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Sneak Peek: Trader Vic's

By Rob Christopher in Food on Nov 24, 2008 4:50PM

A bar not dominated by flat-panel televisions and loud music. A sedate tropical environment which instantly transports you away from the outside world the moment you enter. Inventive, generous cocktails served without a drop of pretension. Trader Vic's is special to us.

The projected opening is about three weeks away, but general manager Rusty Fenton was gracious enough to give us a tour of the new space and treat us to some tropical libations. Bottom line? This is going to be one hell of a place. The original Chicago Trader Vic's opened in 1957 in the basement of the Palmer House Hilton but closed on December 31, 2005 when the hotel's new owners decided to gut the restaurant in favor of retail space. The new digs at 1030 N. State aim to fully honor Vic's history of quality atmosphere even while making a classic even better.

We're thrilled with how spacious it is! A seating capacity of 295, as well as a private banquet room, means plenty of room to stretch out. Just past the host's station is the gigantic main bar, made up of sections salvaged from the old Dallas, Osaka and Palmer House Trader Vic's bars, with room for twenty-five barstools. An adjacent lounge section will feature tables overlooking the atrium garden of the Newberry Plaza building. Giant clamshell light fixtures, woven bamboo matting and a dozen small tikis which were rescued from the Palmer House will be combined with other tiki accoutrements to lend a mellow and moody atmosphere.

The dining room's menu will feature a wide variety of Polynesian- and Asian-influenced cuisine, including plenty of seafood. There will be favorite appetizers like bongo bongo soup and crab rangoon (supposedly invented by a Trader Vic's chef, by the way) as well as a range of main dishes prepared using a glass-enclosed Chinese wood fired oven, which should be visible from the dining room. New to the menu is sushi, available to order at the bar.

But as everyone knows the main attraction will be the bar. Talking with Adam, the bar manager, led us to believe that cocktail training for barstaff is only a shade less intensive than that of the Violet Hour. The core drink menu offers 75 choices, with an average price of $9. There'll be at least 25 more cocktails rotating in and out of the lineup (Adam is especially keen to try out a cucumber margarita). They're starting out with an inventory of roughly 20 rums and building from there. At full-tilt there will be at least four bartenders working at once. They also plan to have around 15 wines and a handful of champagnes available by the glass. In short, a drink for damn near everyone.

With times as rough as they are now, the calm but invigorating environs of Trader Vic's will be just what the doctor ordered. We can't wait until it's ready to open!