THE CANTIKI Opens in North Hollywood with Salute to Jimmy Buffet from PA Parrot Heads

The CanTiki is a cantina-style cocktail bar with tiki flair that brings an up-scaled vibe to the world of tiki. The bar features lush design and lighting, lounge-style seating, a long bar, and pianos, stage, DJ rig and 16 giant TV’s. The new CanTiki North Hollywood serves up a mix of highly stylized and ingredient-rich cocktails, as well as simple watering hole drinks and beer.

 The drinks menu features draft cocktails like Scorpion bowls and “LA River Water,” as well as signature drinks including the “Kill Mai Pain,” with Pineapple Washed Rum, Rhum Clement Barrel Select, DTLA’s Greenbar Orange Liqueur, St. Elizabeth Allspice Dram, Coconut Pineapple Curry, Orgeat, Fresh Lime and Orange Juice, with a float of Cruzan Blackstrap Rum. The vast drink menu is HERE.

What to eat? “Let’s give ‘em Dumpling to talk a Bao!” The Cantiki currently offers six varieties of dumplings: crab/pork xiao long bao; chicken xiao long bao; napa/pork dumpling; vegetarian dumpling; vegan mushroom dumpling; and shumai—8 to an order for $13. The venue also occasionally prepares “Cheeseburger and Fries in Paradise” for $15.

For one of its first special events, The Cantiki will host the Los Angeles Parrot Head Club’s celebration of life for Jimmy Buffett Saturday, September 9. “Join your Parrot Head Phamily for a Jimmy Buffett Memorialas we raise a glass and pay tribute to the man who brought us together. Bring your photos and share your stories of how Jimmy’s music changed your life for the better.”

Special Event: Parrot Head Phlocking Saturday, September 9, 3:30-6:30PM; admission free

Weekly events include Karaoke Tuesdays, Dueling Pianos Thursdays, and Trivia night Sundays.

NoHo Arts District, 11100 Magnolia Blvd, North Hollywood, CA 91601

Growing up in a family of foodies, proprietor Amanda “Sassy” Sasser is a life-long lover of bars, liquors, and spirits, with a background in service that eventually led her behind the bar, where she spent years refining her technical craft and palette in training programs. In recent years, she’s been all over Los Angeles, balancing creating a speakeasy and cocktail menu at wine bar Buvette; curating the cocktail program at All’Acqua Restaurant; designing and serving up signature pours as a private bartender; crafting her own line of Sassy’s Bütleg Elixirs; and leading spirits education classes and events.

For Sassy, the most important aspect of bar culture is the community behind it, “There’s nothing like it. You get to engage with people all the time,” says Sassy, “I get to create an experience for someone. It’s a real family for me, so this is my life.” That’s how she landed on tiki as a niche, after years doing specialty tiki events, she realized they were always her most popular nights and led to her most adventurous recipes.

That element of fun is the great equalizer for Sassy, both amongst her customers and staff—passionate about rethinking staffing structures in service, the whole team was brought on as bartenders, rather than barbacks, and have a hand in the experimentation behind refining drinks and mixes for syrups and tonics. “It’s kind of like a staycation if you will. The culture behind it is so supportive. It’s come as you are, everybody can come in. Nobody can get mad at a tiki drink.”

 The Cantiki joins its new North Hollywood community by supporting local and small-batch distilleries and breweries where possible, hosting local musicians and artists regularly, and scheduling specialty and theme nights like karaoke, comedy, and burlesque. Future goals include expanding into liquor and spirits education, serving holiday-themed make-at-home cocktail kits, and supporting women-led businesses. The bar also honors its roots as the “The 513 NoHo,” which means it’s a Cincinnati-centric spot—think Bengals, Reds, and FC Cincinnati games (“The Paris of America” is home to three major league teams, three minor league teams, five college institutions with sports teams, and numerous top level amateur teams).

The CanTiki is Sassy’s first proprietorship, with the backing of partners The Buckhead Group and Knitting Factory Entertainment. Having originally developed a dive bar in Glendale in the same location as the original CanTiki, Sassy and her partners used the pandemic to flesh out her vision for The CanTiki.

Web and Social

Web | The CanTiki Instagram | Sassy’s Instagram