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It seems nearly everyone who spends an evening at the Mai-Kai for the first time, or after a long absence, says much the same thing when going home: “I really had fun!” Usually, they say this with a touch of surprise. That’s the part that amuses me, as if they expected something a little corny maybe. The Mai-Kai isn’t corny. It’s a Polynesian pearl dropped into the hectic midst of Federal Highway in Fort Lauderdale. Every time I walk through the Mai-Kai’s large welcoming doors I somehow instantly begin to relax.
Last night, I escaped there again. Among the South Seas décor and the holiday lights, just beyond a twinkling Christmas tree, I also saw something of the past and future of this local institution. The Mai-Kai is 50 years old and they celebrated that colorful history with a special holiday party. There are holiday parties, of course, and then there’s a Mai-Kai holiday party. The mai-tais and Shanghai chicken and crab rangoon and other drinks and appetizers circled among the guests in a parade of trays. As we drank and ate, we made our own circuit, looking over pictures and calendars and other mementoes of five decades. I did not mind that photos of the “Mai-Kai Maidens” were on prominent display – sarong-wearing staffers who were much-preferred to Playboy playmates in a 1967 Gourmet magazine piece.
Then we sat down to watch what lies ahead for the Mai-Kai. The new dinner show for 2007 was unveiled for party guests and I think it’s safe to say we all were impressed with the changes. Choreographer Mireille Thornton, who happens to own this place too, has put together a fresh take on the usual revue of South Pacific dances, adding a spark I hadn’t seen in this show for some years. And I’ve seen Mai-Kai shows many times since 1989. As I worked on a marvelous slice of grouper encrusted with macadamia nuts, chatting with delightful dinner companions and just generally having a swell time, I realized it had happened again, just as it always does. My evening at the Mai-Kai in some way had dissolved all my everyday worries. And heading home, I found myself saying the same thing as the first-timers: “I really had fun!” The difference is that I wasn’t surprised by that at all.
Last night, I escaped there again. Among the South Seas décor and the holiday lights, just beyond a twinkling Christmas tree, I also saw something of the past and future of this local institution. The Mai-Kai is 50 years old and they celebrated that colorful history with a special holiday party. There are holiday parties, of course, and then there’s a Mai-Kai holiday party. The mai-tais and Shanghai chicken and crab rangoon and other drinks and appetizers circled among the guests in a parade of trays. As we drank and ate, we made our own circuit, looking over pictures and calendars and other mementoes of five decades. I did not mind that photos of the “Mai-Kai Maidens” were on prominent display – sarong-wearing staffers who were much-preferred to Playboy playmates in a 1967 Gourmet magazine piece.
Then we sat down to watch what lies ahead for the Mai-Kai. The new dinner show for 2007 was unveiled for party guests and I think it’s safe to say we all were impressed with the changes. Choreographer Mireille Thornton, who happens to own this place too, has put together a fresh take on the usual revue of South Pacific dances, adding a spark I hadn’t seen in this show for some years. And I’ve seen Mai-Kai shows many times since 1989. As I worked on a marvelous slice of grouper encrusted with macadamia nuts, chatting with delightful dinner companions and just generally having a swell time, I realized it had happened again, just as it always does. My evening at the Mai-Kai in some way had dissolved all my everyday worries. And heading home, I found myself saying the same thing as the first-timers: “I really had fun!” The difference is that I wasn’t surprised by that at all.
posted by LauderBLOGGER at 5:00 PM
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