As most of you probably know by now, New York finally has its own cocktail extravaganza.
Tickets for the Manhattan Cocktail Classic preview (Oct. 3-4) went on sale on Labor Day. According to Manhattan Cocktail Classic founder and director Lesley Townsend, tickets for Sasha Petraske's seminar on the home bar sold out in a blazing three seconds.
However, I've been hearing it through the grapevine that there are still some tickets available, especially with certain details got hammered out a little later than others. For example, tickets are still up for grabs for the late add-on barware seminar with Don Lee, Alex Day and Greg Boehm .
You can still buy tickets to pick Phil Ward's brains at Mayahuel, hear about Prohibition in cool accents from Charlotte Voisey and Simon Ford, and party and rub shoulders with folks at the Gala.
Seriously, though, three seconds? Even last week's much hyped pre-sale of tickets for the first of Pavement's reunion shows didn't sell out that fast.
"It was really really fun to watch," Lesley said over the phone about tracking ticket sales. "The first 10 minutes were absolutely ridiculous. I was laughing and screaming the whole time."
If you note, the word "preview" is in the title. So to alleviate any confusion that might still be out there, this is a preview of the Manhattan Cocktail Classic. The actual Classic is taking place May 14-18. Funny story: Lesley said that at first the plan was to make it a sister event with San Francisco's Cocktail Week, but too many people wanted to celebrate drinking and drink-making on both coasts, so the date was shifted by a whole week. There's still a small overlap, but enough of a buffer.
"I certainly didn’t think it’d get this much attention. The whole point of preview initially was to drum up media attention for the main event," Lesley said.
It's not hard to see why the preview itself is such a big deal. It's the anticipation. With the history and current cocktail and bartending millieu in New York, it sort of makes you go, "Why wasn't this organized before?"
Exactly the thought that Lesley had when she sent out an email about a year and a half ago, innocently asking the folks who now make up the advisory board why New York didn't have its own event like Tales of the Cocktail or San Francisco Cocktail Week. Next thing you know, a chain of emails started.
"Every time I saw any of them over the course of the next year, they’d kick me in the shins. And I finally just realized if I didn’t do it right now, it was going to happen. It was only a matter of time because there was such a desire and a need for this to happen," Lesley explained. "Truthfully the cocktail community in New York is so strong...for us to not have our own event? It was long overdue."
The preview is supposed to be a little taste of what the real thing will be like. It's a little bit of education and a little bit of the New York bar experience. There are seminars, but also several of the city's bars and cocktail lounges, like the Clover Club and Pegu Club, are part of "Stories from Behind the Bar." For the "Stories" series of events, people can purchase a ticket to hang out in some of the bars on Saturday afternoon to see the place when it's not packed and doing business and get a chance to talk to the people working there. And, of course, sip on some drinks.
The idea is not only to break down any preconceptions of exclusivity that might keep some people away from visiting these bars and encourage them to go out and enjoy the establishments in New York, but also to acknowledge some of the blurring of lines between the consumer and professional world when it comes to New York and cocktails.
"There will always be a big consumer aspect to this. In NY there’s this huge degree of overlap between the enthusiasts and the cocktail geek community," Lesley explained, and trying to separate the two is not a necessarily easy task. However, for the Classic proper there are still some plans in the works for more specialized skill and trade seminars to help further educate other bartenders in the city who want to learn more about their craft.
Showing posts with label cocktails. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cocktails. Show all posts
Friday, September 25, 2009
Gin and musing about cocktails and drinks in general
After Tales, I needed a break from the blog. A month-long one sounded about right. I guess most people announce they're going away for a sabbatical or some such, but that's if they decided ahead of time to take such a break. For me, it was more like I was simply elbow-deep in NRN.com as we continue to make things better and shinier for folks. Yes, some of you might forget I have a day job. Well, I guess this too is part of my day job, but I mean day job as in duties I handle proper when I'm not out there breaking it down on this blog with what's popping with cocktails.
It's events season. Is there really a season for events? I don't know, it certainly feels like it though. You kind of notice an ebb and flow of things.
For one thing, I've been in Madam Geneva way more times than you should be able to count in the past week. About two weeks ago, I met some folks representing Oxley gin, a new small-batch gin that is coming out. I couldn't help but note that it went back to the trends panel at Tales, where folks basically were talking about gin becoming the new vodka. More varieties, different producers and the like. And also, just how this sort of local, organic, whatever church of food you go to way of thinking that people have nowadays is also definitely making a mark on alcohol. People paying attention to more of the small-batch, independent or even local joints that are making their own thing.
You even see it in how some of the larger spirits brands are marketing themselves to consumers. They still highlight the beautiful young people living it up, but there's definitely a noticeable spin on that they're going for a certain image whether you want to credit that to the steady rise of craft cocktails, trying to convince people of something being worth a luxury during times when people are trying to spend less or the popularity of "Mad Men" and their retro drinking habits and tastes.
For example, Tanqueray has had new ads that both talk about the type of fun-seeking cosmopolitan sophisticate that would drink their product and also the crafted mix of botanicals and ingredients that go into their product.
Ketel One has its GQ-looking versions of the "dudes' night out" commercial trope that seem to be playing on a modern version of dapper "Mad Men" attitude.
Or how about Bacardi, which recently started airing commercials talking about the brand's place in history? Right down to the detail at the end with a beautiful bar with a marble top being tended by mustachioed gentlemen who is supposed to be the master bartender of yore, but in all seriousness looks like half the dudes I know working behind the stick.
These ads come about from trend spotters noticing which wave to catch that will grab the attention of those spending money out there. More people nowadays are aware of crafting sophisticated drinks. The bombs and kamikaze club crowd isn't going away any time soon, but there is a growing crop of sophisticated consumers with a certain edge to it. Beer geeks, cocktail geeks, whiskey afficionados, what have you. They're young DIY-ers expecting more and wanting to learn more when they walk into your bar, or quite possibly they're coming in already armed with some knowledge of their own.
The democritization of cocktail geekery isn't really new. Just tracking the careers of some of the folks in the game nowadays can show you that. People who had day jobs not having to do with bartending or the nightlife at all, yet are in the biz thanks to passion for the trade; the folks I've met when I started this thing two years ago that shot up into the stratosphere in that span of time easily; and even the constant waves of new people I meet. It's both exciting, and...just crazy how all of this is blossoming right before your eyes. The feeling that I can probably date myself to a "generation" of New York night life is just ridiculous to contemplate. Though I guess the people nowadays waxing nostalgic about Palladium and The Limelight and seeing James St. James guest on "America's Next Top Model" might not have anticipated this themselves in the 80s-90s.
And now I feel like there's a new generation coming up. Last night I was at Madam Geneva again. This time Tomas Delos Reyes, who recently started bartending there, sent me an invite for a Nirvino event sponsored by Tres Generaciones. Nirvino is basically a sort of community for drink and bar reviewing. The crowd was a mix of people in the biz and amateur afficionados.
As jokes passed around about having 50+ friends in common with people on Facebook and the idea of tweetups, all of the sudden I found it kind of funny I had started rereading "No Country for Old Men." I began to hear Tommy Lee Jones' voice in my head sounding something like:
I started writing this blog when I was 23. Just two years after Uncle Sam says you can start drinkin. But he was no uncle of mine. Got to know a lot of bartenders in my day. It's always been a community. A town of sorts that existed along the river beds of bar tops where booze flowed freely, but you needed to pay to get across for a sip. Like that Charon character I remember readin about in a textbook in the fifth grade. Had my first sip of gin then. Thought that was probably pretty close to what the Styx would taste like. But nowadays these kids got technology. I had a notebook and a pen. A digital camera if I was lucky. I guess luck had everything to do with it. I reckon though most people make their luck nowadays...
