Post #462784 by TikiHardBop on Thu, Jun 18, 2009 11:18 AM

Hukilau is mentioned in today's Florida Today:

June 18, 2009

Tiki geeks gather for fun, rum

CHRIS KRIDLER
SPACE COASTING

Tiki geeks take their whimsy seriously. And their rum.

This especially is true at The Hukilau, the convention/four-day party in Fort Lauderdale last weekend, aimed at fans of the mid-century Polynesian pop craze. If you ever stop by -- this was our second year -- you might not want to admit that you're fond of Jimmy Buffet, for instance. The purists will eat your heart on a pupu platter.

But if you're there to enjoy the exotica (Martin Denny-style), Hawaiian and surf music (the awesome Los Straitjackets played to a packed pool patio Saturday), you'll be in good company.

It also helps if you enjoy rum. I've gained new respect for it after learning about the varieties craved by connoisseurs, and after getting a gander at some of the old-time drink menus at places such as Fort Lauderdale's historic Mai Kai restaurant. The Mai Kai still has the Polynesian floor show, complete with fire dancers, along with fantastic retro-primitive atmosphere, funky lights, wood carvings and a lovely tropical garden. And the drinks, though pricey, are dark and complicated rums blended with tropical fruit juices, cinnamon sticks, fresh mint and the like.

The Mai Kai is where Jeff "Beachbum" Berry, who has made a career out of expounding on the lore of tiki cocktails (with books and even an iPhone app), presented his "Mai Tai Paternity Test." It was a fascinating exploration in which he used circumstantial evidence, old menus and witness accounts to determine who invented this ultra-popular drink of the pre- and postwar tiki craze. The answer is as complicated as the story; feuding California restaurateurs Don the Beachcomber and Trader Vic had a part in its origins, it appears, with Vic's recipe most identified with the famous elixir.

To enhance the experience, large trays of cocktails were bustled out of the Mai Kai's relentlessly squeaky kitchen door, and we were given a couple samples to compare. That's my idea of a seminar.

If you were lucky enough to have a ticket, there also was a tiki party boat cruise. It was on a double-decker boat dressed up in tiki style, with thatched roofs, tiki bars (of course), bamboo trimmings and sand on the top deck.

The boat's drinks had Mai Kai prices but not Mai Kai quality, so they tended to curb one's enthusiasm. It didn't matter. There was enough entertainment in gawking at the mansions along the canals, where the massive private boats could easily form a lazy navy.

Perhaps the best celebration of tiki -- which melds art, music, cheesiness, partying and escapism -- was during the tiki room crawl the first night. A handful of hosts decorated their hotel rooms in elaborate tiki style, with primitive-print fabrics, props and mood lighting, and served evocative retro cocktails. Drinks in one room even had swizzle sticks customized to your "tiki horoscope." Fanciful, yes, but since the whole tiki culture is pretty much made up, I don't mind if the horoscope is, too.

The made-up part is the beauty of it. To me, tiki living is about creating your own tropical paradise. It's sweet to live in a place where doing so is more than possible.