Tiki Tatsu-ya Reveals a New Old World of Culinary Adventure: Three years in the making, worthy of eternal returns – Food

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The pu-pu platter includes a selection of BBQ beef skewers, mochiko wings, yokozuna ribs, crab lagoon, taro crunches, and house cucumber (Photo by Buzz Moran)

Everything you imagined, everything you heard, everything you and your culture-steeped neighbors suspected: it’s true.

Tiki Tatsu-ya – now open at 1300 S. Lamar, where its many wonders hide behind a harmless sign for the Aikawa Travel Agency – is one of the best tiki bars in the country.

No, let’s do it better: Tiki Tatsu-ya is one of the best tiki bars in the world. You want to argue with Austin’s own Buzz Moran.

“Everything that happens, I touch everything. Every little detail. I wanted to create something where you can come back and have a completely different experience, try different things. ” – Chef / Owner Tatsu Aikawa

“You did it,” said the self-taught Tiki scholarship holder during a preview visit to Tatsu and Shion Aikawa’s newest addition to the gastronomy of our up-and-coming city. “Son of a bitch. You really did it!”

Tiki Tatsu-ya are two separate but perfectly connected levels of a retro island-style whisper bar, a fully immersive trip back to a time only in the minds of Don the Beachcomber and Trader Vic and all of the Enchanted Mid-20s Acolytes who followed their battered entourage.

This new indulgence and gourmet experience was created by the virtuosos of McCray & Co. – the interior designers who gave way to Kemuri Tatsu-ya and the Shabu-Shabu delights of DipDipDip Tatsu-ya – and by Blue Genie Art Industries and Natalie George Productions produces and Thrown Light and Gl33k and, oh the list goes on, the army of talent is impressive in numbers. But then again, a lot about Tiki Tatsu-ya is impressive in its numbers.

There is an abundance of classic tiki drinks or new interpretations of classic tiki drinks, and each is presented in its own specially designed vessel. Each has been refined to liquid perfection by beverage manager Cory Starr, a veteran of Three Dots & a Dash in Chicago and Hawaii’s Four Seasons Resort Hualalai.

“Tiki drinks are the original craft cocktails,” Tatsu Aikawa tells us, “and Cory does a great job. Even mixing five rums for the rum barrel, just finding the right proportions, knowing what tastes like what and what goes well together – all that stuff that he makes? It’s overwhelming. “

The drinks must be overwhelming. First, to live up to their names (Zombie, Painkiller, Slurping Bastard, Strip ‘n Go Naked, Stranded on Saturn, to name a few) and second, to do justice to the brilliance of the food served in this fantastic place becomes environment. The Lomi Lomi Tataki with its king salmon, tomato kosho, shiso inamona pesto, macadamia nut oil, onions, sea beans and mint. The Crab Lagoon, a kind of deconstructed crab rangoon that is served as a dip – with blue crab, rangoon cheese, flavored wonton chips and pineapple and chilli jam. The (required!) Pu Pu platter with barbecue beef skewers, chicken wings covered with mochiko, “yokozuna” ribs, taro crunches, homemade cucumber and the above-mentioned crab lagoon.

And more and more: the variety on the menu is almost as remarkable as the quality. At another, half-hearted tiki bar, what to eat might be an afterthought. At Tiki Tatsu-ya, it’s so damn delicious that you want to kick a hole through a concrete wall.

Well, of course, this is a Tatsu Aikawa project after all. And that’s what he’s been dreaming of since his parents moved from Japan to Texas as a small child? Um, no, not exactly.

“In 2014 when I started building next door [at Ramen Tatsu-ya]”, He tells us,” my brother Shion said, ‘Hey, we should do a tiki bar.’ And I was like, ‘What the hell is a tiki bar?’ I had no idea. But Shion went to college on the west coast, he’d been to some of those real tiki bars so he knew what it was. And I thought: ‘OK’. And gradually I got to know Tiki. It’s part of Americana history that is so unique. And it tied in with my Japanese roots, with the Japanese experience in Hawaii. I did research on the sugar cane workers and what they brought to the island, and the workers from other parts of Asia, and how the whole melting pot started, you know? The full story of Polynesian island culture. I was fascinated.”

And as people everywhere notice, amazing things happen when Tatsu Aikawa is fascinated by a subject.

The second level dragon atrium (Photo by Buzz Moran)

“The care, information and craftsmanship that Tatsu has put into its food, drinks and spaces,” says Kevin Collins, Head of Blue Genie, “is impressive.”

“Everything that happens,” Tatsu says, “I touch everything. Every little detail. I’ve always loved art – I think that’s the only thing I’ve happened in school – and I’ve done graffiti, drove the trains So I wanted to create something where you can come back and have a completely different experience, try different things. “

“It’s a space to experience,” says Collins. “The moment you walk into the property you think, ‘Holy cow, what on earth is going on here?’ And with Tiki, it’s hard to get that level of authenticity, you know. Some people just put some moas in the middle of a room with a palm tree and pour rum in a mug and go after work. That was never the intention of this room. “

“In the history of Blue Genie,” he continues, “there are only a handful of people who appreciate such immersive environments and are willing to fund them. So when you find this person – be it Tim League at the Alamo or the folks at Casino el Camino or Jason Burton at the Jackalope – we’ve benefited because they share the vision of bringing these things into the world, because we keep it cool Find. We think it improves the human experience. Plus the Tiki subculture is very serious, and it’s global, and if you’re trying to create a new space – we didn’t just want to outfit a bar and restaurant in Austin and make it one of the coolest experiences in town, against some of the great tiki bars around the world. Because it’s Field of Dreams, ‘If you build it, they’ll come.’ “

Tiki Tatsu-ya is located at 1300 S. Lamar. The entrance and on-street parking are at the back of the building on Lamar Square Drive. Opening times: Wed., 4 p.m.-12 p.m.; Thursday-Saturday, 4 pm-2am; Sun., 2 pm-10pm; Menu available Wed-Sat, 5-10 p.m. Visit tiki-tatsuya.com for more information.

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