Known for its tasty fish tacos and salsa you can eat with a spoon, Wahoo’s continues to crank out fast-casual, Baja-inspired delights. Three OC Wahoo’s locations (Fashion Island, Irvine Spectrum and Huntington Beach) now also feature a full bar, and surprisingly, the best drink on the menu isn’t the margarita, but rather the mai tai.
When most people think of the mai tai, they relate it to sipping a concoction of syrupy grenadine, orange and pineapple juices, and the barest hint of rum, with a flimsy paper umbrella to top it off. But the Wahoo’s mai tai has none of those things. Instead, it’s a nod to Trader Vic’s 1944 classic, with three types of rum (Bacardi Superior, Captain Morgan and a Myer’s Rum float), lime juice and agave syrup. The agave syrup is genius—its gentle sweetness doesn’t overpower the drink the way OJ would. The result is a refreshing, only slightly tart cocktail in which rum is the star of the show.
Wahoo’s Fish Tacos, 401 Newport Center Dr, Newport Beach, (949) 760-0290; www.wahoos.com.
