After naming a cocktail Dudikoff, then posting and tagging the man himself, the American Ninja and I exchanged a few words on Instagram and a month later, he made a reservation for two at Rustic Canyon. There was some excitement on my part, as one of my childhood heroes coming in was a big deal, but alas, he ended up cancelling. Like any classy gent, he sent me a DM that he had gotten a flat tire. Fast forward to January 2, 2026, another night, another Dudikoff reservation…This time for four…

Let us flashback a tad here. to Explain why all this happened in the first place. Read this first. Ok…

When I was in grade school, Michael Dudikoff and all the American Ninja movies were an obsession. Ninjas were everywhere. The Frank Miller Daredevil run, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comics, even a TV show, The Master, starring Lee Van Cleef. Anything related to martial arts in general was very popular in the 80s and 90s due to early paving by Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris, then later on, Michael Dudikoff, then the successors, Jean Claude Van Damme and Stephen Seagal. The obsession was deep. The older kids on the bus used us little ones as test dummies/punching bags for their new moves and then as we grew old enough, the cycle repeated itself. Anyone with a younger brother or sister or cousin or neighbor was used to test the latest moves on. My friends and I all wanted to be ninjas. We hid in trees and jumped on unsuspecting victims. We used the shadows, hid in the insides of tires, behind rocks…I once drop kicked a kid in the chest and was sent to the principals office…Recess was a test of ones meddle. Lots of fighting and testing of the techniques we memorized from movies we were not supposed to be watching in the first place…Funny though, many of my friends went to karate classes, but I never did. Instead I started my own martial art path in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu much later in life, at the age of 38…Never too late I suppose…

End flashback. The night came. The hour, 7:30 p.m. Childish glee emanated within me until the hour when the man himself came in. I tried to play it cool. He walked in with his companions, I left him alone. These Hollywood bigwigs never wanted to be bothered? Then, a couple minutes after he and his wife sat down, he came over to the bar and stood at the pass. Hi, are you Justin? He said. He stuck his hand out and I gave him a good shake. He was taller than I had imagined, and at 70 years old was in damn good shape. Still tan, still sporting the patented hair. Nice to finally meet you, I told him. I have to go back to the car really quick, he said. I forgot my phone, but can you whip up two Dudikoff cocktails for us?

He walked out the door and I was in a sudden bind. The proper ingredients for the damn cocktail were long gone! We are a seasonal bar and the Dudikoff drink featured plum calpico and plum pit noyaux and I had neither on hand in January…I had also run out of Allspice Dram…Ugh…I did however, have calamansi calpico, apricot pit noyaux and some Hamilton pimento dram (same thing as allspice, albeit sweeter). It would all have to work. I built the two drinks in the tin and waited for him to return before I shook them so the cocktails would be fresh when he sat down.

As soon as he walked back in I whipped the two drinks up for him and delivered them to the table and met he and his wife, brother in law, and son. I gave my leave and thought nothing of it. Then, a few minutes later, Dudikoff came right back over.

That cocktail was delicious, he said. I figured he was just being polite. But then he asked for a picture of the two of us. What an honor! His wife took it. One with my phone, one with hers. The result? Me standing there looking like a total dork, stiff as a board with Angel in the background trying not to laugh at me. Ugh.

Also, how is the guy 70? We look the same age in the picture…

Can you make two more of those drinks? He asked. We usually only have wine when we go out but we were blown away.

Of course, I replied.

He sat back down and I made him two more. Later on, it hit me. Michael Dudikoff loved his Dudikoff.

After their dinner, the Dudikoffs came by the bar and asked for another photo. This time, I had loosened up a bit after the initial shock. His wife introduced herself. They were the nicest, most genuine people. Normal, except for the fact that one of them was once the ultimate killing machine…A human weapon…They say to never meet your idols, but in this case it worked out.

Your AI generated image for this post, #441, 1/27/26