Historical Summer 2005 article. Dates, prices, services and contacts describe the source period; current availability has not been established.
It’s not the lemon grass, coconut, or raspberry mojitos. It’s not the Prickly Pear Margarita sipped casually while dining al fresco on a Spring evening. It’s no caipirinha, and forget any drink over $5.00. No, the best drink in Skinker DeBaliviere is the one I stumbled upon – the Stink – two years ago, when a friend from out of town, my husband, and I went together to the Thai Café to have dinner with another friend.
Each of these two friends considers herself to be a person who instinctively orders the best thing on any menu.
They are very competitive about it, and only really enjoy a meal if they are the person at the table with the best food and drink.
I encourage this friendly competition, and order last. I’ve always ordered the house wine at the Thai Café, because it is $2.95. Sometimes a mistake is made, and they serve my house wine in a daiquiri glass, which is a lot of wine for $2.95.
My husband always orders Budweiser. For years, we had skipped entirely the cocktail menu, which includes such specialties as the Fog Cutter, the Scorpion, the Zombie, the Mai Tai, the Rum Keg, the Pina Cola, the Chee Chee, and finally the Thai Stinker. Importantly, we had missed the descriptions of these drinks – the Zombie, ‘a real dirty stinker of dark rum and light rum;’ the Fog Cutter, ‘a potent vaseful of rum, gin, brandy, fruit juices;’ and the Chee Chee, ‘a fantastic drink of vodka served in a ceramic coconut.’ One friend was taken in by the prospect of the ceramic coconut, and immediately ordered the Chee Chee.
The other friend read to the bottom of the menu, to ‘a magical blend of rum, gin, cherry liquor, fruit juice and on fire,’ and ordered the Thai Stinker. Being as it was ‘and on fire,’ it was sure to beat any drink served in a ceramic coconut.
The Chee Chee was served first, and the ceramic coconut did not disappoint.
It was kind of quaint and came with a paper umbrella, an orange slice, and a maraschino cherry.
The drink itself, I do not remember.
Then the waiter went back to the kitchen to serve the Thai Stinker separately, using both hands and carrying from underneath.
He walked by several other tables gingerly balancing a large ceramic bowl, four inches deep and eleven inches wide, filled to the brim with the ‘magical blend.’ Hanging over the edges were four threefoot-long straws and two paper umbrellas.
All eyes were on our table.
The waiter set the bowl in the middle, between the four of us, and handed each a straw.
Then he pulled a kitchen torch out from his waistband, poured a shot of alcohol into the interior ring of the bowl, and set it on fire.
I believe there were cheers.
The bowl is what you sometimes see used as a chip and dip bowl, maybe at a Super Bowl Party, with the chips served in the outer ring, and the dips served in the inner ring.
With the Thai Stinker, the outer ring of the bowl is used for the drink, and the inner ring is used for the fire.
The inner ring rises up from the center of the bowl, sitting about an inch higher. Decorating the outside of the bowl are palm trees and half-naked hula dancers.
The inner ring is painted red with lava, as if the flaming shot of vodka is actually a volcano spewing lava down into the drink. At this point, it didn’t matter what the Thai Stinker tasted like, because any drink served on fire in a bowl for $4.95 must be the best drink in any neighborhood.
It doesn’t have to have green things floating in it, sugar or salt around the rim, and it doesn’t have to age. Put it in a bowl, set it on fire, and charge less than $5.00. That being said, the Thai Stinker is delicious. Nobody has yet to determine the exact recipe for this ‘magical blend of rum, gin, cherry liquor, fruit juice and on fire,’ and if you ask, the Thai Café will not tell. Even if you ask under the auspices of writing an article for the much heralded Skinker DeBaliviere Times, they won’t tell. Again, it doesn’t matter, because at $4.95 you couldn’t make it any better at home. Plus, what would you serve it in?
The Thai Café is located at 6170 Delmar, across from the Pageant, and is now open seven days a week.
Original photograph caption
Ah,theThaiStinker cocktail atThaiCafé. Photographer not credited.
Originally published in The Times of Skinker-DeBaliviere, Summer 2005.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Original source: SD_Times2005_06.pdf, printed page(s) 4; PDF page(s) 4.
