Downtown San Jose’s new Dr. Funk raises the bar for tiki lounges

There were scores of people lined up in the rain Monday night to get a first look at Dr. Funk, the new tiki bar opening in San Pedro Square in downtown San Jose. And while you might think “any port in a storm,” Dr. Funk is a particularly welcoming spot to weigh anchor.

Much of the credit has to go to San Jose designer Notch Gonzalez who transformed what had been Peggy Sue’s 1950s-style diner into an outpost that feels more like the South Seas than Silicon Valley. complete with thatched-roof booths, bamboo railings and colorful blowfish lanterns hanging from the ceiling. There are tikis everywhere, including a six-foot gem that Gonzalez carved himself in about a week.

He took on the build out of Dr. Funk like a man on a mission. “I wasn’t going to let anybody else build this bar in my town,” said Gonzalez, who previously built Smuggler’s Cove, the famed tiki bar in San Francisco, as well as part of Max’s South Seas Hideaway in Grand Rapids, Mich.

But a good tiki bar needs more than just decor to succeed, and Dr. Funk has an impressive drinks menu created by Ken Wongdejanan of nearby Five Points cocktail bar. It contains a blend of 11 tiki classics like the Mai Tai, Zombie, Fog Cutter and Navy Grog — plus the eponymous Dr. Funk — along with nine originals that incorporate flavors from unexpected regions like the Philippines.

The Siren’s Song, for example, was inspired by sticky rice from Thailand, where Wongdejanan was born, and includes unusual tiki ingredients like Kesar mango and salted coconut. And besides the cocktails, there’s beer, wine, about 60 different rums and a couple of non-alcoholic choices that aren’t short on flavor.

Dr. Funk opens to the public Dec. 16 and, having redesigned the Peggy Sue’s kitchen, expects to add a food menu sometime in January. You can get more information and updates at www.drfunksj.com.

SPELLING TESTED: Fernando Zazueta was stunned to discover that a street sign not far from his San Jose house had a misspelling with the “s” and “i” transposed. As someone who has made hundreds of misspellings of words and names in print over the years, I sympathized with the sign makers with the city’s Department of Transportation who have made thousands of signs for San Jose’s intersections. You’ve got to figure a few mistakes would get through.

But I had to chuckle at the irony of this particular error because of which street it was: University Avenue.

Don’t try to find it, though, as city workers were on the job replacing the sign Wednesday morning.

OUT OF THIS WORLD CASTING: It’s no secret that Silicon Valley is filled with creative people who are science pros by day — or vice versa — and the Peninsula Ballet Theatre of San Mateo, now in its 54th season, will be showcasing just such a performer at its production of “The Nutcracker” this weekend in Redwood City.

At its Dec. 18 evening performance and Dec. 19 matinee, Kelley Hashemi — a ballet dancer and NASA aeronautics engineer — will dance the roles of both the Rat Queen and the Sugar Plum Fairy. Hashemi grew up in Little Rock, Ark., and studied at the Academy of Ballet Arkansas before going on to pursue degrees in engineering.

She now works in Sunnyvale for NASA Aeronautics’ Autonomous Systems program, which is developing autonomous air vehicles and other next-level aviation concepts. But Hashemi has performed with Peninsula Ballet Theatre for the past three seasons and also teaches ballet to students at the Peninsula Ballet Theatre’s Conservatory.

“The Nutcracker” runs Dec. 17-19 at the Fox Theatre, and you can get tickets at www.peninsulaballet.org.