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| Mai Kai is not only Florida’s most spectacular
destination for Tiki lovers, but is perhaps the last remaining
establishment of its kind anywhere. No other Tiki
restaurant can boast of the sheer size of Mai Kai, the quality of
the floor show, or the spectacular collection of Oceanic artifacts,
many of which were actually collected in the Pacific islands. The
list of places who can provide cocktails of similar caliber is a short
one. Having celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2006, Mai
Kai seems ready and willing to remain Polynesian Pop’s flagship
location for another half century. Mai Kai story began in the early 1950s, with Chicago brothers Robert and Jack Thornton. After leaving the armed forces, they traveled the country, working as bartenders. After learning how drinks are really made from people like Donn Beach himself, the brothers eventually selected Fort Lauderdale - then a sparsely populated blip on the road to Miami - as the location for their own little empire. In 1956, the Thornton Brothers began construction of Mai Kai at a cost of nearly one million dollars. With a mixology assist from Mariano Licudine (Donn Beach’s former right-hand man), the first version of Mai Kai consisted of a small bar and four dining rooms that collectively held 225 people.  The business was expanded in the
1960s by
renowned team of architect George Nakashima and designer Florian
Gabriel. The original designer could not be hired back, since he
had vanished without a trace while flying a small plane over the
Bermuda Triangle (really!). The revamped Mai Kai seats 489 people
in seven rooms (named Samoa, Lanai, Tahiti, Tonga, Hawai'i, New
Guinea, and Moorea) and another 150 in the vintage 1970s Molokai Bar. The restaurant is a vintage-style supper club, with two shows per night. If you arrive early, you’ll wait in the Molokai Bar for the next seating. The bar is designed to look like the lower deck of a galleon. Gas lamps, rope, nets, the bust of a mermaid - all the things you might expect to find belowdecks on an ancient ship. A sprinkler system provides a continual ‘rainstorm’ cascading down the windows, partially obscuring the gardens that in turn block any view of the real world outside. If the decor is awesome, the girls tending bar are more so. All dressed in bikini tops and matching mini-mini-mini sarongs, these lovelies take your drink orders and deliver them to the master mixologists secretly concealed in a back room. There isn’t a bottle in sight. After a short wait, the potions are delivered to you, as if out of nowhere. These drinks are in fact mixed up in a large room on the other side of the building, adjacent to the kitchen. A full time team of master mixologists toil away back there, making the amazing drinks in record time. |
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They have been at it for fifty-two years now, and there are bottles of rum at Mai Kai that you will never see anywhere else.
In fact, you won't even actually see them at Mai Kai, because they're in the liquor kitchen.
But your friend the Cocktail Snob has been granted a tour of this forbidden laboratory by the ultra-cool General Manager, Mr. Kern Mattei.
Behold then, the sacred image of the astounding Mai Kai rum collection seen on this page!
The drinks are categorically arranged as ‘mild’, ‘medium’, or ‘strong’.
The SOS (and similar Mai Kai Swizzle) are good; the SOS has a hint of what might be mango and their house Falernum.
Even better are favorites like the K.O. Cooler, Zombie, Jet Pilot, Shrunken Skull, Yeoman’s Grog, and Barrel O’ Rum.
Also sampled by our expert team were the sour Shark Bite, Cobra Kiss, the strawberry yogurty Tahitian Paradise, a yellow-brown Mai Tai and a reddish variant, and the delightful Black Magic (and the similar Mutiny) which both have a coffee flavor (but are not coffee drinks, per se).
Along with the Tiki Ti in Los Angeles, and any Trader Vic’s location, the Mai Kai has a permanent place in a holy trio of old-school holdouts dedicated to the careful construction of Tropical-style libations. Just imagine the freshly squeezed fruit juices, the quality liquors, the careful mixology, and yes, you can still keep the Tiki mug if you order the Mara Amu. Do I hear a hallelujah from the congregation?
Show up at happy hour and your second drink is on the house.
The gauntlet is thrown: let’s see Trader Vic’s top that!
Hell, let's see anyone top that for drinks of this caliber!
The chow menu is exhaustive. Thai and Sushi have replaced Cantonese and Szechuan as the exotic food of choice for many Americans, and Mai Kai has updated the menu to reflect this. There are also plenty of American and Polynesian selections. The food here is expensive and the broad selection of dishes on the menu does vary in quality. Not that you’ll really notice, because...
The Mai Kai Islanders Revue is outstanding. A team of wonderful male and female dancers are backed by a six-piece band, and they perform an array of traditional island dances. The nifo’afi (fire!) is exciting, the hulas are spellbinding, and the slap dance is always entertaining (you’ll be attempting it yourself later that night after a few K.O. Coolers, guaranteed). You will be billed $9.95 per person for the show, and you’ll want more when it is over.
After the show, stroll through the gardens. A series of paths wind through a tall, dense, and lush paradise, filled with exotic trees, plants, flowers, fountains, streams, and bridges. The gardens also are festooned with Tikis of all shape, size, and origin.
Don't miss Mai Kai!
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Multimedia Left Orbit Temple Tiki Road Trip Big Stone Head Send e-mail to James Last updated on October 23, 2007 |
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