Product Description

The tiki volcano is erupting all over again, and now Trader Vic’s, the legendary purveyor of Polynesian food, drinks, and fantasy, wants to help us bring it all home. Step behind the bar and into the kitchen at Trader Vic’s and learn how to create the kind of tiki magic that made the Trader famous. It’s all here: recipes for 95 of the restaurant’s best-loved tropical cocktails and after-dinner drinks along with more than 35 party-friendly recipes for pupus, tidbits, finger food, entrees, and desserts all adapted from the past and present menus of Trader Vic’s. Dozens of tips and ideas for inexpensive, easy tiki decorating and entertaining at home are included, as is a guide to the basics of bartending equipment and techniques. Whether it’s a blowout tiki party for friends or a spontaneous occasion to dust off the shaker, this book brings favorite concoctions from Trader Vic’s into your home.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #57982 in Books
• Published on: 2005-04-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 184 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Everything old is new again in this purposefully tacky cookbook based on the food served at the 67-year-old Polynesian chain restaurant. Siegelman gives a little history of the establishment—Trader Vic (aka Victor Jules Bergeron) began with a tiny beer shack on a dicey corner in Oakland, Calif., and went on to invent the mai tai and build what became a $50-million empire of company-owned and franchised restaurants—and then it's party time. Siegelman (Firehouse Food) covers pretty much everything readers need to know to throw a swingin' shindig in the tropical paradise of their own living rooms. Tips on setting the mood—"dim the lights," "decorate the guests," add "tiki touches" like grass skirting for tables—precede the book's biggest section, which covers food and drink. Every major tropical beverage (alcoholic and non-) is here—daiquiris, mai tais, punches, etc.—and Siegelman gives a snappy introduction to each, interspersing the cocktail recipes with quotes from Vic himself (on the mai tai: "Anybody who says I didn't create this drink is a dirty rotten stinker"). Ninety-five drinks later, a chapter on food appears, with suggestions for 35 pupu platter dishes, finger foods, salads, buffet-style entrees and desserts (some of which call for Trader Vic's bottled sauces). While there are certainly more high-end books on entertaining Polynesian-style available, none beats this one's authentic kitsch.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From the Publisher
*Cocktail recipes include the Samoan Fog Cutter, the Tiki Puka Puka, Scorpion, the Kamaiina, and The Original Mai Tai, invented by Trader Vic himself in 1944. *Appetizer recipes include crowd-pleasing pan-Asian small plates and nibbles, like Crispy Prawns, Cha Siu Pork, Ahi Tuna Poke, and Key Lime Chiffon Tartlets. *Throw a rocking tiki party using the decorating, music-selection, bar-stocking, and menu-planning tips found here

About the Author
STEVE SIEGELMAN has written or contributed to 14 cookbooks, including Firehouse Food. His television writing credits include Mexico One Plate at a Time with Rick Bayless, Mario Eats Italy with Mario Batali, and Yan Can Cook with Martin Yan. Steve lives, works, and eats in Berkeley,California.

Customer Reviews

So-so
"Trader Vic's Tiki Party" captures the ambience of 1950's-1960's Tiki culture and gave me a good starting point for a very successful luau. However, as a cookbook I found it poorly edited. For example, a recipe for onion marmalade (served with pork tidbits) leaves out the key information of whether to slice, chop or leave the onions whole. In another recipe, the reader is referred to a page number that turns out to be the wrong one. Some of the recipes do seem intriguing although I wasn't crazy about the ones I tried. Perhaps not surprisingly, more than half the book is devoted to drink recipes. These are fine, but there seems to be little reason to include so many when they are so similar. Lots of rum, lime juice and sugar syrup with subtle variations between them.
The photos are nicely done but more would have actually helped. It would have been nice to see more images of the finished food items rather than so many photos of vintage tiki mugs. This is a fun book, but nothing I could really rely on.

Memories of Trader Vic
If you're planning a Luau you NEED this book - decorations, drinks and food - along with the background of "Vic" - his other books won't give you the background of this great guy - whose rum conconctions are still legend today.

Great Party Book
It's clear and wonderful. I had a hard time choosing what I wanted for the party. Great for big parties!