Otto’s Shrunken Head – New York, NY

Posted by The Tiki Chick in Bar & Restaurant Reviews and tagged with New York, Otto's Shrunken Head, Tiki, Tiki Bars, Tiki Mugs, Travel November 13, 2013

Things haven’t really worked out well for the New York tiki bars (Lani Kai and PKNY) that I’ve visited and blogged about, but I guess I’ll tempt fate by finally writing about Otto’s Shrunken Head. The former were newcomers to the scene but Otto’s has been around for more than a decade. It’s located in the East Village (quite close to Obscura, the curiosity shop from the “Oddities” TV show that was also on our tourist itinerary).

Otto’s Shrunken Head opened in 2002 and has stuck around even through the years when tiki bars weren’t as hip as they have come around to be again. (Though some may argue it’s more of a punk rock bar with a tiki theme.) Before you step inside, be sure to take a look at the window display full of tiki mugs, hula girl figures and other tchotchkes.

Flanking the door on the other side are these big tikis from Mai Tiki, the company started by the late, great artist Wayne Coombs. The middle one was designed to blow smoke out of its nostrils!

The front room is long and narrow, with round red vinyl booths and a thatch-covered bar trimmed with bamboo and lit by green and orange pufferfish lanterns. Through the doors is the back room where bands set up later in the evening.

In the middle of a weekday afternoon, the crowd consisted of us, another small group of tourists and a few regulars and friends of the bartender who were bummed when the bar ran out of PBR on tap.

It was quiet at that time of day, but there’s something going on here every night of the week, from stand-up comedy to go-go revues to live music and DJs spinning all sorts of styles (rhythm and blues, classic punk, reggae, rockabilly, etc.).

The menu of 15-plus cocktails has a few classics but mostly originals along with several frozen concoctions (piña colada, daiquiri, etc.). They’re all priced at $10 each, plus a $5 deposit for the Dynasty tiki mugs (in case you steal it…er, keep it).

I had my sights set on the signature shrunken head mug from Tiki Farm, which costs $20 and includes the drink. (It almost made my roundup of spooky tiki mugs.) Described as “dark and sweet with a little bite,” the cocktail definitely had a kick to it. (FYI, this mug now comes in a matte black finish — also available on their web site along with a limited edition 10th anniversary version $40 of Tiki Farm’s The Trophy in a green glaze.) Meanwhile, the Shrunken Skirt with mango rum was much more fruity and sweet.

When we visited, there were also Otto’s Shrunken Head T-shirts ($20) and “hot pants” ($15) tacked up behind the bar for purchase.

Mr. Hockey can only sit in a tiki bar for so long before he gets bored so it was nice that they had a Big Buck Hunter arcade game to keep him entertained.

There’s also an old-school photo booth from the early ’60s that prints four black and white photos. To use it you have to first go to the bar and buy a token for $5.

Sadly, the happy hour specials don’t apply to the tiki drinks. Instead, it’s 2 for 1 Bud and well and $1 off everything except tiki from 2 p.m.-8 p.m. Mon.-Fri., and $5 Bloody Marys and margaritas on Sundays from 4 p.m.-8 p.m. The bar is cash only but there’s an ATM by the photo booth.

The drinks may not be craft cocktail quality, but Otto’s Shrunken Head is an interesting establishment on this urban island otherwise lacking in tiki bars. (It’s also endorsed by Anthony Bourdain, who visited for the “No Reservations” 2010 holiday special. Skip to 33:30 for that segment.) Check the online calendar to see what’s on the agenda at Otto’s for the evening. The third Wednesday of the month is “Primativa in Hi-Fi” featuring exotica tunes spun by Jack Fetterman and Gina of the Jungle.

Otto’s Shrunken Head
538 E. 14th St.
New York, NY 10009
212-228-2240

Tiki Spotting at Mardi Gras World – New Orleans

Posted by The Tiki Chick in Other Tiki Topics and tagged with Mardi Gras, Mardi Gras World, New Orleans, Party City Tikis, Tikis, Travel October 3, 2013

Before concluding our visit to New Orleans this summer, we had some time to kill before our flight left. We’d just had our fill at the fabulous jazz brunch at Commander’s Palace, so more eating and drinking was out of the question. Since we still had the use of a rental car we headed over to Mardi Gras World in the lower Garden District.

This tourist attraction is housed in a big warehouse on the riverfront, and it’s a bit inconvenient unless you have your own transportation. (Mardi Gras World offers a free shuttle to and from the French Quarter, though some Yelpers have found it to be not all that punctual.) It wouldn’t be correct to call this a museum because it’s very much a functioning workshop for those famous Fat Tuesday floats.

The price is $20 per person, which sounds steep except you’re allowed to wander around the props and floats as much as you want afterwards. (I’m sure you can find discount coupons at some hotels.) They also throw in a slice of king cake from their on-site cafe, though we were too stuffed to take advantage.

