My First Trip to the Tiki-Ti (and the Ludo Truck)

It’s shameful to say, because it shows just how much of a newbie I am, but Saturday night was my first visit to the Tiki-Ti. Mr. Hockey was surprised that I hadn’t already been, considering I have six years of drinking eligibility under my belt plus a year and a half of tiki fandom. My poor pseudo-excuse is that we’ve been visiting so many other tiki spots near and far that I didn’t want this experience to get lost in the shuffle.

I’ll go into the significance of this spot at a later date, for now I’ll just say that of the few drinks we tried that Ray’s Mistake was the clear favorite, followed by the Pearl Diver, with Rum, Gum & Lime bringing up the rear. (Hmm, kind of sounds like I’m calling a horse race.)

After Mr. Hockey’s fateful spin of the wheel landed on Stealth, an “ass-kicker” of a drink that masks the multitudes of liquor involved with a splash of Baileys, we decided that we should probably walk around for a bit before trying to head home.

Apparently, neither of us was hip enough to know that it just happened to be the weekend of the Sunset Junction Festival (so that’s why it took us half an hour to find a parking space…) And where there’s a fest, there’s food trucks! Mr. Hockey pointed out the LudoBites truck, the ever-elusive stand that inspired foodie fanatics to wait in line for hours upon hours during its debut.

I got the two-piece combo ($6) of the Provencal Pepitte “Chicken Balls”—they were perfectly crispy and juicy and dusted with herbes de Provence. And the lavender biscuit drizzled with honey was divine. Southern food infused with the South of France, and best of all, no line!

Hopefully, this was the kick-start for many more visits (and less logistically cumbersome ones) to the Tiki-Ti. Yet another sidenote: all those fried foods and rickety rides did get me looking forward to the L.A. County Fair…