Not that I mean that I felt like I need to quit before I get shot in the back during a drug deal gone bad or a "get of my lawn" kind of way. It was more just the similar sentiment of awe in seeing a new model of doing things just unfold. It reminded me of back when I interviewed Dave Wondrich for a story in our NRN 50 special issue about food and beverage industry survivors. Talking to him about cocktails and how they've survived ups and down throughout the years, I had to ask Dave how he felt about the future of cocktails. He said (part of the quote ended up closing out my story) that sure, maybe the whole thing was trendy, maybe interest would cool a little, but it'd never go away. It certainly wouldn't disappear like it did during Prohibition. There's just too many people with the knowledge out there, and too many ways for people to share it.
It's events season. Is there really a season for events? I don't know, it certainly feels like it though. You kind of notice an ebb and flow of things.
For one thing, I've been in Madam Geneva way more times than you should be able to count in the past week. About two weeks ago, I met some folks representing Oxley gin, a new small-batch gin that is coming out. I couldn't help but note that it went back to the trends panel at Tales, where folks basically were talking about gin becoming the new vodka. More varieties, different producers and the like. And also, just how this sort of local, organic, whatever church of food you go to way of thinking that people have nowadays is also definitely making a mark on alcohol. People paying attention to more of the small-batch, independent or even local joints that are making their own thing.
You even see it in how some of the larger spirits brands are marketing themselves to consumers. They still highlight the beautiful young people living it up, but there's definitely a noticeable spin on that they're going for a certain image whether you want to credit that to the steady rise of craft cocktails, trying to convince people of something being worth a luxury during times when people are trying to spend less or the popularity of "Mad Men" and their retro drinking habits and tastes.
For example, Tanqueray has had new ads that both talk about the type of fun-seeking cosmopolitan sophisticate that would drink their product and also the crafted mix of botanicals and ingredients that go into their product.
Ketel One has its GQ-looking versions of the "dudes' night out" commercial trope that seem to be playing on a modern version of dapper "Mad Men" attitude.
Or how about Bacardi, which recently started airing commercials talking about the brand's place in history? Right down to the detail at the end with a beautiful bar with a marble top being tended by mustachioed gentlemen who is supposed to be the master bartender of yore, but in all seriousness looks like half the dudes I know working behind the stick.
These ads come about from trend spotters noticing which wave to catch that will grab the attention of those spending money out there. More people nowadays are aware of crafting sophisticated drinks. The bombs and kamikaze club crowd isn't going away any time soon, but there is a growing crop of sophisticated consumers with a certain edge to it. Beer geeks, cocktail geeks, whiskey afficionados, what have you. They're young DIY-ers expecting more and wanting to learn more when they walk into your bar, or quite possibly they're coming in already armed with some knowledge of their own.
The democritization of cocktail geekery isn't really new. Just tracking the careers of some of the folks in the game nowadays can show you that. People who had day jobs not having to do with bartending or the nightlife at all, yet are in the biz thanks to passion for the trade; the folks I've met when I started this thing two years ago that shot up into the stratosphere in that span of time easily; and even the constant waves of new people I meet. It's both exciting, and...just crazy how all of this is blossoming right before your eyes. The feeling that I can probably date myself to a "generation" of New York night life is just ridiculous to contemplate. Though I guess the people nowadays waxing nostalgic about Palladium and The Limelight and seeing James St. James guest on "America's Next Top Model" might not have anticipated this themselves in the 80s-90s.
And now I feel like there's a new generation coming up. Last night I was at Madam Geneva again. This time Tomas Delos Reyes, who recently started bartending there, sent me an invite for a Nirvino event sponsored by Tres Generaciones. Nirvino is basically a sort of community for drink and bar reviewing. The crowd was a mix of people in the biz and amateur afficionados.
As jokes passed around about having 50+ friends in common with people on Facebook and the idea of tweetups, all of the sudden I found it kind of funny I had started rereading "No Country for Old Men." I began to hear Tommy Lee Jones' voice in my head sounding something like:
I started writing this blog when I was 23. Just two years after Uncle Sam says you can start drinkin. But he was no uncle of mine. Got to know a lot of bartenders in my day. It's always been a community. A town of sorts that existed along the river beds of bar tops where booze flowed freely, but you needed to pay to get across for a sip. Like that Charon character I remember readin about in a textbook in the fifth grade. Had my first sip of gin then. Thought that was probably pretty close to what the Styx would taste like. But nowadays these kids got technology. I had a notebook and a pen. A digital camera if I was lucky. I guess luck had everything to do with it. I reckon though most people make their luck nowadays...
Not that I mean that I felt like I need to quit before I get shot in the back during a drug deal gone bad or a "get of my lawn" kind of way. It was more just the similar sentiment of awe in seeing a new model of doing things just unfold. It reminded me of back when I interviewed Dave Wondrich for a story in our NRN 50 special issue about food and beverage industry survivors. Talking to him about cocktails and how they've survived ups and down throughout the years, I had to ask Dave how he felt about the future of cocktails. He said (part of the quote ended up closing out my story) that sure, maybe the whole thing was trendy, maybe interest would cool a little, but it'd never go away. It certainly wouldn't disappear like it did during Prohibition. There's just too many people with the knowledge out there, and too many ways for people to share it.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Bartender Lunch at Fatty Crab
April 14
Events that take place in the middle of the day always throw me off a little because for me it's an interruption in the middle of the day. Now, I mean this in good jest, because while I like to poke fun about how the hours of my desk job existence differ from the hours of the many good folks I meet, there are those with a day jobs who are up and about before noon. Still, I couldn't help myself as I wisecracked if this lunch was more like the first meal of the day for some of the bartenders attending.
Today's lunch was a little something put together by Domaine de Canton. John Cooper, founder of Domaine de Canton, told me that the ginger liqueur company's previously hosted other lunches like this in other cities.
I took a glance at the lunch menu and the number of drinks outnumbered the food. Besides the ginger liqueur's signature cocktail (Domaine de Canton, lemon, Angostura bitters), there were also four other cocktails created by Fatty Crab's Adam Shuman.
True to its word, the event itself was a relaxed lunch atmosphere with people mingling about, talking, catching up. When we all sat down to partake in the lunch it felt like a bit like a huge family and friends get together.
I found myself seated neatly in a corner next to Damon Dyer, directly across from Jonathan Pogash and diagonal to Jason Littrell. As I took a quick glimpse down the table I spotted other familiar faces like Marshall Altier, Terence Miller and raven-haired Eryn Reece, who I bump into plenty of times, but I could never quite place where I'd met her for the first time. She figured out for me that we first met back when she worked at Bar Milano. Porter House's James Menite was also sitting one person away from me.
I had to admit, even though I'd left the office grumbling thanks to an interrupted work day, I was pretty glad to have made it. The lunch format made it feel more casual and I got a chance to catch up with people as well as see what the word on the street was without my pesky notebook getting in the way and being all rigid and...professional? Soon the conversation turned to topics of who is working where these days, who was out of town, any tentative plans coming down the pike, Who's going to Tales, and OMG ME TOO. Obviously, the bartenders had more shop to talk about than I did, but at one point I looked around the table with a mixed look of skepticism, intrigue and horror as Damon started up a half-joking (I hope?) thread of conversation with Jonathan about what bitters could possibly consumed shot style (some from experience), and how.
