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CITY NEWS

AN EMERYVILLE TRADITION SINCE 1934

Roger Brigham
The Emeryville Connection Staff
July 2007

The Original Trader Vic’s –

Successful restaurants like to be judged by any number of criteria: longevity, word-of-mouth reputation, customer loyalty – all are standards by which eateries can evaluate their success beyond cash register receipts, restaurant reviews or reservation waiting lists.

Emeryville’s own Trader Vic’s has all that and more.

Longevity? The business traces its roots back to Hinky Dink’s, a watering hole/trading post/chow palace founded in 1934 on San Pablo Avenue and Sixty-fifth Street in Oakland by Victor Jules Bergeron, with $500 and a ton of sweat equity. The name came from the lyrics of a popular World War I doughboys’ song, used to while away hours in the trenches. The inspiration came from the heart and mind of Bergeron, who wanted to create an escapist fantasy of good food and good drink for his neighbors.

Word-of-mouth rep? Folks who have never heard of Hinky Dink’s know all about Trader Vic’s through their neighbors, through websites devoted to the “Tiki Lounge” cuisine and cocktails, and through active blogs on its history and its lore.

Customer loyalty?

“We have a good percentage of our clientele who have gone to Hinky Dink’s,” said Desiree Kidd, General Manager of the Emeryville restaurant. “They like to tell you all about it every time they come here. It’s great that they’ve been coming so long.”

From its local roots, Trader Vic’s has grown into a truly international restaurant force, with roughly 25 locations, including locations in China, Qatar and Jordan. Overseeing the rapid international expansion is new CEO Robert Davies, a native Australian based in Marin.

“It’s hard to keep up with it – there are always so many new openings,” Kidd said. “The ‘Tiki’ restaurant a lot of people are familiar with from their childhood is back. What was retro is now cool again.”

Kidd said the Emeryville restaurant, which moved to its current location in 1972, serves about 200 people each week day, about 500 on weekend days, and employs about 60 people. Customers come from Lafayette, Piedmont, the Oakland and Berkeley hills, San Marin, Sacramento, Hayward and San Francisco – “the ‘old money’ places,” Kidd said.

Younger patrons are being brought in by what they’ve heard and by a menu that works to incorporate a modern sensibility and greater menu choices with the restaurant’s traditional, pointedly exotic fare.

Many start off with Cosmo Tidbits (spareribs, crab rangoon, crispy prawns and BBQ pork) or Bongo Bongo soup. Indonesian rack of lamb with pake noodles, pineapple and chutney is a popular entree. And then, of course, there are there ever present Mai Tai cocktails, invented by Mr. Vic himself in 1944.

“Sizes are more proportional now,” Kidd said, “and we don’t put a starch and vegetable on every plate now. Customers have more flexibility in their choices. People want something nice and they want high quality.”

Kidd said the Bay Area locations have an advantage over their Trader Vic’s colleagues in their ability to access local fresh seafood – an advantage they use to modify their menus accordingly.

For Kidd, Trader Vic’s is like home. She got much of her training through the restaurants before coming to Emeryville this year. She said she likes the security of having Trader Vic’s backing combined with the closeness and continuity of the local staff.

“There’s the security and benefit of having the corporation backing you up,” Kidd said, “but this location is very family oriented in its staff. It’s the best of both worlds.

“Plus,” she said, pausing to look out the restaurant’s windows overlooking the waterfront, “this view. To look out at that for a few hours every day isn’t so bad, you know?”

We know.

Roger Brigham is a writer for The Emeryville Connection. If you have a question or comment,

please contact him at ecocnews@gmail.com