Dueling sangrias

More musical metaphors to follow in this entry...

Last night a pulled a Thorn (that's my word for going to more than one event in a evening. It's going to catch on. I can feel it), and hit two press events. The first was at Cafe Clubhouse and the second at Omido.

Both events featured an open bar with a selection of signature cocktails. The ones that were touted at Clubhouse Cafe were a sangria and caipirinha, while over at Omido, they were serving several cocktails such as a shiso mojito and a strawberry and shiso martini.

I had both the sangria and caipirinha at Cafe Clubhouse, and then had a sake sangria and shiso mojito at Omido. I noted the flavor difference in both drinks.

At Cafe Clubhouse, the sangria was a cloudy maroon color, hinting that besides wine there was probably some additional juice or juices in there as well, which gave it a really full fruity flavor that I'd compare to...a sonorous French horn. While over at Omido, the sake sangria was clear and the liquid smelled of fruit and the fruit pieces had an alcoholic bite. It was light, bright and less sweet than the sangria at Cafe Clubhouse...more like a flute.

Both different considering the different foods I had at each location. The heavy tuba sangria held up against the duck empanadas, tiny sliders, chili, lollipop fried chicken and miniature cones of fries. The light flute sangria played its high solo over the sushi and sashimi served at Omido.

Cafe Clubhouse had familiar faces. I ran into Akiko Katayama then NRN foodwriter Bret Thorn, who graciously introduced me to Andrea Strong. Before running out of Cafe Clubhouse to walk to Omido, I said bye to Bret and tried to get some quick photo taking tips out of Jamie Tiampo. Specifically for cocktails. He said that liquids were difficult, and the best advice he could give was to try and get natural light. Flash is not the friend of liquids.

But then I said that a lot of bars were dark and not well-lit for photography, making the job even more difficult, and he agreed sympathetically.

I really do wish I could bring more photos to this blog, but the quality of photos I take with the camera I have available sometimes makes me think I need to invest in a heavy duty one.