I knew I couldn't stay long since I had to get back to work, but funnily enough, some folks couldn't stick around because they had to be going off to work too...
...yea, I was going to try and end with some cutesy tie-in about how it's so Alanis Morisette ironic, but I can't bring myself to do it.
And now, food porn!
Sadly, the few drink photos I snagged didn't come out too well, so all I have are food pictures. Not photographed, the super peppery Singaporean Black Pepper Mussels. Oh, and there's a drink hidden in one of these pictures, so play "Find Waldo." I mean, "Find the Chupacabra cocktail."
Raw quail egg topped with dried shredded pork
Jalan Alor chicken wings (particularly good with the cocktails)
Watermelon pickle and crispy pork
Events that take place in the middle of the day always throw me off a little because for me it's an interruption in the middle of the day. Now, I mean this in good jest, because while I like to poke fun about how the hours of my desk job existence differ from the hours of the many good folks I meet, there are those with a day jobs who are up and about before noon. Still, I couldn't help myself as I wisecracked if this lunch was more like the first meal of the day for some of the bartenders attending.
Today's lunch was a little something put together by Domaine de Canton. John Cooper, founder of Domaine de Canton, told me that the ginger liqueur company's previously hosted other lunches like this in other cities.
I took a glance at the lunch menu and the number of drinks outnumbered the food. Besides the ginger liqueur's signature cocktail (Domaine de Canton, lemon, Angostura bitters), there were also four other cocktails created by Fatty Crab's Adam Shuman.
Far East Side Cocktail
Domaine de Canton, cucumber, cilantro root, yuzu
Chupacabra
tequila, chili-infused Domaine de Canton, watermelon-kaffir, lime
Rebuttal
gin, Domaine de Canton, green Chartreuse, kalamansi, maraschino
The Post Coital
Domaine de Canton, Cynar, Martini Bianco, dry sherry
True to its word, the event itself was a relaxed lunch atmosphere with people mingling about, talking, catching up. When we all sat down to partake in the lunch it felt like a bit like a huge family and friends get together.
I found myself seated neatly in a corner next to Damon Dyer, directly across from Jonathan Pogash and diagonal to Jason Littrell. As I took a quick glimpse down the table I spotted other familiar faces like Marshall Altier, Terence Miller and raven-haired Eryn Reece, who I bump into plenty of times, but I could never quite place where I'd met her for the first time. She figured out for me that we first met back when she worked at Bar Milano. Porter House's James Menite was also sitting one person away from me.
I had to admit, even though I'd left the office grumbling thanks to an interrupted work day, I was pretty glad to have made it. The lunch format made it feel more casual and I got a chance to catch up with people as well as see what the word on the street was without my pesky notebook getting in the way and being all rigid and...professional? Soon the conversation turned to topics of who is working where these days, who was out of town, any tentative plans coming down the pike, Who's going to Tales, and OMG ME TOO. Obviously, the bartenders had more shop to talk about than I did, but at one point I looked around the table with a mixed look of skepticism, intrigue and horror as Damon started up a half-joking (I hope?) thread of conversation with Jonathan about what bitters could possibly consumed shot style (some from experience), and how.
I knew I couldn't stay long since I had to get back to work, but funnily enough, some folks couldn't stick around because they had to be going off to work too...
...yea, I was going to try and end with some cutesy tie-in about how it's so Alanis Morisette ironic, but I can't bring myself to do it.
And now, food porn!
Sadly, the few drink photos I snagged didn't come out too well, so all I have are food pictures. Not photographed, the super peppery Singaporean Black Pepper Mussels. Oh, and there's a drink hidden in one of these pictures, so play "Find Waldo." I mean, "Find the Chupacabra cocktail."
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Lu Brow of Cafe Adelaide and The Swizzle Stick Bar
Jan. 14
I was contacted earlier this week with information that Lu Brow was in New York and available to meet with me. I jumped at the chance. Being here in New York almost all of the time, I always like to talk with people working in different cocktail markets.
Lu works as bar chef for Cafe Adelaide and The Swizzle Stick Bar in New Orleans.
"I want my bar to be a love letter to this city," Lu said about her work at Cafe Adelaide, and in the hometown of classics such as the Sazerac and the Ramos Gin Fizz, classic cocktails play a large part on the menu. Lu said she likes to feature "vintage cocktails that say you're in New Orleans."
She also likes playing with the classics and is even working on creating her own adult version of the New Orleans Snowball. Though there are some cocktails where she thinks the original way is good enough.
One summer Lu was able to feature an entire Tiki menu recreating drinks from the famed, but now defunct, Pontchartrain Beach tiki bar Bali Hai. She was able to do this thanks to recipes supplied to her by the grandchildren (one of whom just happens to be Bryan Batt of AMC's "Mad Men") of Bali Hai's proprietor.
The tiki drinks appealed to the locals' nostalgia, and it was a great opportunity to serve some good drinks. Lu said Ted "Doc Cocktail" Haigh gave his approval for a Fog Cutter she made using a Bali Hai recipe, calling it the best Fog Cutter he'd ever had.
Even though the city is the birthplace of some hallowed classics, promoting handcrafted drinks isn't always easy in a city like New Orleans where some people might more readily recognize the quantity of drinking that takes place. Lu talked about one instance where she polled some of the younger employees to name a New Orleans cocktail, and she got a lot of answers that named the Hand Grenade. Not that a Hand Grenade doesn't have a time and a place. In fact, Lu doesn't believe in cocktail snobbery, but she does believe in cocktail education. It's more about expanding rather than restricting, so education shouldn't be about shutting down guests.
Good education is part of good service since you're required to listen to a customer and work with what they like. It doesn't matter who well a cocktail is made if the elements don't reflect what a customer likes. They just won't drink it.
And Lu says she'll often nudge guests towards trying something new, taking into account things from their drink of choice, by offering, "Try this cocktail and if you don't like it, it's on me and I'll make you anything you like."
So far, she said, she has yet to make someone a make-up cocktail.
Naming the Sazerac as the official cocktail of New Orleans was definitely something else that helped with increasing awareness of New Orleans cocktails.
"New Orleans is known as a city for great food, but I want it to be known also as a city for great cocktails. Every city's got great restaurants with amazing wine lists...What other city has an official cocktail?" Lu said with a smile.
She said that she's definitely seeing more customers who come in and ask to try a Sazerac thanks to the drink's now sanctioned status in the city. They might not know how to even pronounce it, but they're willing to try it because they've heard about it.
The menu at The Swizzle Stick Bar changes seasonally and uses a lot of fresh and local ingredients. Lu said that with the economy affecting things like transportation costs "local is more important than ever."
According to Lu a lot of people don't realize that there's a lot of local citrus in Louisiana, like satsumas. Other fruits such as strawberries and blueberries are also cultivated in the state.
Lu also talked about other efforts in spreading the good news about good cocktails from Ti Adelaide Martin and Lally Brennan. In the Land of Cocktails, a new site which shares its name with the 2007 book by Ti and Lally.
Lu explained that there were some friends in the film industry in L.A. who were out of work due to the writer's strike.
"They didn't have a whole lot going on and weren't doing anything but standing in picket lines," Lu said, so after discussing what sort of message they wanted to send out, it was decided that the site would provide a little glimpse of New Orleans while providing information about cocktails.
The site launched late last year and features recipes as well as a blog and video episodes. Lu said there were many more webisodes to come and the site was a natural extension of what she, Ti and Lally try to do.
