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| - Bringing the original to Tiki culture while revering its tradition is a feat accomplished by very few these days, as I've had occasion to remind so many. Mike Barrea & his wife have done just that--and then some--with their new Tiki Hideaway bar & restaurant in Charlotte, N.C.
The décor is the embodiment of Polynesian Pop, a deft blend of fundamental Tiki motifs with modernist tweaks that both delight and inspire, and studiously avoids the distortion we've become so accustomed to in lesser efforts. When so many "tiki bars" consist of the plastic & the half-ass, The Tiki Hideaway sets the bar for East Coast Tiki with unmistakeable authority.
Our visit coincided with a special menu just for Valentine's Day, and so I'm not able to critique the standard fare, but our selections were top flight. I'm a pretty traditional kinda guy with a predictably guy's palate, but the small plates satisfied both my foodie wife and myself with substance and style. Solid but sophisticated, just like everything else about the joint. We're already planning a return trip (hopefully with friends) in a couple months, just to sample the rest of the menu. Executive Chef Allen Evans and his crew should be proud of what they've brought to food culture for their city: nothing in Charleston can top it.
We did manage to make a little more headway into the cocktail menu, however, which appears to be somewhat rotational: we sampled from the menu (which featured a rum punch of the month), as well as from the completely different rollout menu. For those of you who have a preference for wine, they also feature an impressive selection (Barrea was initially considering a wine bar, his specialty), but you'd be cheating yourself by avoiding the more original concoctions.
The exacting bar staff start from scratch by making their own Orgeat and falernum, and tread the middle path between traditional Tiki recipes and their own creations. On hand are the essential Zombie, Mai Tai, Planter's Punch, Fog Cutter and Scorpion Bowl, but we veered toward more adventurous waters, starting with the ubermasculine Corn & Oil. Not for the faint palate, the blackstrap rum, falernum & lime juice blend sets a new course in flavor and strength, and should be a rite of passage in any Tikiphile's education. Also incorporating the blackstrap is the more delicate Jungle Bird, topped with an ingenious froth of eggwhite, and is a Malaysian recipe from 1978. I can also vouch for the Happy Buddha, the special Donga Punch, the Cradle of Life and the non-menu Professor's Love Affair. There is an entire roster of rollout recipes which we weren't able to sample, and which absolutely scream for a return trip.
It is a sad truth that quality is no guarantee of success in America, and it's even more true in Tiki cuisine. The Barreas' backstory is a fascinating one, and adds one more layer of respectability for what they've accomplished in The South's smartest city. Doing something this bold and this well in life can be a considerable risk, but let me tell you that if you dawdle on this experience, the risk is all yours. Not to diss on Vic or the Mai-Kai, but the totemic Tiki order in the Southeast has just shifted, and the gods have blessed us with a new place of worship.
Ignore the call at your peril.
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