While covering plays and events in downtown Chicago, I was always fascinated walking past the ritzy and brightly lit front entrance of the Palmer House Hotel and noticing a giant wooden tiki, which always seemed a bit out of place and a sure eye-catcher to anyone walking past.

The tiki served as the greeting and marketing mascot for the Chicago location of the famed Trader Vic's restaurant, which adjoined the Palmer House.

I never made it inside to see what awaited behind that tiki and, alas, the location closed in December 2005.

But just as you'd expect from any powerful tropical god's idol, the tiki has returned, and it has a swanky new home, still downtown, but now farther north in the posh Gold Coast area.

Located at 1030 N. State St. on the ground floor of the Newberry Plaza building, it reopened just before the holidays and just in time to give guests a welcome reprieve from winter's cold hold and the frigid climate of today's stalled economic landscape, the latter which rhymes with "escape" and that's what Trader Vic's is all about.

At a friend's suggestion, I finally had my chance to visit Vic's, and it's like stepping into a lush paradise of parrots, real palms, coconut-shell drinks and delicious and affordable food, all cleverly named and presented to guests.

I love history, and this eatery has 75 years of interesting facts and legends connected to its origins.

Victor Jules akaTrader Vic Bergeron was born in San Francisco in 1903, the son of a French Canadian waiter and grocery-store operator. Before he was 6, he had survived the Great Earthquake of 1906 and, at an early age, loved the food business.

His idea for the earliest incarnation of Trader Vic's came in 1934, with a nest egg of $700 and carpentry help from his wife's brothers, plus his mother's pot-bellied stove and oven. Victor built a cozy pub across the street from his father's grocery store and called it Hinky Dink's. He soon became famous for his potent tropical cocktail concoctions and delicious Americanized adaptations of Polynesian food. By 1936, he began using the Trader Vic's name and installed a Chinese oven as the restaurant's focal point, creating an added conversation piece for diners.

And it was Vic who invented a rum punch concoction cocktail in 1944 and called it a Mai Tai, which he said he then introduced to the Hawaiian Islands in the 1950s.

In 1955, Trader Vic's opened in Beverly Hills, followed by our Chicago spot in 1957 and then a London address in 1963.

His son, Lynn Bergeron, eventually took over the restaurant operation and remains Chairman Emeritus of Trader Vic's Restaurant Co.

For more information, visit tradervicschicago.com or call (312) 642-6500.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer. He can be reached at ppotempa@nwitimes.com or 219.852.4327.

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