Trader Vic's


A couple of years ago I was smitten with a nostalgic interest in Polynesia and Trader Vic's restaurant. I went on-line and purchased a vintage copy of The Trader Vic's cookbook and planned a couple whole menus from the book for special events entitled "Return to Trader Vic's". It really was a blast and quite good with rum cocktails and variations on terriyaki. Trader Vic's was the first successful "theme" restaurants and of course started many trends. This was before the revolution in American cooking.

One silly thing that I still like to make occaisionally is Crab Rangoon-who says food has to be serious "high church" all the time. It is simple to make. Cream cheese is flavored with garlic, ginger, and green onion, crab meat is then folded in and the mixture is stuffed into wonton wrappers and deep fried. I served it recently at the restaurant with a puree of mango and pineapple with rice wine vinegar and hot Asian chili sauce.