Guys! Have you done the holiday sippin’ santa or miracle pop-ups around town? They’ve been going on for several years now, and I’ve been going since ‘17 or ‘18 at least (not counting the ‘vid years, of course).

Basically the holiday’s come in and basically throw-up all over your favorite drink bars, bringing with them all the festive cheer you could possibly want, along with a healthy menu of christmas themed specialty drinks.

All this, and the regular food and bev menu to boot.

This year I hit up the grass skirt tiki speakeasy in pacific beach, and had so much fun. It had been a few years since I was in that location, and the drinks and food had definitely changed up from the last time.

We started with the top shelf elf shot, which comes in a take-away tiki rudolph shot glass (that we promptly left behind, lol). A little heavy on the cinnamon finish - it was my own challenge- but excellent flavors overall.

This was promptly followed by an order of the pork and shrimp wontons. Unfortunately our pasta didn’t even touch al dente and stayed in the more tough doughy realm, but the veggies and broth were outstanding. I’d go for the mushrooms alone.

We paired the wontons with the “california roll” tacos and the yule tide. A tasty little drink served in a santa mermaid mug featuring tequila, applejack, lime, and maple-cranberry syrup.

The tacos were prolly my favorite savory dish of the night. I only wish there were more of them!

This one bummed me out, honestly. I love, love, love the poke bowls at grass skirt. And it was the one thing I was adamant about getting, since I had no poke the last time I was in. The fish was, well, fishy. The rice was dry, and there was no poke flavor or sauce. The avo was perfect though, and y’all know how I feel about a perfect avocado.

If there is one thing the grass skirt does well, it’s a taco. Which is a good thing, because who doesn’t eat tacos. Especially in san diego.

And these short rib tacos were no exception. I loved how they had all the flavor, and none of the heaviness that comes from a regular short rib. Which is why I am now kicking myself wondering why i haven’t ever done a korean short rib taco (if you didn’t know korean short ribs refer to the cut of the rib, thinly sliced across all the short ribs, instead of along a single rib). So you best believe my take on this will be coming to the website shortly!

Just in case you missed the details above… pine needle ice cream. Which is now apparently my new favorite ice cream. I mean… seriously! It’s so good. the donuts were perfectly fluffy and not crazy sweet, and the almond just brought everything together. It was delish! I can’t recommend more, and this is coming from someone who never orders desserts. Nailed it.

If you’ve gone, I’d love to hear how your experience went.