Fall 2025 | Edible Notables

True Tiki

Transport yourself to the tropics at Reno’s Pele Utu.

A true tiki bar is about more than fruity drinks in imaginative glassware, and the husband-and-wife duo behind Pele Utu in Reno are only interested in providing the real deal.

“Come in through our jungle room and cross the bridge into the bar. It’s dark. It’s got ambient mood lighting. You hear the exotic Hawaiian lounge music playing,” explains Dr. Shocker, who, like his wife, Rosie Raddish, prefers to be known by his eccentric tiki nickname. “You feel like you’re no longer in Reno; you’re somewhere floating in the South Pacific.”

Embracing the Tiki Aesthetic
In August 2024, after relocating from Ventura, Calif., the couple opened Pele Utu in the former Gateway Lounge on Stardust Street, drawn in by the innate character of the arched ceilings and beams in the 1969 building.

With the help of their family, they transformed the space into a retro tropical lounge with vintage tikis (carved sculptures of Polynesian gods) and other eclectic décor covering the walls, hula skirts draping from booths, and drinks served in puffer-fish-shaped glasses, among other playful vessels.

“My 17-year-old daughter did the mural behind the bar and entryway, my 14-year-old helped carve all of the lava rock, and my 10- and 11-year-olds helped do the tapa cloth wallpaper,” Dr. Shocker says. “Tiki is all about the aesthetic.”

Having grown up on boats, Dr. Shocker says the trajectory from the nautical lifestyle to an obsession with tiki culture was a natural one.

“The first tiki bar was opened in 1934 in Hollywood by Don the Beachcomber. The mai tai was created in 1944 in Oakland. A lot of the classic, old-school tiki restaurants and bars … their décor was Polynesian and South Pacific, their drinks were Caribbean, and the food, if they had it, most of the time was Cantonese because that was the most exotic food that anybody knew in the ’40s and ’50s,” he explains. “I like to say it’s all California fantasy. Like America, it takes bits and pieces from everywhere and combines it all together into this one fun-loving experience.”

Decadent Drinks
At Pele Utu, Dr. Shocker steers first-timers to the skipper mai tai, made with Denizen rum, orange curaçao, almondy orgeat, lime, and a float of dark Coruba rum. Tuck into tiki classics such as the zombie (a concoction of three rums with pineapple juice, grapefruit juice, and a sprinkle of secret spices) or Dr. Shocker’s own creations, including the Kona kooler, in which cold brew coffee mingles with crème de cacao, silver rum, and creamy coconut. For a group, try the volcano bowl made with rum, citrus, a hint of maple syrup, and a flaming shot in the center.

Neighboring Taste of India — the restaurant that makes the only food allowed inside Pele Utu — delivers steaming hot samosas, curries, and more to bar patrons.

With drinks adorned by citrus wedges and umbrellas, listen to live Hawaiian music by local Lee Jones on Thursday nights or visiting surf bands from around the world.

“We’ve had Surfer Joe from Italy, the Charades from Finland, and the Sant’Anna Bay Coconuts from Belgium,” Dr. Shocker says. “As my wife likes to say, ‘Party like you’re hanging with your grandparents back in the day — before they had your parents.’”

Pele Utu
1275 Stardust St., Reno
775-742-5861 · Peleutu.com