Aloha!

The Tiki TerraceThis is part three in my series of recapping the Chicago Area Tiki Tour.  If you haven’t read part one and two yet. You’ll want to check them out too.

So, after our visit to Hala Kahiki we boarded the bus again for our final destination of the evening.  We were headed to a dinner and a show at The Tiki Terrace.  Before arriving at The Tiki Terrace we had one last bus cocktail to enjoy.  The final cocktail was the CATT Cooler, this lovely libation was named after the event.  The recipe is:

• 1 oz Coruba dark rum
• 1 oz Cruzan aged dark rum
• 1.5 oz white grapefruit juice
• 1 oz Welche’s passion fruit juice
• .25 oz lime juice
• .25 oz cinnamon syrup (from the Grog Log)

I’ll be completely honest.  I don’t recall much about this cocktail.  By this point my senses were getting a little overloaded.  I’ll have to get the ingredients and make it at home to give it a proper review. 

Upon arrival at The Tiki Terrace the place doesn’t look like much.  It’s in a white strip mall wedged in between an auto parts store and a Radio Shack.  The Tiki Terrace Virgins didn’t have high hopes, but I knew what awaited us on the other side of that strip mall door.  When we walked in everyone was blown away by the decor.  It quickly became the favorite of the day.  

Everyone took a seat, and had a cocktail in a pretty short amount of time.  The meal was included with the event, and we had their egg rolls and taro chips for appetizers.  The egg rolls are one of my favorite things at The Tiki Terrace.  They have a thin and crispy shell.  The filling is a step up from your standard egg roll.  For my dinner I had the kalua pork.  It was a big portion of delicious shredded pork, and was served with rice.  It was really good. You can read my full review from January.

Shortly after eating the show began.  I’ve seen the show three times now.  It is exactly the same every time.  That isn’t a complaint though.  Everyone really enjoyed it.  They should stick with a formula that works.  The show is a review of dance and music from different Polynesian Islands, and there is even a special guest.  It’s a fun show that lasts about an hour.

After the show everyone was pretty exhausted.  We rode back to the hotel, and had a mixture of left over cocktails on the way back.  A few brave souls kept the party going all night. 

Sunday, everyone met up at Chef Shangri-La.  We started out in the bar with cocktails.  There signature drink the Dr. Fong was on special for the day.  It was a nice cocktail.  It tasted like orange juice, sweet and sour, and a hint of almond; maybe amaretto.  It was pretty good, but a little to sour for most.  Next, I had a Mai Tai.  They made a great Mai Tai.  It was a nice balance of almond, sweet and sour.  I really enjoyed it. It was a Trader Vic’s style but not quite as strong.

For lunch I had the “Souper” Bowl.  This enormous bowl of soup had noodles, wontons, jumbo shrimp, and pork.  It was really good, and way too much food.  I barely put a dent in it.  While we ate Alewife played a great set. 

A raffel was held to raise funds for CatNap from the heart.  They raffle included one of a kind CATT mugs, Witco carvings, and even a picture that hung at Chef Shangri-La for years.  Some lucky people took home great prizes.

A HUGE thank you to the organizers of this event.  It was such a great time, and organized so well!

Mahalo!

Damon