When I walked in I wondered where the ukelele music was. But once we got them to turn it on I felt like I was in Hawaii, with the gentle breeze coming off the water in the huge tropical mural. The extremely unusual and fine "Leeteg of Tahiti" paintings (he's famous for his black velvet) were an unexpected treat. And dear god! The aquarium with the righteously narcissistic puffer fish was positively submarine, baby! Marvelous attention to detail,from the puka shell chandeliers to the grassly hung porticoes, put the place firmly within the post-war faux-polynesian school. The whole place looked like an officer's club on some South seas tiki army base. Let's mention right now that the menu does not match the atmosphere. This is an American steakhouse in Honolulu and nuthin' else. Well ok, they did have two tiki-type drinks available for the tourists…………pass the ketchup!

Trixie liked the Monkees (hey hey HEY!) hanging from the ceiling boat and Gruvlicius' purse really blended well as it dangled from the grassly hung porticoes. Oops! Ivan missed the glass floats suspended in fishnets featured at other southland tiki dives, but I don't care cause those fishnets always end up looking all dusty and gross, eeew! maka laka lei... No ossified language here!

Meanwhile we were all served chopped and dressed salid. It was cole slawish w/black pepar. It had nummy little beet slivers, if you like that sort of thing. Served all warm and cozy with the salad was garlic toast in tinfoil…..very south-seas. It was pretty good but I wanted more moRE MORE GNARLY GARLIC? Did we mention that, in the opinion of some, FRED 62 is run by soulless reptiles? Anyway, the top sirloin steak had a pleasing verticality. Tenderloin wins the award for the thickest steak in this subsection, captain. The vegetarian plate was “the worst vegetarian item I have ever ordered” said Michael and Marcel. There was beef broth in the mushroom sauce and Michael had an allergic reaction. His sinuses started itching and he felt dizzy, but he’s a clown so he laughed it off. Ha Ha!

Liz luuuuved her steak and said it was the perfect ending to a wonderful day. Meanwhile Yuki says “you don’t spend time dressing plate, do you?” In fact, though I didn’t care personally (ChrisLove) the plate dressage seemed to be a beeg issue with my homies.

Shrimp were crispy and succulent—not big and heavy like a steak, more like a weekend fling than a full-on steak marriage thing.

Mr. Name lamented that his pina colada did not include an actual coconut (or even a fake one for that matter). Trixie echoed his thoughts. If you want something other than a Chi Chi or Mai Tai, go to HawaiII. But on the other hand, “in a city where $8.00 Mai tai’s are the norm—a $4.50 chi chi is a pleasant surprise." It must be noted that the lighting ambiance “may not be sufficiently {stony}” for some. Have you noticed that we aren’t using bad language this go round? We are using our own special Silverlake language endorsed by Noam Chomsky. Hi Noam!

(CL)