The site is meant to appeal to both consumers as well as bartenders. While both bartenders and bar enthusiasts will enjoy the recipes and videos with industry big names like Dale DeGroff, Ti and Lally's declaration of the "No More Bad Cocktails" revolution urges those in front of the bar to not be afraid to send back their cocktails if they don't enjoy them, with concrete reasons why. Thus making the call for better cocktails a two-way street.
As Lu put it, "We want to preach cocktails...so you will value a good cocktail."
And that's for everybody out there in Cocktail Land.
I was contacted earlier this week with information that Lu Brow was in New York and available to meet with me. I jumped at the chance. Being here in New York almost all of the time, I always like to talk with people working in different cocktail markets.
Lu works as bar chef for Cafe Adelaide and The Swizzle Stick Bar in New Orleans.
"I want my bar to be a love letter to this city," Lu said about her work at Cafe Adelaide, and in the hometown of classics such as the Sazerac and the Ramos Gin Fizz, classic cocktails play a large part on the menu. Lu said she likes to feature "vintage cocktails that say you're in New Orleans."
She also likes playing with the classics and is even working on creating her own adult version of the New Orleans Snowball. Though there are some cocktails where she thinks the original way is good enough.
One summer Lu was able to feature an entire Tiki menu recreating drinks from the famed, but now defunct, Pontchartrain Beach tiki bar Bali Hai. She was able to do this thanks to recipes supplied to her by the grandchildren (one of whom just happens to be Bryan Batt of AMC's "Mad Men") of Bali Hai's proprietor.
The tiki drinks appealed to the locals' nostalgia, and it was a great opportunity to serve some good drinks. Lu said Ted "Doc Cocktail" Haigh gave his approval for a Fog Cutter she made using a Bali Hai recipe, calling it the best Fog Cutter he'd ever had.
Even though the city is the birthplace of some hallowed classics, promoting handcrafted drinks isn't always easy in a city like New Orleans where some people might more readily recognize the quantity of drinking that takes place. Lu talked about one instance where she polled some of the younger employees to name a New Orleans cocktail, and she got a lot of answers that named the Hand Grenade. Not that a Hand Grenade doesn't have a time and a place. In fact, Lu doesn't believe in cocktail snobbery, but she does believe in cocktail education. It's more about expanding rather than restricting, so education shouldn't be about shutting down guests.
Good education is part of good service since you're required to listen to a customer and work with what they like. It doesn't matter who well a cocktail is made if the elements don't reflect what a customer likes. They just won't drink it.
And Lu says she'll often nudge guests towards trying something new, taking into account things from their drink of choice, by offering, "Try this cocktail and if you don't like it, it's on me and I'll make you anything you like."
So far, she said, she has yet to make someone a make-up cocktail.
Naming the Sazerac as the official cocktail of New Orleans was definitely something else that helped with increasing awareness of New Orleans cocktails.
"New Orleans is known as a city for great food, but I want it to be known also as a city for great cocktails. Every city's got great restaurants with amazing wine lists...What other city has an official cocktail?" Lu said with a smile.
She said that she's definitely seeing more customers who come in and ask to try a Sazerac thanks to the drink's now sanctioned status in the city. They might not know how to even pronounce it, but they're willing to try it because they've heard about it.
The menu at The Swizzle Stick Bar changes seasonally and uses a lot of fresh and local ingredients. Lu said that with the economy affecting things like transportation costs "local is more important than ever."
According to Lu a lot of people don't realize that there's a lot of local citrus in Louisiana, like satsumas. Other fruits such as strawberries and blueberries are also cultivated in the state.
Lu also talked about other efforts in spreading the good news about good cocktails from Ti Adelaide Martin and Lally Brennan. In the Land of Cocktails, a new site which shares its name with the 2007 book by Ti and Lally.
Lu explained that there were some friends in the film industry in L.A. who were out of work due to the writer's strike.
"They didn't have a whole lot going on and weren't doing anything but standing in picket lines," Lu said, so after discussing what sort of message they wanted to send out, it was decided that the site would provide a little glimpse of New Orleans while providing information about cocktails.
The site launched late last year and features recipes as well as a blog and video episodes. Lu said there were many more webisodes to come and the site was a natural extension of what she, Ti and Lally try to do.
The site is meant to appeal to both consumers as well as bartenders. While both bartenders and bar enthusiasts will enjoy the recipes and videos with industry big names like Dale DeGroff, Ti and Lally's declaration of the "No More Bad Cocktails" revolution urges those in front of the bar to not be afraid to send back their cocktails if they don't enjoy them, with concrete reasons why. Thus making the call for better cocktails a two-way street.
As Lu put it, "We want to preach cocktails...so you will value a good cocktail."
And that's for everybody out there in Cocktail Land.
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Cleaning out the closet pt. 2: Not just grape juice and kids
Dec. 2
I'd received an invitation from Jonathan Pogash about a cocktail event. A cocktail even hosted by Welch's.
"Intriguing," I thought to myself. The event was in the middle of the day, but luckily it was being held someplace within walking distance, so around 2 pm I made my way east to the World Bar at Trump World Tower.
The event was specifically catered towards the company's refrigerated juice cocktails. According to the good folks representing Welch's that I met there, based on a consumer study they had done, they were surprised to find out that many bartenders were purchasing their juice for use behind the bar. The line features flavors such as mango, guava and passion fruit, and some bartenders who wanted these flavors, but either couldn't access them readily and conveniently in fresh form or found these fruits to be out of season, were purchasing these juices for their use. Welch's wanted to acknowledge that avenue of using their juice cocktails so they decided to hold the event at the World Bar at Trump World Tower and hired Jonathan Pogash to create some cocktail recipes using the juices from the refrigerated line. The recipe cards provided at the event even included fun facts regarding cocktail history and trivia.
Leti Taft-Pearman, product marketing manager for the refrigerated line, explained that for this group of products, the number of flavors available goes through changes. About one flavor a year is introduced and slower moving flavors are retired.
The event wasn't just interesting because, "Hey, it's Welch's and remember when you were a kid and drank their grape juice all the time? Well, here's some cocktails." It was interesting because it was another company putting in their marketing dollars towards cocktails. Again its hard not to make comparisons with how the whole foodie culture is a big part of consumer advertising nowadays. Watch an ad for Swanson broth and you see chef Christopher Lee as the spokesperson letting the home cook know food can get a boost of flavor from stock. The ad even makes a point of mentioning that he's a winner of the James Beard Foundation's Rising Star Chef award. A sort of pitch that wouldn't have made all that much sense to a good chunk of the population a couple of years ago. Go on Welch's site or watch TV and you can see foodie geek favorite Alton Brown talking about polyphenol antioxidants in Concord Grapes.
While this event was geared more towards the industry, this product is available in supermarkets as well. And with the availability of recipes for these cocktails, what's to keep from home bar enthusiasts from trying their hand? You kind of already see the sort of bar expert marketing geared towards consumers in liquor ads.
Drinks from the Welch's Mixer at the World Bar (recipes courtesy of Welch's from the event):
Welch's Punch Cocktail
1 oz. light rum
1 oz. dark rum
1 1/2 oz. Welch's Berry Pineapple Passion Fruit
juice of 1/2 a lime
dash of bitters
Shake well in a cocktail shaker with ice and strain over ice into a rock glass.
Garnish: Grated nutmeg
*NOTE: this can be made in large, punch-bowl
Independence Sparkler
1 oz. Welch's Strawberry Breeze
1/2 oz. vanilla liqueur
3 oz. premium Brut Champagne
Add ingredients to mixing glass with ice and stir briefly. Strain into chilled champagne flute.
