Trader Vic's Tiki Party!

December 6, 2004
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.

March 15, 2005
Victor Bergeron, who opened the first Trader Vic's in 1932, was a legendary character, a self-made man with a flair for entertaining who wanted most to keep his clients happy (he invented the happy hour, in fact, as well as the Mai Tai and other concoctions). Siegelman, a cookbook author and television writer, chronicles Bergeron's rags-to-riches story -he died in 1984, but Trader Vic's remains a family-run business, with 21 restaurants around the world -and provides 130 recipes for alcoholic and nonalcoholic drinks and for "Pupus, Tidbits, & Finger Food." Color photographs show off the kitschy mystique that Bergeron created at Trader Vic's, and his trademark pithy sayings are sprinkled throughout. Fun to read, this is recommended for most collections.

Copyright 2005 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.