City & Shore Magazine |

From Tiki to Eternity: The Mai-Kai shook up South Florida supperclub scene when it opened nearly 70 years ago. It’s doing it again

In 2020, after a devastating roof collapse in a pounding rainstorm, Fort Lauderdale’s landmark supperclub seemed finished. For those who had enjoyed its pleasures over the years, the exotic Polynesian dance revues, the gardens and waterfalls, the South Pacific masks and artifacts, the tropical Asian dishes, the world-renowned Tiki Bar – the question was, would the Mai-Kai ever reopen?

The answer, years in the making, is yes. The return is scheduled for Nov. 1, and by all signs, this special place will be as spectacular as ever. Three years of planning and construction have endowed the tropical retreat with a new and rethatched A-frame roof; a rebuilt Molokai bar; a new entrance way to reduce congestion (running over a wooden bridge to a roundabout); a new outdoor patio bar in a nautical setting; and an interior replicating all of the original bewitching Mai-Kai features. Patrons are likely to find the “new” Mai-Kai both fresh and familiar.

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Looking back, it’s hard to appreciate what a seismic culinary and atmospheric upgrade the original Mai-Kai was to 1956 Fort Lauderdale. In previous decades here’s what was on diners’ menus:

*At the Hotel Gilbert on Brickell Avenue, circa 1918, the menu featured roast beef or turkey, asparagus on toast and English Plum Pudding with Hard Sauce.

*A decade later barbecue and chili made an appearance at Joe’s Bar-B-Q on Las Olas Boulevard.

*In the early 1930s, a floating restaurant called The Amphitrite, named after a Greek goddess, sailed in and featured broiled lobster dinners going for $2.50.

*Of course there were others, but early movers and shakers downtown lunched at Brown’s Restaurant. Lawyers and businessmen sat at the circular, 20-seat “Pot Roast Table” – reserved for men only. The menu included “fresh-fried Spanish mackerel,” fried oysters and roast pork with fried apples. If the cook fried it, they would eat it.

*And finally, in the 1940s, a New Yorker visiting Gene Harvey at his home on Griffin Road lamented that he couldn’t find a “good steak” in town. Not long after, Harvey converted his rustic house into an 1,800-square-foot restaurant. When it opened in 1949, Tropical Acres Steak House in what was then called Dania had 15 employees and 90 seats and provided premium steaks in a family atmosphere. Today it seats almost 500, has a staff of 70 and boasts seven times the original space.

Then came the Mai-Kai.

It opened famously on what was previously a cow pasture alongside U.S. 1, on Dec. 28, 1956. Dazzled diners discovered Polynesians gardens. Five dining rooms. Garden pathways strewn with orchids and palms. A high-end Tiki Bar featuring exotic rum concoctions. South Asian and Chinese dishes like pupu platters and Peking duck.

Stepping out locally would never be the same.

The Mai-Kai’s stunning A-frame design came from the desk of mid-century modern architect Charles F. McKirahan Sr. Built at a cost of $350,000, it was the most expensive U.S. restaurant constructed that year.

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Give a nod for all this inspiration to Tropical Acres. A young Californian studying at Stanford came here on a sailing visit, and went out for a steak there. Robert Thornton loved the steak, but more than that he could not believe the long lines he witnessed.

A fire was lit. The kindling was gathered earlier as two young boys, Robert and his brother Jack, visited the South Seas-styled Don the Beachcomber franchise in Chicago. Even then the young men dreamed they would open something similar. The place was the vision of an American adventurer and rum connoisseur who later called himself Donn Beach.

Years later, while the Thornton brothers were studying at Stanford, they made frequent visits to another Polynesian inspired restaurant called Trader Vic’s in San Francisco. Vic “The Trader” Bergeron built a cozy little saloon in Oakland called Hinky Dink’s as he explored rums from around the world. He then elevated his game with the far more sophisticated Trader Vic’s.

Not skipping a beat, Robert Thornton incorporated study of every aspect of the Trader Vic’s franchise as part of his undergraduate studies in management. He and Jack even persuaded the San Francisco owners to let them come into their kitchen and take detailed notes.

Now for the Thornton brothers, it would apparently only be a matter of when and where they would make their big move. Military service was ahead – and that fateful visit to Tropical Acres.

