"SEDUCED BY A SCORPION/TEMPTED BY ISLAND DELIGHTS/SURRENDER TO THE FANTASY" read the golden invitation to the grand opening of Trader Vic's at Lincoln Square in Bellevue. Inside was an embossed gold-tone metal card—a "golden ticket" to be used for admittance. What could one do but, yes, surrender to the fantasy?
The golden ticket went unasked for by two handsome doormen wearing black-and-white uniforms with the Trader Vic's logo embroidered in golden thread on their chests. In the entryway, purple leis were placed around the rich necks of those who'd invested $50,000 or more in this latest link in the venerable restaurant chain. (The downtown Seattle Trader Vic's, in the Westin, closed in 1991; Bellevue is the 24th current location, among sister cities like Bangkok, London, and Dubai.)
The exclusive preview reception had been gaining very-well-lubricated momentum for several hours; seduction and temptation were rampant, and previewers were enjoying the hell out of icy island delights waiting in tidy lines on the bar—pink drinks, drinks with gardenias afloat on their surfaces, drinks garnished with half-limes. Distinguished older gentlemen in blue blazers with gold buttons availed themselves unashamedly of an embarrassment of fruity beverages. Mai tais of eye-watering strength proved popular—a drink originally concocted by Victor J. "Trader Vic" Bergeron himself, despite pretenders to its invention ("Many have claimed credit.... This aggravates my ulcer completely," he wrote in 1970). A plethora of glass floats and whatnot hung from the ceiling in the Tiki Lounge, and a general festive Polynesian atmosphere was in effect as everyone applied themselves to tying one thoroughly on under the notably crazed eyes of a large, priapic wooden figure with bone nose rings.
Circumambulation revealed yet more Tiki Lounge (it is capacious, seating 95 when not standing-room only), a glassed-in wood-burning oven (Chinese in origin), a nautical-themed dining room with many cute model ships, a decimated hors d'oeuvre table, a Trader Vic's logo rendered in three-foot-high ice, and two gentlemen in business suits doing an approximation of the hula together. The very happy partygoers gushed inarticulately. "Oh, it's great," one said; "Isn't it great?" remarked another moments later. One of the distinguished-older-gentleman contingent, sipping a chi-chi through a straw, observed pithily vis-Ă -vis the return of Trader Vic's to the Pacific Northwest: "All the old things are coming back." Then he winked.
As guests departed, the two handsome doormen took care to warn them about what appeared to be a very ordinary and very visible nearby curb. This curb had apparently become a hazardous precipice for those disembarking from their South Seas experience, and the ladies in their high heels and gentlemen in their loafers navigated it with the gleeful, exaggerated care of the high-spirited.
Trader Vic's is located at 700 Bellevue Way NE #50, Bellevue, 425-455-4483.