Garnish: Strawberry slice on rim of glass
Kuava Martini
1 1/2 oz. Welch's Guava Pineapple
1 oz. gin
1/2 oz. elderflower liqueur
juice of 1/4 lemon
Shake all ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice and strain into a chilled martini glass.
Garnish: Edible flower
Cherry Smash
2 oz. Welch's Tropical Cherry
1 1/2 oz. bourbon
3 lemon wedges
handful of mint leaves (approx. 8-10(
Muddle the mint and lemon in the bottom of a mixing glass. Add remaining ingredients with ice and shake briefly. Pour into rocks glass.
Grapes and Pears
1 oz. Welch's Grape
1 oz. pear cognac or pear liqueur
3 oz. premium Brut Champagne
Stir ingredients briefly in a mixing glass with ice and strain into a chilled champagne flute.
Garnish: Pear slice and sliced grapes
I'd received an invitation from Jonathan Pogash about a cocktail event. A cocktail even hosted by Welch's.
"Intriguing," I thought to myself. The event was in the middle of the day, but luckily it was being held someplace within walking distance, so around 2 pm I made my way east to the World Bar at Trump World Tower.
The event was specifically catered towards the company's refrigerated juice cocktails. According to the good folks representing Welch's that I met there, based on a consumer study they had done, they were surprised to find out that many bartenders were purchasing their juice for use behind the bar. The line features flavors such as mango, guava and passion fruit, and some bartenders who wanted these flavors, but either couldn't access them readily and conveniently in fresh form or found these fruits to be out of season, were purchasing these juices for their use. Welch's wanted to acknowledge that avenue of using their juice cocktails so they decided to hold the event at the World Bar at Trump World Tower and hired Jonathan Pogash to create some cocktail recipes using the juices from the refrigerated line. The recipe cards provided at the event even included fun facts regarding cocktail history and trivia.
Leti Taft-Pearman, product marketing manager for the refrigerated line, explained that for this group of products, the number of flavors available goes through changes. About one flavor a year is introduced and slower moving flavors are retired.
The event wasn't just interesting because, "Hey, it's Welch's and remember when you were a kid and drank their grape juice all the time? Well, here's some cocktails." It was interesting because it was another company putting in their marketing dollars towards cocktails. Again its hard not to make comparisons with how the whole foodie culture is a big part of consumer advertising nowadays. Watch an ad for Swanson broth and you see chef Christopher Lee as the spokesperson letting the home cook know food can get a boost of flavor from stock. The ad even makes a point of mentioning that he's a winner of the James Beard Foundation's Rising Star Chef award. A sort of pitch that wouldn't have made all that much sense to a good chunk of the population a couple of years ago. Go on Welch's site or watch TV and you can see foodie geek favorite Alton Brown talking about polyphenol antioxidants in Concord Grapes.
While this event was geared more towards the industry, this product is available in supermarkets as well. And with the availability of recipes for these cocktails, what's to keep from home bar enthusiasts from trying their hand? You kind of already see the sort of bar expert marketing geared towards consumers in liquor ads.
Drinks from the Welch's Mixer at the World Bar (recipes courtesy of Welch's from the event):
Welch's Punch Cocktail
1 oz. light rum
1 oz. dark rum
1 1/2 oz. Welch's Berry Pineapple Passion Fruit
juice of 1/2 a lime
dash of bitters
Shake well in a cocktail shaker with ice and strain over ice into a rock glass.
Garnish: Grated nutmeg
*NOTE: this can be made in large, punch-bowl
Independence Sparkler
1 oz. Welch's Strawberry Breeze
1/2 oz. vanilla liqueur
3 oz. premium Brut Champagne
Add ingredients to mixing glass with ice and stir briefly. Strain into chilled champagne flute.
Garnish: Strawberry slice on rim of glass
Kuava Martini
1 1/2 oz. Welch's Guava Pineapple
1 oz. gin
1/2 oz. elderflower liqueur
juice of 1/4 lemon
Shake all ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice and strain into a chilled martini glass.
Garnish: Edible flower
Cherry Smash
2 oz. Welch's Tropical Cherry
1 1/2 oz. bourbon
3 lemon wedges
handful of mint leaves (approx. 8-10(
Muddle the mint and lemon in the bottom of a mixing glass. Add remaining ingredients with ice and shake briefly. Pour into rocks glass.
Grapes and Pears
1 oz. Welch's Grape
1 oz. pear cognac or pear liqueur
3 oz. premium Brut Champagne
Stir ingredients briefly in a mixing glass with ice and strain into a chilled champagne flute.
Garnish: Pear slice and sliced grapes
Monday, November 3, 2008
Voting with your glass
I was recently reading a press release from DISCUS talking about how several states still have an Election Day alcohol sale ban. The press release said that Kentucky, Indiana and South Carolina banned Election day alcohol sales in restaurants, bars and package stores. Utah, West Virginia, Alaska and Massachusetts don't allow alcohol sales at package stores, though Alaska and Massachusetts governments can provide exemption.
Certainly didn't seem like there were still such laws in place in some states considering all the press material I've managed to collect about places offering drinks with some sort of election theme. So let's take a look at what I have here.
Some went with red vs. blue. Hudson River Cafe in New York announced it'd be offering a Blueberry-Acai Caipirosca (muddled lime, fresh mint, Van Gogh blueberry-acai vodka) and a 12th Ave. Secret Red Sangria (a red wine sangria with calvados) for you to sip on election night as you watch everything go down live on TV.
SushiSamba also went two-toned, offering both The Obamarama and The Maverick (both $11). The Obamarama is a blueberry lemonade made by muddling lemon and blueberries with sugar then adding Pearl Bluberry Vodka, blue Curacao, and shaking all the ingredients. The drink is then topped with club soda and garnished with a lemon wheel.
The Maverick is a raspberry white tea drink, made by muddling four raspberries with sugar, then adding raspberry rum, triple sec, grenadine and unsweetened white tea. The shaken and strained drink is garnished with an orchid.
Another New York establishment, the organic and vegetarian-friendly Counter, departs from the color theme with its drinks, and instead mixologist Tonia Guffey decided to play with names (all $12). The McCain Campaign on the Rocks is a Penn 1861 vodka "in celebration of the year McCain was born." The Palin Whine Spritzer is American white wine with a splash of club soda and homemade grenadine. The Obama Mama is Papagayo white rum, Papagayo spiced rum, coconut milk, muddled blueberries. The Joe the Plummer, a plum-infused vodka with homemade lemonade.
Indebleu in Washington, D.C. has had candidates' home state-themed cocktails available since early October. The drinks will be available until Nov. 4. Note that the vice presidential cocktails cost less than the presidential ones. They include:
Arizona Hard Iced Tea ($12), a savina pepper-infused Long Island Iced Tea, is made with Hangar One Chipotle Vodka, rum, gin, and whiskey. It also includes home-made sour mix and grenadine and is garnished with dried whole red chilis.
Bleu Illinois ($12), a version of the Cosmo made with Bombay Sapphire Gin mixed with home-made sour mix and blue Curacao then garnished with an orange wheel.
Drunken Baked Alaska ($10), a martini made with Stoli Vanilla Vodka, Frangelico, and pineapple juice. A whipped cream topping is supposed to be an homage both to the state's mountains and the eponymous dessert item.
Delaware Stinger ($10), a version of the Stinger made with green Creme de Menthe blended with Crown Royal Canadian Whiskey.
