Drink of the Week

On a recent girls' night out, we snagged a table on Tommy Tsunami's street-side patio, the perfect spot for an evening of sushi, people-watching and gossiping up a storm. Tsunamis -- those giant Japanese tidal waves -- have long been feared by seaside villagers and fantasized about by extreme surfers, and Tommy has an extensive list of cocktails guaranteed to throw almost any drinker overboard. There's the Thai Won On, the Singapore Sling and the Tsunami Martini, but I went straight for Tommy's Mai Tai, visions of white sand and Waikiki dancing in my head. Made with Myers's Platinum and Dark rums, banana liqueur, tropical juices and grenadine, and served in a tall rocks glass with a miniature plastic octopus and an orange wedge hanging ten on the rim, this Mai Tai ($6.50) was strong enough to knock over a grass hut -- or a medium-sized woman. The morning after, my body felt like it had been through a tropical wringer, and a truly epic hangover soon came crashing down. But life's a beach, right?