Alphie’s Restaurant – Goleta, CA

Posted by The Tiki Chick in Bar & Restaurant Reviews and tagged with Alphie's, Goleta, restaurant review, Restaurants, Santa Barbara, Tiki February 4, 2013

Even though I went to college just a few miles away from Alphie’s, I must admit I’d never heard of this restaurant until I read James Teitelbaum’s guide Tiki Road Trip.

This family-run diner in Goleta, about a 15-minute drive north of Santa Barbara, has been around for decades (since 1957). It has a bit of a Polynesian look to it, starting with these Maori-style carvings around the door and surrounding the support beams inside.

On the right when you first walk in there’s a counter that looks into the kitchen (note the giant tiki fork and spoon mounted on the wallpaper border). Maroon vinyl booths run the length of the dining room and there are also some round tables. In the back there’s another dining room with a large outrigger overhead and a live music setup. Apparently the owner plays a mean jazz organ.

The walls are white, but most of them are half covered in lauhala matting trimmed with bamboo. They’re accented with tapa cloth, paddles and tikis that range from Asian imports to large, rough-looking carvings to Oceanic Arts wares.

Probably the strangest (or most awesome, depending on your point of view) part of the decor is the arrangement of, uh, interesting wildlife photos.

There is no lack of choices on the menu, from pancakes and cream cheese stuffed french toast to huevos rancheros to hamburgers and deli sandwiches. Some of the omelets and frittatas have Hawaiian names like Kahuna and Wahine, but the only island influence in the food seemed to be including linguica (Portuguese sausage) as a filling.

I went for the Beachcomber ($8.25) — their version of eggs Benedict “smothered with our blended cheese sauce,” a description that was deliciously accurate. The “ranch cut potatoes” were a perfect vehicle for soaking up the extra sauce.

Most of the egg dishes come with their famous biscuits and gravy, but mine did not so we ordered them as a side. I couldn’t help stuffing myself silly with all that tasty salty food.

If you’re inspired to take a little detour off the 101, keep in mind this is a breakfast and lunch spot and it’s only open until 2 p.m. Early risers, on the other hand, will appreciate that they open their doors at 6 a.m. every day.

Alphie’s is a good spot for greasy spoon grub that will help cure a hangover. You know, it really is too bad I didn’t know about this place back when I was at UC Santa Barbara…

Alphie’s
5725 Hollister Ave.
Goleta, CA 93117
805-683-1202

Koloa Rum Company Tasting Room & Gift Shop – Lihue, HI

Posted by The Tiki Chick in Tiki Sites and Stores and tagged with hawaii, Kauai, Koloa Rum Company, Rum, Tiki, Travel January 21, 2013

On Kauai there are tons of things you can do on vacation, like riding in a doorless helicopter (highly recommended!), ATVing, hiking, kayaking… and free rum tasting!

In 2009, Koloa Rum Company began bottling their rum and they opened a tasting room and gift shop in Lihue at Kilohana Plantation, a tourist destination that’s home to a railway with vintage trains that tour the farm, Luau Kalamaku, Gaylord’s restaurant and a bunch of boutiques housed in the circa-1936 mansion built by Gaylord Parke Wilcox on his sugar plantation.

As soon as you arrive you should go inside the gift shop (located in its own plantation-style building) and ask the cashier about signing up for the rum tastings. They are held every half hour but there are a limited number of spots for each one and they can fill up quickly.

However, the gift shop has plenty of stuff to occupy your time with browsing. It’s decorated with tiki mugs, small fishing floats and colorful local art — all for sale, of course. It’s clear they are masters of merchandising here, putting their company logo on mini bottle magnets, coffee mugs, shot glasses, flasks, hats, visors and severals styles of t-shirts. Koloa also sells a bunch of products that are made with their rums, like soaps, sea salts and buttered rum coffee, plus sister company Kukui’s tropical fruit jams and jellies. A lot of these goodies can also be found in their online store.

In addition to a few tiki t-shirts, they’ve also designed clothing and shot glasses (with recipes imprinted on them) to correspond to signature cocktails they’ve created, like the “Kukui Mai Tai” with a flaming tiki head, western-themed “Rum Slinger” and “The Rumpress” with a crown and pink and purple to appeal to the ladies.

At first glance I had thought this was just a regular pirate-y shirt, but then I noticed the intricate details in the design, like the tikis for teeth, mermaids for the nose, and surfers riding waves for the eyes.

Next to the gift shop is the tasting room, a separate, light-filled space with a long teak bar (where you can spot a small green tiki) and a display with pictures of the distillery in Kalaheo, which used to be an old warehouse that had been damaged by Hurricane Iniki.