DISCUS sent out a their own suggestions of electoral elixirs created by Jonathan Pogash:
The Maverick
1 oz. Bourbon
3/4 oz. Simple Syrup
3 Lemon Wedges
1/2 of a Ripe Peach
1 oz. Champagne
Directions: Muddle the peach and lemon in the simple syrup. Then add the Rye and ice and shake well. Strain into an ice-filled old fashioned glass. Top off with champagne and garnish with a peach slice.
Cocktail for a Change
1 oz. Gin
1/4 oz. Biscotti Liqueur
1/4 oz. Dry Vermouth
2 dashes Orange Bitters
Directions: Stir ingredients in a mixing glass with cracked ice. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass and garnish with an orange peel.
Red State Round-Up
1 oz. Tequila
1/2 oz. Grand Marnier
3/4 oz. Homemade Grenadine**
1/4 oz. Fresh Lemon Juice
1 Egg White
Club Soda
Directions: First, shake the egg white to emulsify. Then add remaining ingredients to cocktail shaker with ice and shake well. Strain into an ice-filled highball glass. Top with sparkling water and garnish with freshly grated nutmeg and lemon wheel.
**to make home-made grenadine, simply take 1 cup of store-bought pomegranate juice, and 1 cup of superfine sugar, and shake until all the sugar is dissolved.
Blue State Build-Up
1 oz. Light Rum
1 tsp. Blue Curacao
1/2 oz. Elderflower Liqueur
1/2 oz. Fresh Lemon Juice
1 dash Aromatic Bitters
Directions: Stir ingredients in a mixing glass with cracked ice. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with 3 floating blueberries.
In my social circle at least, it seems like many people are planning to make an event of the evening on election day to go out and enjoy a drink and meal to watch the polls close like the would a sporting event. Whatever reason you find yourself drinking tomorrow night, at least remember to vote before doing so.
Edit: As we go into election day I'm getting more notices. It looks like Employees Only is also hosting an Election Night Radio Coverage Party from 6pm-4am. Looks like they're taking dinner reservations, so call them up.
Certainly didn't seem like there were still such laws in place in some states considering all the press material I've managed to collect about places offering drinks with some sort of election theme. So let's take a look at what I have here.
Some went with red vs. blue. Hudson River Cafe in New York announced it'd be offering a Blueberry-Acai Caipirosca (muddled lime, fresh mint, Van Gogh blueberry-acai vodka) and a 12th Ave. Secret Red Sangria (a red wine sangria with calvados) for you to sip on election night as you watch everything go down live on TV.
SushiSamba also went two-toned, offering both The Obamarama and The Maverick (both $11). The Obamarama is a blueberry lemonade made by muddling lemon and blueberries with sugar then adding Pearl Bluberry Vodka, blue Curacao, and shaking all the ingredients. The drink is then topped with club soda and garnished with a lemon wheel.
The Maverick is a raspberry white tea drink, made by muddling four raspberries with sugar, then adding raspberry rum, triple sec, grenadine and unsweetened white tea. The shaken and strained drink is garnished with an orchid.
Another New York establishment, the organic and vegetarian-friendly Counter, departs from the color theme with its drinks, and instead mixologist Tonia Guffey decided to play with names (all $12). The McCain Campaign on the Rocks is a Penn 1861 vodka "in celebration of the year McCain was born." The Palin Whine Spritzer is American white wine with a splash of club soda and homemade grenadine. The Obama Mama is Papagayo white rum, Papagayo spiced rum, coconut milk, muddled blueberries. The Joe the Plummer, a plum-infused vodka with homemade lemonade.
Indebleu in Washington, D.C. has had candidates' home state-themed cocktails available since early October. The drinks will be available until Nov. 4. Note that the vice presidential cocktails cost less than the presidential ones. They include:
Arizona Hard Iced Tea ($12), a savina pepper-infused Long Island Iced Tea, is made with Hangar One Chipotle Vodka, rum, gin, and whiskey. It also includes home-made sour mix and grenadine and is garnished with dried whole red chilis.
Bleu Illinois ($12), a version of the Cosmo made with Bombay Sapphire Gin mixed with home-made sour mix and blue Curacao then garnished with an orange wheel.
Drunken Baked Alaska ($10), a martini made with Stoli Vanilla Vodka, Frangelico, and pineapple juice. A whipped cream topping is supposed to be an homage both to the state's mountains and the eponymous dessert item.
Delaware Stinger ($10), a version of the Stinger made with green Creme de Menthe blended with Crown Royal Canadian Whiskey.
DISCUS sent out a their own suggestions of electoral elixirs created by Jonathan Pogash:
The Maverick
1 oz. Bourbon
3/4 oz. Simple Syrup
3 Lemon Wedges
1/2 of a Ripe Peach
1 oz. Champagne
Directions: Muddle the peach and lemon in the simple syrup. Then add the Rye and ice and shake well. Strain into an ice-filled old fashioned glass. Top off with champagne and garnish with a peach slice.
Cocktail for a Change
1 oz. Gin
1/4 oz. Biscotti Liqueur
1/4 oz. Dry Vermouth
2 dashes Orange Bitters
Directions: Stir ingredients in a mixing glass with cracked ice. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass and garnish with an orange peel.
Red State Round-Up
1 oz. Tequila
1/2 oz. Grand Marnier
3/4 oz. Homemade Grenadine**
1/4 oz. Fresh Lemon Juice
1 Egg White
Club Soda
Directions: First, shake the egg white to emulsify. Then add remaining ingredients to cocktail shaker with ice and shake well. Strain into an ice-filled highball glass. Top with sparkling water and garnish with freshly grated nutmeg and lemon wheel.
**to make home-made grenadine, simply take 1 cup of store-bought pomegranate juice, and 1 cup of superfine sugar, and shake until all the sugar is dissolved.
Blue State Build-Up
1 oz. Light Rum
1 tsp. Blue Curacao
1/2 oz. Elderflower Liqueur
1/2 oz. Fresh Lemon Juice
1 dash Aromatic Bitters
Directions: Stir ingredients in a mixing glass with cracked ice. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with 3 floating blueberries.
In my social circle at least, it seems like many people are planning to make an event of the evening on election day to go out and enjoy a drink and meal to watch the polls close like the would a sporting event. Whatever reason you find yourself drinking tomorrow night, at least remember to vote before doing so.
Edit: As we go into election day I'm getting more notices. It looks like Employees Only is also hosting an Election Night Radio Coverage Party from 6pm-4am. Looks like they're taking dinner reservations, so call them up.
Monday, October 6, 2008
Cocktail classes for the consumer
I spent a little bit of my Sunday afternoon down at the Astor Center to check out Jonathan Pogash's "Elements of Mixology: The Cocktail Lab" class. The Astor Center hosts several food and drink related classes that allow the general public to learn and experience what they are consuming and imbibing from chefs and beverage personnel from the New York restaurant world. There are several wine courses that teach basics like the upcoming installments of the "Develop Your Nose" series. David Lombardo, wine and beverage director for Anvil NY is set to teach in a regional versus format; Spain vs. U.S.A in November and France Vs. Australia and New Zealand in December. Ethan Kelley, head spirits sommelier of the Brandy Library has a class about American whiskies. And for those who've spent plenty of time in front of the bar, but want to have a better understanding about what happens behind it, there are several classes geared towards the home bartender as well. Some of the gang from PDT are teaching a "Home Bar Basics". Michael Waterhouse of Dylan Prime is handling the cocktails end of a sweets-themed class.
