Just a short drive in Anaheim CA from Disneyland (and Trader Sam’s), we were delighted to be able to get to Strong Water on our recent Los Angeles Tiki bar crawl …
There isn’t a reader board or name posted on this bar’s front; your only clues are two dark, wooden doors with metal handles shaped like seahorses and a decorative rum barrel. Nonetheless, it’s a good idea to show up early if you don’t have a reservation; the walk-in line gets pretty long and the bar isn’t huge. If you roll in later it could take you a very, very long time to get a seat.
We lucked out and ended up near the front of the line, so we were seated at the end of the bar. At a table, a few steps away, were half a dozen local artists from the day’s tiki market which was held in the parking lot of The Bamboo Club. Rarabird, Tiki Togs, Crazy Al, and BigToe were all hanging out, so this increased our confidence that we had chosen a good place to spend our evening.
“Good place” though, doesn’t do Strong Water justice; it was a fantastic experience in every way. For openers, the decor is atmospheric and immersive, it has a few tikis and fearsome masks to be sure, and a skull-shaped water feature towards the rear, but the main theme of the bar is nautical, and the overall impression one gets is that you are dining in the hull of a wrecked ship.
The menu follows suit, with a small but appetizing selection of tropical small plates and a somewhat larger menu of predominantly rum-based drinks, many of which, like The Captain’s Daughter, followed the nautical theme.
Drink wise, we started with Tales of the Black Lagoon (recommended by our bartender as one of his favorite drinks) and the 1000-Year Curse, the former a tall drink in a black Collins glass, the latter an up drink in a cocktail coupe. The 1000-Year Curse, made with Plantation’s Stiggins Pineapple Rum, dark rum, pineapple gum syrup, lime, and spices, was delicious and smooth; Tales of the Black Lagoon was complex, deeply rummy, and rich, a singularly satisfying tall drink sipper.
With the first round of drinks on board, we turned our attention to the food, ordering two small plates, one of vegetable spring rolls, the other of crab-stuffed shitake mushrooms.
The food soon proved to be every bit as good as the drinks it supported. The fresh spring rolls were given interest and body by their vermicelli rice noodles, which had clearly been soaked in coconut milk; the four stuffed shitake mushrooms we received were generously sized, and their decadent filling made with particularly high-quality, flavorful crab.
Jeanie had enjoyed her taste of my Black Lagoon so much she ordered a second one for herself on round two; I moved on to another bartender-recommended tall rum drink, Strong Water’s riff on the Zombie – a variation they call the Zombie King. Definitely not a traditional Zombie – but with its big, bold rum flavors and perfect balance, it was amazingly every bit as good as a well-made classic Zombie, and that is really saying something.
We’d both had a look around the bar earlier but the evening held one more surprise: Out of the blue BigToe, from the tiki artists’ table, dropped by and asked us if we’d seen the hidden gin bar at Strong Water … what gin bar? We both had totally missed it.
In the back, past Skull Rock, there was a closed, unmarked door; he led us through that and sure enough, there was a bar there as well – The Juniper Merchant. Set up as a ship officers’ lounge (Rum for the crew on deck, gin for the officers!) with its own completely separate menu of gin drinks, it too was deeply decorated. There was a framed portrait of “the Captain’s wife” gazing serenely down upon the bar and several portraits of the Captain’s supposed mistresses hidden from her gaze around the corner hanging over a cabinet holding the Strong Water’s tiki mug collection.
We were glad for the introduction, but it had become late enough that we had to move on without trying any of the gin drinks. Noticing our interest in the menu, however, one of the bartenders was nice enough to share small glasses of the house made pickle juice they use to make a gin drink dubbed Brackish Waters and if we hadn’t had a plane to catch the following day, I have little double we’d have tried that one too! As it stands, all that we can say about the drink is that the pickle juice mixer for it is nicely spiced, not salty, and quite tasty even on its own, so we have high hopes for Brackish Waters the next time we’re in the LA area.
Finally, dessert: The house banana cake, so moist and rich it was almost pudding-like. Wow!
Out of the nine bars we visited on our trip, we rate Strong Water easily in the top three, rubbing shoulders with the likes of the Tiki-Ti and the Formosa Café, it was that good. If you find yourself in Anaheim, don’t miss it!
Here is the Strong Water Website
And Facebook page