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Dining & Spirits
50 Years of Fun
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Mai-Kai
3599 N. Federal Highway
Fort Lauderdale
954/563-3272
maikai.com
Golden anniversaries in the restaurant industry are a seldom-seen phenomenon. Negativists and naysayers encountered along the way erect roadblocks, but those with the right kind of vision and oversupply of optimism and determination always seem to find a way to treat them as hurdles. So it was with last year's celebrant who stubbornly held on for half a century -- Fort Lauderdale's one-of-a-kind Mai-Kai.
Chicagoan Bob Thornton started it all in 1956 with his brother Jack, whom he bought out in 1970. With true grit and great effort Bob showed the same kind of visionary imagination as those intrepid Polynesian explorers and colonists who sailed uncharted waters to find excitement and new homes.
A half-century ago he placed his tiki huts and palm trees in the boonies, creating an instant transport to another culture, taking great pains to furnish his escape with authentic relics and artifacts from the islands.
Thornton was not alone in his reveries. Trader Vic's and Don the Beachcomber were doing the same, united into mini-chains across the country. But none could compete with the Mai-Kai, then or now. But then Thornton had at his side wife Mireille, the ultralovely lead dancer in the great floor show that she still choreographs, designing the costumes, weaving fresh flowers into the leis and directing strategic distribution of bursting blooms here, there and everywhere.
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The two nightly floor shows are sensational, a great bargain at $9.95, and the menu itself has been carefully contrived to range across the islands, slow roasting prime rib in ancient-style Chinese ovens and saluting it
with wasabi horseradish sauce; encrusting fresh grouper with macadamia nuts before pan searing and crowning with a sweet vanilla sauce spiked with "Grand Marnier;" removing fresh Maine lobster from the shell and wok- sautéing it swiftly. For starters there's the famous Pupu Platter with Shanghai chicken, egg roll and crab Rangoon. Entrée prices range from $15 to $60.
But don't forget the incredible drink menu, a compendium of sheer fun in various unique vessels to match.
"Fun" is the operative word. Fun, from first breath to last.
