Potable Portland, Ore.

In an article in the June 7 issue of Portland's alternative newspaper, Willamette Week writer Kevin Allman takes the nation's preeminent tiki archeologist, Jeff "Beachbum" Berry, on a safari in search of the perfect mai tai and other summer libations.

The duo hit five establishments, ranging from plush to, well, not-so-plush. They turned up a fabulous sidecar made with 15-year-old Barbancourt and fresh squeezed juices at Jake's Grill, and a sad mai tai that "tastes like a watermelon Jolly Rancher" at the Alibi. But they found gold of sorts at the Jasmine Tree and its outstanding collectin of tiki kitsch. (The bar, alas, may soon be demolished.) The drinks at the Jasmine Tree actually failed to impress – the mai tai comes with a canned pineapple ring and what appeared to be a tongue depresser – but the place as a whole left a lasting impression on Berry. "This is what midcentury tiki was really all about," Berry explained to Allman, "a place where a blue-collar guy could take his family and dream about Hawaii for a couple of hours."

Of course, now we have Olive Garden, where we can dream about, um, Italy, I guess, while drinking boxed wine.