Fort Lauderdale was a familiar destination for Robert. He had come down on high school spring break from his native Chicago, and on spring breaks from Stanford. When he was discharged from the Army, he and four buddies came to live here, and invested in a 42-foot fishing boat that they docked at Bahia Mar and rented out for day trips. To make ends meet and save money, they also worked in bars and saloons.

Less than two years later the Thornton brothers, both still under 30, had settled here and picked that cow pasture for their venture.

Their mountain of research worked – and did it. The Mai-Kai made a million dollars in profit in its first year and later notched records as one of the top restaurant destinations in the country, as well as a perennial state and national top seller in rum.

Early lore about the restaurant centers around Robert Thornton’s attention to detail. It carried over into every aspect of the restaurant, including the masterstroke of hiring away a slew of talented folks from Don the Beachcomber in Chicago.

The Mai-Kai hired the number two chef Lin Ark Lee; the number two bartender Mariano Licudine; the maitre d’ Andy Tanato; and purchasing agent Robert Van Dorpe. Van Dorpe became the first general manager of the Mai-Kai.

One of the Mai-Kai’s general managers, Kern Mattei, an employee for 25 years, credits Robert’s business sense and his ability to generate employee loyalty for the restaurant’s long run.

“Certainly everything I learned in business was from him,” Mattei told the South Florida Sun Sentinel. “He was more a businessman than a restaurateur. He had a number of experts in different parts of the restaurant … and he was an expert at keeping people together.”

A prime example comes immediately to mind, one chapter in the Mai-Kai story that is almost cinematic.

Observing a Tahitian dancer named Mireille in the Polynesian Islander Revue – added in the early 1960s – Robert had a conversation with the choreographer.

“She’s very nice,” he said. “But she can’t dance.” She was let go.

Mireille told the story herself to the Sun Sentinel in 2005.

“When I first started, Bob was in Europe,” Mireille said. “When he came back and saw me a week later he realized I wasn’t a dancer and had me replaced. Fortunately, I had a good friend in town who was a professional dancer in Tahiti. ‘You have potential,’ she said, ‘I’ll train you.’

“In two weeks when he saw me dance he couldn’t believe it was the same person.”

This young Tahitian dancer not only got her job back, but in time would become chief choreographer.

But the story is not over. Eight years later, she became Mrs. Robert Thornton.

Like her husband Robert, who passed away in 1989, Mireille has a reputation for being meticulous. The Mai-Kai dancers come from across the South Pacific – from Tahiti, Samoa, Hawaii and elsewhere. When a new dance is added to the revue’s repertoire, Mireille has already visited the island where the dance originated to verify its authenticity.

Over the years, the Mai-Kai underwent periodic renovations. When Jack Thornton sold his interest to Robert after suffering an aneurysm in 1970, Robert expanded the restaurant, more than doubling its capacity.

When Bob died in 1989, the Thornton family carried on, with Mireille and her two grown children.

After the 2020 disaster, the Thornton family, reluctantly, was forced to sell. The millions it would take to rebuild – and today that total stands at $17.5 million – did not seem within reach.

But up stepped a partner that would work with the family to resurrect the Mai-Kai to its legendary glory. A new managing partner committed to investing the millions was led by Bill Fuller, cofounder of the Barlington Group (Miami nightclub Ball & Chain).

In 2023, Fuller told New Times that “what everyone remembers about the Mai-Kai is still here, and the new elements only serve to heighten that nostalgia.”

The nostalgia will also be embodied, according to New Times, by Mireille Thornton. Now in her 80s, she will continue her legacy of leadership by directing and choreographing the live dancing. Two nightly 45-minute performances will accompany two reservation-only dinner seatings each night.

Fuller told the South Florida Sun Sentinel on Tuesday that the Mai-Kai’s opening-night Polynesian dinner show is sold out, and most of the upcoming performances are reserved for friends and family, https://www.sun-sentinel.com/2024/10/22/breaking-mai-kai-restaurant-announces-opening-date-after-four-year-closure/ The restaurant’s rebuilt Molokai bar, meanwhile, will be open.

“We want to make the Mai-Kai one of the best and biggest Polynesian venues in the world,” Fuller said. “This is a cultural place we took extreme care to restore, while also honoring the Thornton family and showing great respect to history.”

The Mai-Kai Restaurant and Polynesian Show is located 3599 N. Federal Highway, Oakland Park. Call 954-563-3272 or go to MaiKai.com.