Trader Vic's - Island Kitsch With Class

The now defunct Bellevue Trader Vic's

I was reading about Trader Vic's today, looking for ideas about this blog. I have been writing about Tiki Bars a lot lately and it dawned on me that Trader Vic's is the ultimate Tiki Bar - and it's not.

For anyone who hasn't had the pleasure, describing Trader Vic's as a "tiki bar" is like referring to the Super Bowl as a football game. It's accurate, but doesn't come even close to telling the whole story. For tiki aficionados, dining at a Trader Vic's is the equivalent of moving up to the major leagues (okay, enough sports metaphors). In each of its locations, the atmosphere is designed to support the expected experience. How many times can you say that has happened in your life? Many restaurants try, but few succeed.

Trader Vics' (TV to those in the know) reputation has been built on its drinks. Did you know that the Mai Tai - the drink associated with island decadence - was actually invented by Victor Bergeron. This is a drink so completely "tropical," I assumed it was imported from the islands, instead of the other way around. Vic created the Mai Tai at his Oakland Restaurant. Then introduced the drink to the Hawaiian islands in the 1950s. That says something about the force the man was to become.

Seattle was fortunate to become the second location of Trader Vic's, although the restaurant started life in 1948 as The Outrigger (in the Benjamin Franklin Hotel), then changed to Trader Vic's in 1960, and finally closed in 1991. 

Bellevue also had a location from 2006 to 2008. I visited the Bellevue restaurant and was underwhelmed with the food and the service. I recall that my wife and I were the only people there, even though it was just a little after 1pm. The service was painfully slow and when I mentioned that this was my second visit to a Trader Vic's (the other was the Emeryville location) the waitress seemed like she couldn't care less. Given all this, I wasn't surprised to see it closed shortly after.

Fortunately I knew that this wasn't typical. I visited the Emeryville location when I was on a business trip. Being young and ignorant, a few of us were dressed in shorts so we had to eat in the bar, but that was okay. The tiki experience was exactly what I wanted. Food was fantastic, staff attentive and the one drink I had was great. When I'm close to one again, there won't be much that could hold me back.

The corporate website, tradervics.com, states that upon a return from his first South Seas adventure, Victor Bergeron had one main objective: inject the spirit of the islands into our everyday lives. That seems like a worthy endeavor to me. Mahalo and Aloha.

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It's not always possible to visit a Trader Vic's, but it is possible to mix yourself an original Mai Tai and cue up a decent Hawaiian music track on the iPod. Close your eyes and it's almost as if you're there.