It was interesting to see the classes being helmed by from those actually working day-to-day in the restaurant business. Particularly in the area of cocktails, where it probably helps to lift some of that veil of intimidation when it comes to ordering in some of the city's many well-known cocktail establishments. Obviously, having a better basic idea about what is involved in the cocktail making process helps, but so does seeing someone out and about in broad daylight who you only see in the context of standing behind a dim bar and concocting your drinks. Having them talk and explain things to you without being pressed for time because they're making five drinks while trying to serve everyone else in the bar puts the whole thing in a different light. While in a bar you might a , "So what's the different between these bitters" would snag you a quick answer, at least you wouldn't feel bad about asking any follow-up questions away from the bar and crowds of other people who just want their drink.
And Jonathan's class was just that sort of setting. Right as I was sneaking in 20 minutes late, Jonathan was in the middle of giving a brief history of cocktails to people in the class. Since this class was more about drink creation, the history served a background to cocktail families and recipes so people in the class could familiarize themselves with what kind of drinks are out there and what basic rules drink recipes follow. The tools of the trade were also explained. For the last couple of minutes, the class got broken up into teams to create and present their own creations.
It was interesting to see how much the people in the class were aware of what was going on in bars nowadays. More than half the class answered correctly about the first American cocktail being the Sazerac and during the explanation of bar tools, one attendee asked about the Boston Shaker. The ones in the class were the usual kind, with the 28 oz. tin top and mixing glass for a bottom. She wanted to know then what was the difference between the ones we had in class and the ones that were all metal. Obviously, someone was paying attention when they went out to drink because she was referring to the beveled shaker tins that some bartenders in the city prefer to use, replacing the mixing glass with a another stainless steel tin.
If anything, this was a pretty good indicator of why the bartender of today definitely needs to be on their toes. Consumers are becoming more curious and aware about what they're drinking. It's been going on for a while now, but just as there are the droves of foodies (I apologize for using this word) taking food porn pictures for Flickr and blogging diary-style about every morsel of food that passes their lips, I see plenty of "drinkies" strolling up to bars, chatting up bartenders, many times genuinely curious, and sometimes obnoxiously quizzing them. Now when you talk about beverages as a whole, this isn't anything new. Homegrown experts on beer, wine, sake, whiskey, what have you have been around plenty, but the class was a jolting reminder that mixed drinks are now also part of this foodie/drinkie world as well. People are expecting more and paying attention to what's going in the drinks, how their bartender is mixing it. They might not just want to know what, they might want to know why as well and they're probably going to come in armed with their own resource and knowledge about a subject.
Jonathan has been teaching at the Astor Center since April and says that response has been great. Every class he's taught have been sold-out and recently new dates were added due to popular demand. When I asked if there were any plans to create something more serialized, Jonathan said maybe that's something to look forward to in the future, but for now, people seem happy to come in for a single class to at least get the basics.
It was interesting to see the classes being helmed by from those actually working day-to-day in the restaurant business. Particularly in the area of cocktails, where it probably helps to lift some of that veil of intimidation when it comes to ordering in some of the city's many well-known cocktail establishments. Obviously, having a better basic idea about what is involved in the cocktail making process helps, but so does seeing someone out and about in broad daylight who you only see in the context of standing behind a dim bar and concocting your drinks. Having them talk and explain things to you without being pressed for time because they're making five drinks while trying to serve everyone else in the bar puts the whole thing in a different light. While in a bar you might a , "So what's the different between these bitters" would snag you a quick answer, at least you wouldn't feel bad about asking any follow-up questions away from the bar and crowds of other people who just want their drink.
And Jonathan's class was just that sort of setting. Right as I was sneaking in 20 minutes late, Jonathan was in the middle of giving a brief history of cocktails to people in the class. Since this class was more about drink creation, the history served a background to cocktail families and recipes so people in the class could familiarize themselves with what kind of drinks are out there and what basic rules drink recipes follow. The tools of the trade were also explained. For the last couple of minutes, the class got broken up into teams to create and present their own creations.
It was interesting to see how much the people in the class were aware of what was going on in bars nowadays. More than half the class answered correctly about the first American cocktail being the Sazerac and during the explanation of bar tools, one attendee asked about the Boston Shaker. The ones in the class were the usual kind, with the 28 oz. tin top and mixing glass for a bottom. She wanted to know then what was the difference between the ones we had in class and the ones that were all metal. Obviously, someone was paying attention when they went out to drink because she was referring to the beveled shaker tins that some bartenders in the city prefer to use, replacing the mixing glass with a another stainless steel tin.
If anything, this was a pretty good indicator of why the bartender of today definitely needs to be on their toes. Consumers are becoming more curious and aware about what they're drinking. It's been going on for a while now, but just as there are the droves of foodies (I apologize for using this word) taking food porn pictures for Flickr and blogging diary-style about every morsel of food that passes their lips, I see plenty of "drinkies" strolling up to bars, chatting up bartenders, many times genuinely curious, and sometimes obnoxiously quizzing them. Now when you talk about beverages as a whole, this isn't anything new. Homegrown experts on beer, wine, sake, whiskey, what have you have been around plenty, but the class was a jolting reminder that mixed drinks are now also part of this foodie/drinkie world as well. People are expecting more and paying attention to what's going in the drinks, how their bartender is mixing it. They might not just want to know what, they might want to know why as well and they're probably going to come in armed with their own resource and knowledge about a subject.
Jonathan has been teaching at the Astor Center since April and says that response has been great. Every class he's taught have been sold-out and recently new dates were added due to popular demand. When I asked if there were any plans to create something more serialized, Jonathan said maybe that's something to look forward to in the future, but for now, people seem happy to come in for a single class to at least get the basics.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
An ode to the Paloma
Manhattans go down dangerously easy with a silkiness I particularly enjoy in stirred cocktails, and Pisco Sours indulge my love of tartness without being overbearing with lip-smacking texture from the egg white. However, the Paloma holds a special place in my heart simply for providing a "Paul on the road to Damascus" like moment of conversion in regards to cocktails. Or maybe it was more like when Naaman was healed by the Prophet Elisha...either way, it was pretty Biblical.
The hagiography of this particular drink begins early in my life. Illegally early. Bret said if I said I grew up abroad it was OK, but actually, it still kind of wasn't. The following is hardly a morality tale. When I was younger, drinking was far from a sophisticated. Pretty much any sort of mixed drinks were simple (and easily concealable) one-two combos like Screwdrivers. My particularly atrocious addition to the annals of adolescent drink-mixing was a gin and grape ade concoction. I convinced myself that the resulting mixture tasted a lot like an anemic version of the energy drink Bacchus-F.
Cocktails purchased from establishments, didn't fare any better. Goopy margaritas and saccharine Pina Coladas would first knock me out with a diabetic coma so that the alcohol could raze a wave of fire that'd burn off my the top layer of my tongue and esophagus while melting nose hairs without resistance. I decided drinking cocktails was one of those weird things people sometimes do that doesn't taste or feel good, but they did because it was just another way to drink alcohol. It just was not my thing, and in college I mainly stuck to beer.
After I had graduated and began working for Nation's Restaurant News a new feature was added to our Beverage Trends Newsletter. The idea was to feature a particular non-alcoholic drink and a cocktail came up and I was drafted to find subjects for these monthly installments.
Beyond the basics of getting a photo, recipes, a little back story if available, etc., I was simply charged with finding things either new or interesting. I don't know if not knowing all that much about cocktails was a good thing or a bad thing because, well, everything was kind of new and interesting to me. Nonetheless, not knowing what else to do, I simply started plugging in permutations of the words "cocktail," and "menu" into Google with whatever modifiers I thought would help and seeing what was out there.
