Tag Archives: Tiki

Happy Hour at Don the Beachcomber, Huntington Beach

Posted by The Tiki Chick in Bar & Restaurant Reviews and tagged with , , , , ,

DaggerBar

Watching the Ken Burns documentary “Prohibition” got me thinking about the Noble Experiment’s influence on tiki. Ernest Raymond Beaumont Gantt (a.k.a. Don the Beachcomber) was a part-time bootlegger and opened the first tiki establishment as the bar business was booming after Prohibition ended. Jeff Berry’s fantastic book “Sippin’ Safari” even says one of the reasons Don made his original cocktails with rum was that it was cheap because the rumrunners had so much leftover stock.

Long story short, none of the original Don the Beachcomber restaurants are still around but his name and spirit have been carried on in Huntington Beach for the last two years. (There are also two unrelated DtB restaurants in Hawaii). This one also happens to have an awesome happy hour available in the Dagger Bar Sunday through Thursday from 4 p.m.-7 p.m. and all night on Mondays.

Don’s signature drinks are $3 off ($5 off the Rum Barrel) and there’s also deals on beer and wine but why would you drink that here?! (Unless your name is Mr. Baseball.) A few of our favorites include Don’s Own Mai Tai (above), Lapu Lapu and Hurricane (one of nine cocktails they recently added to the menu).

There’s also a great selection of discounted “happy hour pupus.” The garlic fries ($3) are potent—just how I like ’em—and the coconut shrimp skewers ($8) are good, too.

The spam roll ($5) is a fun novelty, however I don’t see it making it into our regular ordering rotation. But it does make me want to try making my own spam musubi at home.

Hands down the winner of the bunch is the brie quesadilla with kalua pork ($7) topped with chipotle mayo. I think I might have to get this super flavorful dish every time now, though there are still more tempting appetizers I’ve yet to try, like the sticky ribs and ahi poke tacos.

Sadly, I wasn’t as crazy about the pineapple upside down cake ($9). The cake was kind of dry. (That’s not to say we still didn’t clean that plate though.)

Don the Beachcomber also has several signature mugs available for purchase. From left: green Don the Beachcomber “short neck” (they also have it in brown), green & yellow versions of Don the Beachcomber “long neck” designed by Crazy Al, white rum barrel, and coconut mug.

Don the Beachcomber
16278 Pacific Coast Hwy.
Huntington Beach, CA 92649
562-592-1321

Don the Beachcomber on Urbanspoon

Tiki at the LA County Fair: Part Three

Posted by The Tiki Chick in Other Tiki Topics and tagged with , , , , ,

It’s that time of year again: The Fair! (Actually, it’s the end of that time of year because it’s done on Sunday.) This marks the third installment (see part one & part two) of my annual ode to the LA County Fair.

Where else will us city folks get to see an adorable pile of piggies?

And get our daily servings of fruits and vegetables (in fried form?) That’s deep-fried zucchini strings, mushrooms, artichoke hearts and avocados here.

Or watch strapping young lumberjacks compete head to head? Maybe I need to start tuning in to timber sports on ESPN…

And then there’s always the tiki sightings! Like this snazzy fellow propped up to help sell (what else?) jacuzzis and barbecues.

New for this year was an “official” tiki lounge behind the Longboard Bar at the racetrack. However it was only for concert ticketholders so I wasn’t able to verify if there were any actual tikis in there.

And just like last year, we actually stumbled upon yet another tiki cake in the arts & crafts building. I love the sugar sand! Good times all around.

Tiki Cocktail Menu at 1886 Bar – Pasadena, CA

Posted by The Tiki Chick in Other Tiki Topics and tagged with , , ,

Before embarking on our recent European fortnight, we had the pleasure of meeting up for drinks with the Gastronomer, G-ma’s Bakery and their respective others. We had already chosen 1886 at The Raymond in Pasadena as our destination, but I was even more psyched when I found out they had launched a tiki-influenced summer cocktail menu at the end of July.

The Los Angeles area was in the midst of a heat wave, so we snagged a table out on the patio of the Craftsman cottage. With all the tree branches tangled overhead like a roof, it felt like our own little hobbit hideout.

Each of the drinks on the menu is introduced with a brief background, such as this preface for the Zombie ($14): “This drink’s first version was created at Don the Beachcomber of Hollywood in 1934 by Donn Beach, creator of the ‘Tiki’ movement. Limit 2 per customer.” (I don’t know if that’s actually enforced or just a reference to Donn’s infamous edict, but it made me smile either way.) Their version, made with a blend of three rums, passion fruit, Demerara syrup, and lemon, lime & pineapple juice, was my favorite of the several libations we sampled that night.

I was also tempted by the Thai Iced Tea ($12), a house original dreamed up by Garrett McKechnie and made with Thai tea-infused cachaca, Demerara syrup and hand-whipped cream. With the Piña Colada ($12, white rum, Coco Lopez, bitters, pineapple & lime) I had expected a sophisticated interpretation of this quintessential boat drink, but the flavors turned out to be quite different.

Also featured is another Don the Beachcomber creation, the QB Cooler ($14), described thusly: “QB stands for Quiet Birdmen, a drinking fraternity of aviators founded by seven WWI pilots in 1921. However, this particular little drink was created by Donn Beach at his Hollywood bar in 1937, and was rumored to be the inspiration for a famous drink created by Tiki legend Trader Vic.” 1886 makes it with a three rum blend, falernum, honey & ginger syrups, lime & orange juice. However, for me the ginger was a bit too overpowering to notice much of a resemblance to the Mai Tai in this case.

These were just a few of their many intriguing cocktails. For more on 1886, check out ThirstyinLA’s recap of more of their summer tipples, plus the Gastronomer’s past post about this craft cocktail bar.

1886 Bar at The Raymond Restaurant
1250 S. Fair Oaks Ave.
Pasadena, CA 91105
626-441-3136