A plaque remaining from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem.

Above, a 1934 plaque from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem. Discarded as trash in 2006. Now a Popeyes fast food restaurant on Google Maps.

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Entry from July 05, 2008
Dallas Star (cocktail)

Trader Vic’s is a chain of Polynesian-themed restaurants founded by Victor Jules Bergeron, Jr. (1902-1984). The restaurants were enormously popular in the 1950s and 1960s, during a Tiki culture craze. The Dallas Trader Vic’s shut down in 1987, but re-opened in 2007.
 
To celebrate the re-opening of the Dallas Trader Vic’s, a new drink called the “Dallas Star” was created. Ingredients in the Dallas Star cocktail include tequila, coconut rum, blue curaçao, lime juice, and pineapple wedges. The blue drink is garnished with a slice of star fruit (carambola).
 
 
Wikipedia: Trader Vic’s
Victor Jules Bergeron, Jr. (December 10, 1902 – October 11, 1984) was the founder of a chain of Polynesian-themed restaurants that bore his nickname, Trader Vic, and one of two people who claimed to have invented the Mai Tai. The other was his amicable competitor for many years, Don the Beachcomber.
 
Bergeron attended Heald College in San Francisco, California. Starting with $700 in 1934, Bergeron opened a small bar/restaurant across from his parent’s grocery store in Oakland, California named Hinky Dink’s. As its popularity spread, the menu and decor developed an increasingly tropical flair; Hinky Dink’s soon became Trader Vic’s. The empire of restaurants is credited as one of the first successful themed chains, which many others followed.
 
During the Tiki culture fad of the ‘50s and ‘60s, as many as 25 Trader Vic’s restaurants were in operation around the world, all featuring the popular mix of Polynesian artifacts, unique cocktails, and exotic cuisine. In the 1980’s and 1990’s the empire began to shrink as a new generation of people had little or no connection to the restaurants’ tiki theme. Poor locations or less trendy addresses also took a toll on the chain’s popularity. While many of the original locations have since closed, Trader Vic’s is experiencing an explosive resurgence as new generation discovers the strong drinks and unique tiki atmosphere. Twenty-five locations exist around the globe today equaling the previous chain record, with a few more due to open shortly.
 
The Webtender Wiki
Dallas Star
The official cocktail of Trader Vic’s restaurant in Dallas, Texas.
 
Recipe
2 pineapple wedges
3 mint leaves
1¼ oz Tezon Reposado Tequila
1 oz Malibu coconut rum
¼ oz blue curaçao
Juice of whole lime
1 oz Agave nectar
Muddle pineapple and mint in glass. Add remaining ingredients with ice. Shake vigorously. Fill a 12-ounce glass with ice. Loosely strain into glass, allowing a little of the muddled mixture to enter the drink. Makes 1 serving. Garnish with a lime peel spiral and a slice of starfruit.
 
Dallas (TX) Morning News (April 4, 2007)
The new Trader Vic’s is the tiki talk of the town
By TINA DANZE / Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News
Stepping into the recently revived Trader Vic’s restaurant and lounge next to the Hotel Palomar is like entering a time warp. That’s precisely what makes it something of a holy grail for Trader Vic’s devotees – most of them longtime Dallasites with sentimental ties to the original nightspot.
 
Sealed like a tomb for nearly 20 years after its closing in 1987, the lounge has been restored to its old Polynesian-pop glory. Mismatched lanterns and fishing floats hover over the dimly lit room; tiki heads and accessories salvaged from other closed locations abound; and the festive cocktails are back, along with vintage barware and over-the-top garnishes. 
(...)
WHAT’S NEW AT TRADER VIC’S
The Dallas Star
To mark the reopening of the Dallas restaurant, management commissioned a new drink: The Dallas Star. Made with blue curaçao, it’s garnished with a slice of star fruit. It’s on the menu at Trader Vic’s restaurants worldwide. It comes in a special glass with the drink recipe printed on it, which is yours to keep when you order a Star. The new glass has already turned up on e-Bay. The drink costs $12. The opening bid on eBay for the glass is $7.99 plus $6.30 shipping.
 
Mumpsimus Forum
The Dallas Star, New drink at Trader Vic’s
larry mac
Apr 6 2007, 10:44 AM
The old Dallas landmark has just reopened. From 1967 to 1987 the famous polynesian restaurant sat at Mockingbird Lane & Central Expressway, at the top of the Hilton Hotel. Now the new Hotel Palomar. Took a couple dates there myself as a teenager in the late sixties.To mark the reopening they commissioned the new drink, which will be on the menu at Trader Vic’s restaurants worldwide.
 
The Dallas Star
2 Pineapple wedges
3 mint leaves
(muddle leaves & wedges)
1¼ oz Tezon reposado tequila
1 oz malibu rum
¼ oz blue curacao
1 juice of whole lime
1 oz agave nectar
garnish with a slice of star fruit
 
The drink is served in a special glass with the recipe printed on it (you get to keep the glass). The drink cost $12. Glass is on ebay already for $7.99 plus $6.30 shipping.
 
Video of bartender making drink:
http://www.guidelive.com/sharedcontent/Vid…0&catId=342
 
A video visit to Trader Vic’s:
http://www.guidelive.com/sharedcontent/Vid…2&catId=342
 
Full Dallas Morning News story:
http://www.guidelive.com/sharedcontent/dws…on1.1687ee.html
 
Dallas (TX) Observer
Deathless Tiki Tacky
Kitsch is cool again at Trader Vic’s

By Mark Stuertz
Published on May 03, 2007
(...)
A server tells us tropical cocktails take time to compose. “They’re made individually,” he says. And there are a lot of individuals to serve. Tiki nostalgia is pent up and spills with vigor. There’s a new cocktail: the Dallas star, made with blue curaçao, rum, lime and agave nectar. The tropical lagoon-blue drink is garnished with a slice of star fruit. “It’s almost like a margarita, but not quite,” our server says. “It’s more sour. It’s not sweet.” It’s sweet. It’s lethargic.
   
Dallas (TX) Morning News
Trader Vic’s recipes: Eat up and drink ‘em down
10:50 AM CST on Thursday, February 14, 2008
(...) 
THE DALLAS STAR
2 pineapple wedges
3 mint leaves
1 ¼  ounces Tezon Reposado Tequila
1 ounce Malibu rum
¼  ounce blue curaçao
1 juice of whole lime
1 ounce Agave nectar
 
Muddle pineapple and mint in glass. Add remaining ingredients with ice. Shake vigorously. Fill a 12-ounce glass with ice. Loosely strain into glass, allowing a little of the muddled mixture to enter the drink. Makes 1 serving.
SOURCE: Trader Vic’s Dallas
Making the “Dallas Blue Star”  (video)

Posted by Barry Popik
Texas (Lone Star State Dictionary) • Saturday, July 05, 2008 • Permalink


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