Mai-Kai Co-Founder Dies At 78
Sure it's totally kitschy now, but did you that in its height, Mai-Kai was one of the top-grossing restaurants in the country and the largest consumer of rum in Florida? That's what this Sun-Sentinel article about the death of Mai-Kai co-founder Jack Thornton says:
The location now sits along a noisy, traffic-clogged artery, just north and across the street from a Target-anchored shopping center. But at the time it was on a two-lane road with no other development or street lights.Ex-wife Diane Thornton described the novelty of driving up to the restaurant upon her first visit. It looked like a torch-lit island in the dark.
"If there was no moon, you felt like you were in black hole. Then you saw a light ahead," she said.
"It got brighter and brighter and — remember in those days there was no Disney World, no theme parks — you were suddenly in these lush exotic gardens and there were rushing waterfalls and sumptuous dishes that only world travelers had ever tasted."
The inspiration for the Mai-Kai came from the brothers' favorite restaurant, Don the Beachcomber, an island-style eatery they visited with their father during their childhood in Chicago. Their mother put up everything she owned to secure the loans to help her sons open the restaurant.
It became a runaway hit.
Co-founder of famed Mai-Kai restaurant dies at 78 [Sun-Sentinel]
Mai-Kai [MenuPages]
Mai-Kai [Official Site]
Photo: Flickr
