and was located at 900 El Camino Real. No chance of any cool locale left--it is now an Orchard Supply Hardware Store. The name of the book is; Millbrae (Images of America: California)(Paperback) by Millbrae Historical Society.

Here is another matchbook featuring the ssshhhhh-ing Tiki!

DC

I found a few Coral Reef menus on the Sacramento Library website.

The cocktail menu.

Some standard drinks and some specialties from the Coral Reef (I like the Reefer!)

Great write-up on the history of rum on the back.

Dinner menu.

The back has a nice story on the origins of the restaurant decorations with ties to GIs, airline crews and art collectors.

Pretty cool stuff.

DC

Aloha from SacMod in Sacramento! I collect a great amount of ephemera regarding Sacramento's recent past — and wanted to share this lovely brochure of the Coral Reef Lodge from my personal collection. It includes some rare glimpses of the Coral Reef Restaurant interior and exterior.

I've also posted these on Flickr, along with other Sacramento-area tiki ephemera. http://www.flickr.com/photos/atomicpear/sets/72157627480036699 The Flickr set is a work-in-progress and I expect to be adding more images to the set.

Cheers!

For more regarding Sacramento's mid-century history, visit SacMod http://facebook.com/SacMod

[ Edited by: atomicpear 2013-12-04 12:30 ]

[ Edited by: atomicpear 2013-12-04 12:31 ]

I hazard to guess that the Tiki in this old Qantas Airlines ad was the inspiration for the Coral Reef "library" Tiki.

DC

On 2009-08-15 10:15, blushinghaley wrote:
Greetings. The Coral Reef was also a very special place for my family growing up in Sacramento. Was too young to know how great the Mai Tais were, but can still remember the house salad dressing. It was SO good - we used to buy it by the pint. If anyone has the recipe, I would be eternally grateful to you if you would share it. Remember the house salad...iceberg lettuce, diced shrimp, maybe a radish slice and that DELICIOUS dressing. thanks!!

Just found this. Better late then never!

The Coral Reef’s salad dressing was a closely guarded secret for many years. One clue was revealed in 1996 when Lee Bishop, the dressing’s creator and the Coral Reef’s day-crew supervisor, said that in the 1960s, General Foods wanted to buy the recipe, but he said it was not for sale. Bishop died in 2004 at age 94. Many versions of the recipe have surfaced over the decades. This one, from Marilyn (Wong) Champa of Sacramento, was given to her by her father, Louis Wong. He managed the Coral Reef for more than 30 years. When the restaurant was sold, Bishop gave Wong the recipe. Champa was a hostess at the Coral Reef in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Servings:Makes 2 Qts
INGREDIENTS
1 quart Wesson vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups tarragon vinegar
3/4 cup Heinz apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 tablespoons celery powder or ground celery seed
1 1/2 tablespoons Hungarian paprika
1/4 teaspoon garlic, finely chopped
1/2 cup white onion, finely chopped
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons horseradish mustard
5 ounces domestic blue cheese, crumbled
5 ounces imported Danish blue cheese, crumbled (if not available, use Gorgonzola)
Salad:
Lettuce, radish slices, carrot curls
Fresh bay shrimp
DIRECTIONS
1
Place the oil, tarragon vinegar and cider vinegar in 3 separate containers, and place each container in a bowl of hot water before use.
2
In a small bowl, mix together the sugar, salt, celery powder (or ground celery seed) and paprika. Set aside.
3
In the bowl of an electric mixer, place garlic and half of the oil and mix for 5 minutes using the mixer on medium speed.
4
Add onion, Worcestershire sauce, mustard and tarragon vinegar, and mix for 10 minutes. Add sugar mixture. Add apple cider vinegar and continue to mix. Add both crumbled blue cheeses and mix for 10 minutes. Slowly add remaining oil while mixing.
5
Make a salad of broken lettuce, radish slices and carrot curls. Place bay shrimp on top and make very moist with dressing.

Source: http://www.tastebook.com/recipes/3265944-Coral-Reef-Salad-Dressing

Spotted an old ad for the Coral Reef restaurant.

One of Sacramento's finest restaurants.

DC

Actually, it says "One of Sacramento's fine restaurants." That's not really the same thing! :wink:

Here is a photo of the end - the shackled building and the neon sign after the Tiki mask was moved to the Bamboo Hut in San Francisco.

DC

Ugh. That photo of the building all dilapidated is heartbreaking.

Menu pages from a late 1970's "Dining Out" guide from Sacramento-

Psycho Tiki D