Top Wedding Food Article

kimmykupcakes · April 2011

Did y'all see the Top Wedding Food Article? I swear they are stealing all of my ideas! International street food and tiki bar cocktails! Shheeessshhh! Although, I think it's awesome that tiki drinks are getting recognized! Of course, I have to point out a Tequila Sunrise is not a tiki drink and tropical drinks and tiki drinks are not the same. But, I'm a drink snob like that.

motoLyn · April 2011

I saw the article this morning, catering week. Some of those ideas sounds good. Mind my ignorance but what is the difference?

kimmykupcakes · April 2011

Tiki drinks use to be called tropical drinks, but as they started to get made incorrectly due to high turnover in bartenders, an "I want it now" customer base to serve and bars substituting cheaper ingredients tropical drinks got a bad rap. Wanting to return to original recipes, true ingredients and the proper construction of a true tropical cocktail that takes precision, care, time and training they were now classified as tiki drinks. Leaving the tropical drink title for the overly sweet, overly processed, overly colored and usually pretty gross modern tropical cocktails. An ideal tiki cocktail is neither sweet, nor tart. It strikes a perfect balance of flavors. Often a good cocktail will also incorporate small nuances of unexpected flavors like spices or special liqueurs, to add a sense of complexity and mystery. No one taste is overpowering or obviously detectable. Tiki drinks are made with just squeezed for your cocktail juices, complex syrups that are usually homemade (although Trader Tiki now sells these syrups, but they are still made in his kitchen from scratch and with natural ingredients) and an array of rums from around the world. (Just a side note: Bacardi and Meyers may both cost you a lot of money, but are actually really bad rums.) All of the ingredients in tiki drinks are measured out and it is very important to do so because just a little bit extra or less of one ingredient can throw off the balance and ruin the taste and scent of the drink. Most of the best tiki drinks are brown and are garnished with fresh ingredients that compliment the drink. There are still places you can get some really great tiki drinks such as in California Tiki Ti in West Hollywood (where FI and I got engaged), Don the Beachcomber’s in Sunset Beach, Smuggler’s Cove in San Francisco, Forbidden Island in Alameda and Trader Vic’s in Emeryville. In Oregon you can get them at Thatch in Portland. In Florida you can get them at the Mai Kai in Ft Lauderdale.
Hope that helps.

motoLyn · April 2011

Thanks Kimmy! That is a very detailed explaination and I appreciate it. Don the Beachcomber is a bicycle ride down the street from me, perhaps I should give in to my curiousity and stop by.

kaesha · April 2011

LOL! I think Knot Annie was working on that spread back in October, because I remember talking to her about it via the Food & Cakes board.

Based on that description, it sounds like Tiki drinks are just tropical drinks done the way they should to be done - with real, quality ingredients!

Man, what I would do for a drink right now...

kimmykupcakes · April 2011

Lyn- DO IT! I love Don's! My favorite drink there is the Painkiller. They have a great happy hour in the Dagger Bar. Make sure to order some Hawaiian Nachos while you are there, too! If the owner happens to be there, his name is Art and he is super nice. Make sure to walk around the whole place; it's pretty big.

Kaesha- Pretty much. Since tiki drinks use to be called tropical drinks, but since they started getting made incorrectly and started having too many artificial colors and sweeteners added to them they started calling them tiki drinks to get away from the bad rep and back to their original roots.

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