Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Tiki time in Dallas with re-opening of Trader Vic’s
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Trader Vic's
The main dining room at Trader Vic's originally had a sunken floor. But 21st-century safety codes required that the floor be level with the rest of the restaurant.
Enlarge photo | View thumbnailsDALLAS — Time to brush up on your Mai-Tais, your Fogcutters, and all your fruity cocktails, now that Trader Vic’s, the Polynesian restaurant-bar located at the Hotel Palomar, is re-opening on Thursday.
The Dallas branch of this California-based chain first opened in 1967, at a time when mixing pork with pineapple seemed wildly exotic to white-bread America. Once other, more refined ethnic foods began to invade the country in ‘70s, Trader Vic’s fortunes faded.
But for 20 years, tiki culture simmered as a campy underground movement, especially in Southern California. That helped lay the foundation for Trader Vic’s inevitable revival.
The Dallas Trader Vic’s is cherished abroad amongst tiki cultists because it remained untouched for decades after the place closed in 1989, with the room and its contents frozen in time.
Recognizing the reverence for original fixtures -- and the credibility that brought -- developer Realty America Group tiptoed carefully through the remodel, says manager Rock Gennaro.
“Here, look at this, it’s the original flocked wallpaper,” he says, stroking the wall appreciatively.
The 8,000-square-foot space includes a dark hideaway bar called Hinky Dinks (what Trader Vic’s was called when it first opened in San Francisco in 1932), and three semi-circular booths facing the main dining room that reek “VIP.”
Still intact were the paper lanterns, the jade-green ceramic room dividers, and the two original “Chinese” ovens, shaped like barrels and standing nearly four feet tall in their own glass cage -- massive crockpots used to slow-cook the meats for 12 hours or more.
What is lost is the original tiki, a 12-foot totem that stood lonely for years on Mockingbird, exposed to the sun and elements and passing traffic. (Founder Victor Jules Bergeron would actually go to islands in the Pacific and basically steal these religious objects from the natives to bring back and display in his restaurant chain.)
Efforts were made to preserve it, Gennaro says, but a termite infestation has rotted it from the inside and the thing can’t be recovered. They’ve built a clone that's posted at the entrance -- one we can venerate during the lifespan of this latest tiki revival, however long it may last.
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Comments
twisteddog Anonymous
This place again. It'll be nice to have all the tiki enthusiasts locked up in one place. They do plan to lock the doors, right?
2 years, 8 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Billusa99 Anonymous
Hey Dog... Somebody's talkin' at ya... and it ain't Harry Nilsson's ghost.
http://www.pegasusnews.com/news/2007/...
2 years, 8 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
twisteddog Anonymous
I've never been a big fan of Nelson or glam metal in general. However, Dr. Garcia can rest assured that I'll not be wandering the streets of Oak Cliff and will instead be getting drunk and picking up Hawaiian-bikini wearing hos at Trader Vic's.
2 years, 8 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Billusa99 Anonymous
Glam metal?! That's really rich, you midnight cowboy, you!
2 years, 8 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
lakewooder Anonymous
That Tiki at the entrance is no clone of the original!
2 years, 8 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
kirk Anonymous
The tiki revival has already lasted too long, in my opinion. But I do think they need to introduce an oyster poi-boy.
2 years, 8 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Mike Orren Staff
Looks like some Tiki-heads are planning a pilgrimage:
http://www.pegasusnews.com/news/2007/...
2 years, 8 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Billusa99 Anonymous
Ahh... a pilgrimage by the poi-poloi, no doubt...
2 years, 8 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
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