I just found out there’s a tiki bar in Bellingham. It ain’t Kelbo’s, but who’m I to be picky?
Now I just need to convince The Missus to go there. (Maybe the coconut shrimp will entice her?)
The Disneyland Hotel has a great Tiki bar called Trader Sam’s:
Some drinks trigger special effects.
Here’s the menu:
Three words-- Josh “SHAG” Agle.
Google image that.
Then report back here.
That is all.
The fact your icon could be interpretted as a moai or tiki face holding an exotic drink just adds to your cool in this thread. Well done!
wow that looks like the old mandarin gate thats been gone for almost a decade now … it was chinese in food and tiki in drinks and boy they made them stiff as hell …
macaroni salad is tiki? lol although the 2 bowls for kids look like the best bets … although the foods just an excuse because you should eat something before ya drink lol
Anyone notice theres NO prices stated for the mixed drinks ? Wonder how much the sticker shock ends up being …
wow thats something i did not know and maybe i can convince aunt to give up making her wall plaster every holiday for this … and wel ljust ignore the carb bomb aspect of it lol
About eight years ago, a new Tiki-themed lounge became the hottest ticket in Chicago. Three Dots and a Dash was instantly popular and the must-go spot downtown. I’ve been several times but, if I had food, I don’t remember. It’s very much a cocktail-first type of place and, it must be said, they’re very good. I’m always worried about a drink at a tiki place being too sweet but consulting with the servers has always been successful.
A few years later, another ‘tropical cocktail bar’ opened to great fanfare and deservedly so. Lost Lake also has (had?) an outstanding cocktail menu. High end stuff: fancy garnish, designed ice, glassware.
And our long time tiki place is in the near West suburb of River Grove. Hala Kahiki has been there since 1964.
The key to Hawaiian mac salad is to grossly over-cook the pasta.
what surprised me is that chain Trader Vic actually had site in Hawai’i (why? You’re already in Polynesia; but then, there’s a Taco bell in Tijuana 
I’ve just made coconut shrimp for the first time. I’m not sure what it’s supposed to taste like, but it was good. Lots left.
I think we’re going to the tiki bar in Bellingham this afternoon.
Today we went to Red Rum tiki bar. Nowhere near the atmosphere of Kelbo’s, but tiki-ish, but whaddya gonna do? I totally dug that they were playing Star Trek:TOS on the TV. Music was Hawaiian-ish. I’ll have to clue them in on Big Kahuna & the Copa Cat Pack. We shared chicharrones, which were actually fried pork belly rather than pig skins, and a Cuban sandwich served up as a salad instead of a sandwich. We both had a mai tai. Mrs. L.A. had a Planet of the Apes, and I had a fogcutter. Alas, she’s had enough before I could have a zombie. We’re home now, so we’re having margaritas. We’ll be going back.
ETA: The aloha shirt I was wearing, I bought new at Hilo Hattie’s in Orange, CA. Now it’s vintage. 
Toto, I guess we’re not in Tiki-land any more. WTF is with that menu? And in greater Seattle no less. Is nothing sacred?
Good job on the booze though. And the shirt. 
Glad you two had fun.
Bellingham, 100 miles north of Seattle.
Damn Yankees.
I don’t think tiki bar food really ever featured food actually from Hawaii/Polynesia (poi, poke, loco moco, simian, etc). It was mostly about “tropical” drinks. Upscale Chinese restaurants that got their start in the 50s or 60s often had Polynseian/tiki flourishes. My hometown had two places that hung around until the 90s: Lee’s Hawaiian Islander and the Pu Pu Inn. The ubiquitous Pu Pu Platter, brought to the table with a sterno can, was the main “Polynesian” dish. Otherwise, the menu was straight Cantonese with a few tropical fruit flourishes like coconut shrimp or pineapple fried rice.
Here are some old menus from tiki type places.
Cover art NSFW, topless women. Insert missing .com in url after reddit to proceed
Trader Vic’s cocktail menu
Two large food menus
Trader Vic’s menus (2 of them… one was dated by my mom from 1978)
Dinner with Marlon Brando at The Islander Tiki Lounge (1950s)
Moultray’s Polynesian Restaurant NYC World’s Fair 1965 (NYPL)
Very early food menu
Menu, Don the Beachcomber, Hollywood, CA (1943). Courtesy of California Historical Society.
D’oh! I apologize.
I just realized I’d conflated Bellevue, a suburb of greater Seattle near Redmond = Microsoft’s headquarters, with Bellingham which is something completely different.
I spent a lot of time in hotels in Bellevue, but that was, good gosh, 15+ years ago now.
Bellingham looks like a much more cool place. With at least a couple much more cool people.
We went to Red Rum. I had the Cuban salad (deconstructed Cuban sandwich – no bread) and jerk wings. Mrs. L.A. had a wing and the Johnny’s-seasoned fried that came with the salad. I had a mai tai, a zombie, and a fogcutter. The wings were OK, but I prefer the fried pork belly we had last week.