Two sexy people -- Many dirty bars

Power House

4/7/2014

I need to stop drinking on school nights...

On Sunday, Chad surprised me by taking me to Power House, a dirty bar I've wanted to visit ever since I worked on Cahuenga. From the outside, Power House looks like a dive...and then you walk inside...mega dive.

We stop in for a quick drink before lunch, but soon one drink turns into four and that's when the weird shit went down.

We park at the bar and order a round of drinks. The clientele consists of younger rocker dudes on our right and a guy with his Dachshund to our left. The bartender is looking all cute and streetwise in her newsboy cap. The walls are covered in vintage, garage sale art, and everything has the yellowish tinge of cigarette smoke. The bathroom is covered in graffiti and lacks a mirror, ala the Blue Lagoon in Santa Cruz.

Chad goes to the juke box to play some music and I start flipping through an issue of 'Girls and Corpses' that we bought at a nearby newsstand. I feel someone caress my arm and look up to find a smiling man who is not my boyfriend.

UMMMM.....

He starts asking me questions in a thick Russian accent, which I can hardly articulate, so I redirect my attention to my phone. I know the Russian is still standing next to me, as I can feel his gaze and heavy breathing over my right shoulder. I keep looking over at a completely oblivious Chad, who is clearly enamored by the CD-style juke box. The bartender comes over to check on me, and shortly thereafter, Chad comes back and reclaims his bar stool. He doesn't at all seem weirded out by the smiling Russian dude two inches away from him.

The Russian is having a hard time standing, so Chad offers him his stool. The bartender rewards our good deed with a shot of Fireball.

After we leave, we run into the patron with the weiner dog. He shouts over at me, "That guy hitting on you was the weirdest thing I've ever seen"...

Oh, Hollywood.

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The Ventiki Challenge - RESULTS

4/1/2014

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Ohhh, Chad's poor liver...

HE COMPLETED THE VENTIKI CHALLENGE!!!
And with flying colors, might I add; the guy barely flinched.

Serving as both a spectator and head cheerleader for Chad in his quest for the gold, I will take the reigns and write up a solid review...because I don't think he remembers much from last weekend.

Basically, the concept of the challenge is to drink all 19 drinks listed on the card. The first 100 people to successfully complete this challenge receive a t-shirt, a Ventiki logo glass, and their name immortalized on a plaque for all to see.

After Chad learned about this challenge, he was determined to get his name on the plaque (and hey, not a bad way to shamelessly promote The Underbelly). Unfortunately, we live in Los Angeles, about an hour away from Ventiki..not exactly stumbling distance. We decide to drive back up to finish the challenge the following weekend. Three down, sixteen to go; he's totally got this.

SATURDAY -Decisions, decisions. The strategy here was to drink the "bad" ones first (aka, anything with Gin or Anais). Voodoo Temptress? CHECK. Dr Funk? CHECK. One of the owners, Scott, warned us about a couple of the drinks (order the Dr Funk light on the "funk", was one of his suggestions), but honestly, all the drinks tasted great. My personal favorites were the Mai Tai, Alter of Sacrifice, and I.C.C. of '73; all had the perfect amount of sweet and spice, and if you're a light weight like me, they'll hit you quick and leave you feeling drunk for a while; a whole lot of bang for your $10 to $15.

If the drinks alone are not enough to convince you to visit Ventiki; the food, ambiance, and engaging staff will.

FOOD - Fresh sushi, poke bowls, pulled pork, ribs, even a Spam option..literally, I would order one of everything on the menu if I had the financial and stomach capacities.

AMBIANCE - Maui is my favorite place in the world, so anywhere that can re-create that hybrid of serenity and culture gets my stamp of approval. But it's not that Ventiki just threw plastic leis and palm trees around their bar and called it tiki...no, no. The attention to detail is meticulous; everything from the light fixtures, to the tiki mugs, to the straw-hut roof is completely on-point.

STAFF - Because we literally spent two whole days at Ventiki, we bonded with the owners, Scott and Carrie, as well as the various bartenders. It was insightful to talk business and booze with Ventura locals, and it is majorly impressive to see a local business doing so well within their first nine months of business.

Oh right, back to the challenge. By drink number six on Saturday afternoon, Chad was feeling a little lethargic. We head to the hotel to take a nap and recharge, then head back to Ventiki around 8:00pm.

Ventiki is significantly more crowded at night, but we are able to find a station to sit, snack, and slurp down a few more cocktails.

I stick with my new best friend Mai Tai, while Chad knocks a couple more off the list. Wearing down, but still sturdy, he opts to finish the remainder of the list on Sunday. Although fucking delicious, ahi tuna and coconut shrimp skewers are not enough to sop up the booze in our systems, so we stumble over to Cafe Fiore for a carb-loaded dinner.

SUNDAY - Eight drinks left and severely hung over, Chad was concerned that we might need to make a third trip to Ventura. I would never encourage my boyfriend to drink himself to death, but I've seen him put down more than this, and we still had a whole Sunday ahead of us. Eye of the tiger, Chad.

It's 11:00am and we're the first to arrive. The bartender looks up from slicing fruit garnishes and greets us with a smile, "Here to finish the list?" An apprehensive Chad nods his head yes, then takes a seat to tear into his first beverage of the morning: Blue Hawaii.

He consumes four more drinks before we decide to saunter over to the Harbor to grab lunch. Aww...little dolphin rider >>>

At lunch, our fair competitor couldn't resist a $2 Bloody Mary, which caused a significant set-back when we returned to Ventiki. I guess vodka, tomato juice and horseradish didn't mix so well with the mass amounts of rum and fruit juice from earlier in the day.

Three more drinks to go...including the dreaded finale - The $25 Mai Tai <<< (dreaded mainly because of the $25 price tag, YIKES!). With little struggle, Chad conquers the final three and joins the 48 others on the hall of fame plaque!!!

WAY TO GO, CHAD!

Although he's still feeling the hangover today, we at The Underbelly are extremely proud of his achievement. If you're in the Ventura area, stop on by Ventiki. Always a good time.

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Power House

The Ventiki Challenge - RESULTS

Authors
Chad (blue font)
Alyssa (pink font)

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Power House

The Ventiki Challenge - RESULTS

AuthorsChad (blue font)Alyssa (pink font)

Archives

Categories

Authors
Chad (blue font)
Alyssa (pink font)