Two shot glasses were doled out to each person at the tasting — one with a bit of their Mai Tai mix. After sipping a little of the white, gold and dark rums from the other glass, we were told to pour the rest into the one with the mix to make a sort of mini Mai Tai. We also tried their spiced rum, which was my favorite of the four.

The white and dark rums each run about $30, so the Mai Tai Special would seem to get you the mix for free. Obviously it’s no traditional Mai Tai — their recipe calls for orange or pineapple juice — but I could see possibly stopping by here from the airport (it’s just a couple miles away) and picking this up to make easy cocktails at the condo. (Apparently the nearby Costco has good deals on their rum, too.) If you wanted to be even more lazy on your vacation, they also sell a ready-to-drink Hawaiian Mai Tai ($29.95) made with their gold rum.

At the tasting they also brought out bites of rum cake with macadamia nuts in a (successful) ploy to get folks to buy it ($7.50 for small, $25.50 for large). We opted for the $18.95 combo of a small cake plus the rum fudge sauce, which costs a whopping $15.50 on its own.

I liked that they had sample bottles (50 ml for $4.95) that were a bit more wallet-friendly (and carry-on friendly), that way I could bring a few home to see how they go with the cocktails I like to make. At least in Southern California, Koloa Rum isn’t too hard to find.

If your state has less enlightened liquor laws, you can try protecting a bottle in your luggage with one of their rum skins ($2.95). However, it might be more convenient to order online — Mel & Rose apparently ships to all states, while Hi-Time Wine Cellars has good shipping rates for California and Arizona.

Koloa Rum Company is open every day for tastings starting at 10 a.m. Closing hours vary depending on the day (usually around 3 p.m.) but on Tuesdays and Fridays they stay open later for all the people going to Luau Kalamaku, with the last tasting at 7:30 p.m. and the gift shop open until 9 p.m.

Koloa Rum Company Tasting Room & Gift Shop
Kilohana Plantation
3-2087 Kaumualii Hwy.
Lihue, HI 96766
808-246-8900

Lamenting the Short-Lived Lani Kai in New York

Posted by The Tiki Chick in Bar & Restaurant Reviews and tagged with Lani Kai, New York, restaurant review, Restaurants, Tiki, Tiki Bars January 3, 2013

Sadly, 2012 saw the closing of several tiki bars, including the Royal Hawaiian in Laguna Beach, Hong Kong Inn in Ventura, Okolemaluna Tiki Lounge in Hawaii, Trader Vic’s Palo Alto, and Lani Kai in New York. I visited the latter before it closed in September, so here’s a tribute to one of the Polynesian-style places we lost last year.

Julie Reiner (Flatiron Lounge, Clover Club) opened Lani Kai in October 2010, naming it after an Oahu beach she frequented while growing up in Hawaii. On the bar’s web site, she stated: “My favorite drinks are the Manhattan and the Mai Tai, and I have always wanted to create a destination that blends the two places I call home.”

In interviews she made sure to clarify that Lani Kai was not a tiki bar but a “modern tropical” cocktail lounge with more minimalist décor — and indeed there were no tikis, thatch or bamboo to be found. Rather, the dimly lit dining area featured whitewashed brick walls with boxes of tropical plants and orchids, a bar in the back with a wooden trellis above, and an impressive capiz shell chandelier suspended over the stairwell.

Downstairs was the lounge area with red banquettes, simple wooden tables and chairs, bamboo wallpaper, hanging ferns and a stone fireplace, plus another bar.

The menu was pretty brief and seemed to offer mostly small plates. We composed our own pupu platter with awesome bacon-wrapped shrimp and crab rangoon, along with huli huli yakitori (chicken skewers), char siu baby back ribs, and chicken wings with basil dipping sauce.

We also put away a few of the pork belly buns (though not enough, apparently, to spare me from a hangover the next day after we continued the evening at PKNY).

I wanted to try a straightforward tiki drink so I opted for the Kamehameha Rum Punch ($13, Nicaraguan and dark Jamaican rums, lemon, fresh pineapple juice, grenadine and crème de mure), based on a 1960s recipe from the Hotel King Kamehameha, while Mr. Baseball’s drink was made with whisky and absinthe. Both were perfectly balanced and exactly what I’d expect from a high-quality establishment, though in hindsight I wish I’d gone for one of the creative concoctions made with tea-infused spirits, lemongrass, lychee or jalapeno syrups.

So this brings me to another resolution we all should make for 2013 — support your local (and not so local) tiki bars!

The Tiki Chick

A California girl chronicling modern tiki culture

Tag Archives: Tiki

Alphie’s Restaurant – Goleta, CA

Koloa Rum Company Tasting Room & Gift Shop – Lihue, HI

Lamenting the Short-Lived Lani Kai in New York