Customer Reviews

Trader Vic's Tiki Party!: Cocktails and Food to Share with Friends

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
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The book contains "recipes for 100 of the restaurant's best loved tropical cocktails like the Samoan Fog Cutter, Potted Parrot, and of course, The Original Mai Tai, invented by Trader Vic himself in 1944." (summary from Buch Gourmet)
This has some terrific ideas for outdoor parties. Think of having a luau and how much fun it would be. Besides drink recipes, the book has nibbles. How does Crab Rangoon, Cha Siu Pork or Crispy Prawns sound? With this book, you are ready for Polynesian-style entertaining.

By Bill Marsano. Trader Vic's Tiki Party!: Cocktails & Food to Share with Friends," by Stephen Siegelman, is perfect for retro theme parties. Trader Vic, with his famous rival Don the Beachcomber, ushered in the Tiki Bar Era of American partying, which centered mainly on the 1950s and 1960s (which of these two men actually invented the Mai Tai, signature drink of the epoch, remains in dispute--both claim it.) Those were days of restaurants blanketed with faux-Polynesian decor, when pupu platters were the rage and drinks came in bowls serving four or more and were decorated with paper umbrellas, which folks later learned to call parasols. Relive that glorious and joyously ridiculous time with this collection of tropical cocktails and food recipes for everything from finger food to entrees. The recipes are interesting, mostly pretty easy to make, and generally fun to eat or drink. The photos are very nice but the main appeal is that the recipes are clearly presented and easy to follow.--Bill Marsano is an award-winning writer on wines and spirits.

Since it's rather impossible to go to a Trader Vic's and not be hooked on the Tiki lifestyle, I was sort of expecting that this book would be cheesy and have a few recipes and the like to keep fans happy. Boy was I wrong: Pretty much the entire Trader Vic's drink and appetizer menu is spelled out in here, and it'll keep you in the kitchen experimenting with the menu (and the cocktails, of course.)

The menu is simple enough that even inept people in the kitchen like me thinks that they can handle the menu. The drink menu is simple enough, and it's something you'll want to immediately want to tackle with the Trader Vics Mai Tai Mix, 33.8-Ounce Plastic Bottle (Pack of 2). You really can't go wrong with this book, although the amazing accessories and glassware that goes with the drinks are pricy. Still, if you want to host a tropical party in winter weather, start with this book.

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.

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

I bought this book for my Dad for Father's Day so he can use it to make drinks for his tiki bar. He was thrilled with the drink and food recipes and really liked the behind the scenes stories for making tiki bars, drinks, and food. Great gift!

This is a fantastic book. Great photos. It's wonderful to get recipes for both food and cocktails that are so well known in the restaurants and in general like the Mai Tai. But I especially enjoyed the history of Trader Vic. Since I come from the Bay Area, it was fun discovering how the chain started. A must have for folks who enjoy tropical food and drink

"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.

I enjoyed reading this, b/c of the tidbits of history, good illustrations, and well written recipes. I haven't made any of the recipes yet, but they seem easy to execute and sound delicious.