The one-hour guided tours leave every half hour from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. While you wait there’s a big gift shop full of New Orleans souvenirs, plus a few displays of intricate, beautiful costumes worn by the royal court members.

It started off kind of lame, with us encouraged to try on cheap-looking, gaudy Mardi Gras costumes and pose for pictures. After a short video about the history of Mardi Gras (with cameos by Better Than Ezra, randomly), we were escorted around the workshop by a little old Southern lady.

She related a wealth of information about how the company Blaine Kern Studios produces these big props, which are then rented out to various “krewes” (the organizations that put on the dozens of parades). Some of the figures are made from styrofoam that’s sculpted then covered in paper mache and painted. They can even be re-used on occasion with some alterations, like this Cinderella being transformed into an opera singer.

I loved the eclectic casts of characters they had assembled, from Mrs. Kong (Queen Kong?) to Winston Churchill to Samantha from “Bewitched.” There were dozens and dozens more where this came from.

Even more randomly, they had a Batboat movie prop from “Batman Returns” just lying around. (It sounded like one of the owners bought it on a whim.)

The official tour ended in a giant space that was storing the fully decorated floats from the Orpheus krewe, the group founded in part by Harry Connick Jr. (Appropriately, they named it after the legendary musician from Greek mythology.)

2013 marked the 20th anniversary of the Orpheus krewe and they celebrated that milestone by decorating each of the floats with themes from all the parades they’d put on over the years.

As I walked around the float that I can only guess was a tribute to 2008’s theme, Cocktail Concoctions, I noticed a few tikis and palm trees amongst the humongous flowers and bottles of bubbly. Granted, the tikis had the cartoonish look and neon colors of Party City tikis, but they were tikis nonetheless!

Mardi Gras World
1380 Port of New Orleans Place
New Orleans, LA 70130
504-361-7821

Aunt Tiki’s – New Orleans, LA

Posted by The Tiki Chick in Bar & Restaurant Reviews and tagged with Aunt TIki's, New Orleans, restaurant review, Tiki, Tiki Bars, Travel September 23, 2013

A few months ago when we visited New Orleans, Chad and I were walking along Decatur Street in the French Quarter on our way to Cafe du Monde when I stopped in my tracks, pointed up and shouted: “Tiki!” We’d serendipitously stumbled on Aunt Tiki’s, which had tiki not just in the name but also on the logo (along with a lady pirate and crossed flaming toilet plungers…).

I snapped a quick photo of the sign and we continued on our pursuit of beignets. By the next day I’d mustered up enough courage to go back and trespass on what seemed to be a locals’ dive. The “Star Wars” cantina song was playing on the juke box when we walked in, which seemed sort of appropriate.

As you might guess, I try to do my research on tiki bars before visiting a city so I was a little surprised that I’d never heard of this place before. (Even on Tiki Central it hasn’t been mentioned in nearly 10 years.)

We sat at the bar and inspected all the little oddities tacked up on the wall, like weird newspaper articles and a bumper sticker that proclaimed: “This is LA, not L.A.” I asked the beautiful tattooed bartender if it was considered a tiki bar. She said, “No, not really. It’s more of a Halloween-themed bar.” I love Halloween — and tikis, of course — so I wasn’t put off by this mash-up. (In fact, I’ve written about it before.)

The decor is definitely more on the spooky side with all the plastic gravestones and skeletons around. Nonetheless, there are still a fair amount of tiki-related things, including at least one carved tiki.

On the right just as you walk in is an awesome mural (made by a local artist) with a winsome wahine on a beach by a tiki shack with a smoldering volcano in the background.

A small glass fish float hangs above the gargoyles perched on the video poker machines, and in the light of the neon beer sign I noticed a faded Party City tiki banner along the doorframe in the back of the bar.

It was sweltering outside that day and not much cooler inside. However if you went through that doorway you’d find this secluded little space where you could actually feel the air conditioning. I was intrigued by its exposed brick walls, fairy lights and tropical touches like shell lamps and paper palm trees.

Rum and pineapple juice is the closest thing to a tiki drink served here. The other patrons seemed to prefer PBR and shots of Fireball cinnamon whisky. There are no beers on draft, so your best bet is probably a bottle of Abita. Aunt Tiki’s keeps the doors open and liquor flowin’ 24 hours a day, so it’s sort of like Frankie’s (except it’s nothing at all like Frankie’s…).

Aunt Tiki’s would be a perfect place to start your Halloween revelry — and there’s a small vintage shop next door — but if you’re looking for a tiki bar in New Orleans, you’d be better off visiting Tiki Tolteca at Felipe’s Taqueria (or Latitude 29 when it opens!).

Aunt Tiki’s
1207 Decatur St.
New Orleans, LA 70116
504-680-8454

The Tiki Chick

A California girl chronicling modern tiki culture

Tag Archives: Travel

Otto’s Shrunken Head – New York, NY

Tiki Spotting at Mardi Gras World – New Orleans

Aunt Tiki’s – New Orleans, LA