The Hottest Bar Openings Across The Country

Las Vegas celebrates tiki culture, lavishness rules at a San Diego nightclub and more.

Located in the Chinatown area of Las Vegas, The Golden Tiki has an island-inspired interior with a drinks menu to match. The venue features personalized tableside cocktails.
Located in the Chinatown area of Las Vegas, The Golden Tiki has an island-inspired interior with a drinks menu to match. The venue features personalized tableside cocktails. (Photo by Julie Bergonz)

Tiki Culture Comes Alive In Las Vegas

Sin City nightlife veteran and entrepreneur Branden Powers opened an ode to island culture in July with the debut of The Golden Tiki, an imaginative 4,000-square-foot space located just off the Strip in Las Vegas’ Chinatown. The bar features an indoor waterfall, a trading post for souvenirs, a performance and DJ stage, and a pirate’s lair. True to form, The Golden Tiki has an island-inspired drinks menu with roughly 15 specialties and a few large-format punches, including re-creations of popular concoctions like the Mai Tai, Zombie, Painkiller, and Three Dots and a Dash. These mainstays join newer offerings, such as the venue’s namesake signature—a blend of Coruba Original rum, Templeton rye, Giffard Apricot liqueur, Angostura Orange bitters, mango juice, lime, ginger syrup and a house-made spiced syrup (cocktails are $11). The Golden Tiki also features barrel-aged mixed drinks and a specialty Martinique “Ti” service that includes personalized cocktails prepared tableside. Operated with Fifth Street Gaming, The Golden Tiki has an eye-catching interior that features a fish tank, velvet paintings and an animatronic skeleton.

Bottle service and Baroque-style décor reign at San Diego’s Cake Nightclub.
Bottle service and Baroque-style décor reign at San Diego’s Cake Nightclub. (Photo by Ryan Forbes)

San Diego Nightclub Takes Opulence To The Next Level

Designed as a French château meets “Alice in Wonderland,” Cake Nightclub is an over-the-top destination in San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter. Operated by Everyday Life Management Group, the concept opened in late July and joins a sister location in Scottsdale, Arizona. The 6,000-square-foot, two-level venue has a main dance room and a mezzanine space that boasts crystal chandeliers and leather banquettes. The club has a Baroque-style DJ booth with a 30-foot LCD screen display and other high-tech elements. Cake emphasizes spirits and Champagne bottle service, offering myriad vodkas, Tequilas, whiskies and Cognacs ($325 a 750-ml. bottle of Sailor Jerry Spiced rum to $10,000 for Louis XIII de Rémy Martin Cognac). Everyday Life will soon add a new outpost of its Mexican restaurant, Toca Madera, in San Diego.

Bar Briefs

  • Pegu Club alumnus Kenta Goto unveiled the Japanese-inspired Bar Goto in late July on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. The intimate space serves updated takes on classic cocktails that feature Japanese ingredients like yuzu, shiso and miso. These drinks are joined by sake, wine and beer, as well as Japanese small plates.
  • Modeled after a recording studio, Soundcheck opened in August in Washington, D.C., and features a roster of live artists and DJs playing electronic dance music, Latin dance and hip-hop. The space was designed to evoke popular clubs in Athens, Greece, during the 1980s and ’90s, highlighting bottle service and a full bar.
  • Chicago’s cultural and dining destination Thalia Hall debuted Tack Room in July. Located in the former carriage house portion of the space, the cocktail lounge and piano bar offers a drinks menu that emphasizes crushed ice cocktails like Cobblers and Juleps, as well as mixed drinks on tap and craft beer.
  • Park & Rec is a drinks and entertainment haven in San Diego’s University Heights neighborhood. The venue launched in July with a cocktail menu crafted by local mixology consultants Trevor Easter and Anthony Schmidt and a design that incorporates three separate spaces joined by an open-air courtyard.