There were handfuls of cocktails I took notes on that I found, but one that I kept looking at was a Paloma that 5 Ninth had on its menu. I'd never heard of it and the description read, "Tequila, lime juice, a grapefruit soda
and a pinch of salt. Really." My thoughts exactly.
I called up the place and asked if I could stop by for a photo and to ask about the drink. I made my way down to 5 Ninth, crossing cobbled streets, to a small, unassuming white building that looked more like someone's house than a restaurant. I was told by one of the owners Vincent Seufert to visit right before the place opened for dinner so that I could do my thing unhampered.
The drink brought out to me was a pale sunny yellow drink with a green glow from the inside thanks to a squeezed half of a lime floating in it. It was very photogenic in the afternoon light coming into 5 Ninth. It looked crisp and refreshing. The glass was fogged up with tiny beads of condensation barely visible. Very different from viscous and nuclear hot messes I had come across before.
I wasn't sure what to do with the drink once I was done taking photos and kind of looked around awkwardly. Vincent looked surprised and asked if I wasn't going to drink it.
"It's for me?" I asked incredulously. Yea, I know, how cute.
I eyed the drink. Sure, it looked good. Sure, I love limes and grapefruit is fantastic. But then I started getting flashbacks of all the cocktails I had over the years. I slowly lifted the glass to my mouth and took a sip.
What happened next I can only describe as, hm, well, like you know how in Requiem for a Dream they had the montage of images that convey the rush of the high? Yea, that. That's what happened in my mouth. Except this was more a series of surprise, puzzlement, then an explosion into very pleasantly surprised.
By God, cocktails can taste good! No, seriously, they can taste good! I screamed inside my head. And not just good, this one was damned delicious. What the hell had I been doing and drinking all this time?
And that was the literal beginning of it all. As I continued to further research and look into cocktails for the following months' installments I learned more and got to try even more cocktails. They didn't always all floor me, but all the bad memories of bad cocktail ghosts past were slowly being exorcised out of my head.
Of course once I'd "discovered" the Paloma I was also surprised to find out how elusive it was. I remember one time going to what looked like a decent restaurant in the West Village. The menu wasn't anything too fancy, but it had its own bar with an attentive staff that seemed like a place where a Paloma would be a pretty reasonable order. You would think. The bartender looked at me and said, "I'd never heard of that. Could you tell me what's in it?"
"Well, it's got tequila," I started. The bartender nodded with a smile.
"Then there's lime," I continued as I kept my eyes on his face. Good, I still had him.
"...and like, I think there was grapefruit soda..." He started frowning a little. I averted my eyes.
"...and salt!" I ended. I took a deep breath and looked back up at him. He just stared at me with a look on his face as if I had just made a not very flattering remark in reference to his mother's honor.
"Um, well," he stuttered, "We don't have grapefruit soda, but we do have grapefruit juice and I could add a little tonic to that, but are you sure that's a real cocktail? It sounds kind of...weird"
"No! It's really good!" I insisted. My companion at the time looked just as skeptical as well.
The drink that was produced was horrifying. I don't know what went wrong with it, but it was ten kinds of wack that no one should put anywhere near their mouth ever. Even the glass seemed ashamed with its contents.
"But...but, it had all the elements," I dejectedly sputtered later on to my friend who thought I had earned my comeuppance for apparently lying about the existence of such a drink. The Paloma not only taught me that cocktails could actually taste good, but it also taught me the importance of balance and proportions. Maybe if I had given the bartender exact measurements it would've turned out differently. And I still feel a little bad about it because the guy honestly did not know the recipe. Maybe he made other cocktails that were awesome and I caught him on a bad day, not that I tried anything else because the first drink was so discouraging.
Nowadays I know of many places I can walk into where if I name a drink I can get it, and on the chance that the bartender does not know it or they don't have a particular ingredient, they can suggest I try something else in the similar vein of flavors that I was looking for. I don't even have to give an exact recipe. I can be as vague as "I don't know, I just want something real fruity." This is something I have a hard time taking for granted whenever I remember the first Paloma I ever had and the Bizarro version that almost destroyed the universe.
The hagiography of this particular drink begins early in my life. Illegally early. Bret said if I said I grew up abroad it was OK, but actually, it still kind of wasn't. The following is hardly a morality tale. When I was younger, drinking was far from a sophisticated. Pretty much any sort of mixed drinks were simple (and easily concealable) one-two combos like Screwdrivers. My particularly atrocious addition to the annals of adolescent drink-mixing was a gin and grape ade concoction. I convinced myself that the resulting mixture tasted a lot like an anemic version of the energy drink Bacchus-F.
Cocktails purchased from establishments, didn't fare any better. Goopy margaritas and saccharine Pina Coladas would first knock me out with a diabetic coma so that the alcohol could raze a wave of fire that'd burn off my the top layer of my tongue and esophagus while melting nose hairs without resistance. I decided drinking cocktails was one of those weird things people sometimes do that doesn't taste or feel good, but they did because it was just another way to drink alcohol. It just was not my thing, and in college I mainly stuck to beer.
After I had graduated and began working for Nation's Restaurant News a new feature was added to our Beverage Trends Newsletter. The idea was to feature a particular non-alcoholic drink and a cocktail came up and I was drafted to find subjects for these monthly installments.
Beyond the basics of getting a photo, recipes, a little back story if available, etc., I was simply charged with finding things either new or interesting. I don't know if not knowing all that much about cocktails was a good thing or a bad thing because, well, everything was kind of new and interesting to me. Nonetheless, not knowing what else to do, I simply started plugging in permutations of the words "cocktail," and "menu" into Google with whatever modifiers I thought would help and seeing what was out there.
There were handfuls of cocktails I took notes on that I found, but one that I kept looking at was a Paloma that 5 Ninth had on its menu. I'd never heard of it and the description read, "Tequila, lime juice, a grapefruit soda
and a pinch of salt. Really." My thoughts exactly.
I called up the place and asked if I could stop by for a photo and to ask about the drink. I made my way down to 5 Ninth, crossing cobbled streets, to a small, unassuming white building that looked more like someone's house than a restaurant. I was told by one of the owners Vincent Seufert to visit right before the place opened for dinner so that I could do my thing unhampered.
The drink brought out to me was a pale sunny yellow drink with a green glow from the inside thanks to a squeezed half of a lime floating in it. It was very photogenic in the afternoon light coming into 5 Ninth. It looked crisp and refreshing. The glass was fogged up with tiny beads of condensation barely visible. Very different from viscous and nuclear hot messes I had come across before.
I wasn't sure what to do with the drink once I was done taking photos and kind of looked around awkwardly. Vincent looked surprised and asked if I wasn't going to drink it.
"It's for me?" I asked incredulously. Yea, I know, how cute.
I eyed the drink. Sure, it looked good. Sure, I love limes and grapefruit is fantastic. But then I started getting flashbacks of all the cocktails I had over the years. I slowly lifted the glass to my mouth and took a sip.
What happened next I can only describe as, hm, well, like you know how in Requiem for a Dream they had the montage of images that convey the rush of the high? Yea, that. That's what happened in my mouth. Except this was more a series of surprise, puzzlement, then an explosion into very pleasantly surprised.
By God, cocktails can taste good! No, seriously, they can taste good! I screamed inside my head. And not just good, this one was damned delicious. What the hell had I been doing and drinking all this time?
And that was the literal beginning of it all. As I continued to further research and look into cocktails for the following months' installments I learned more and got to try even more cocktails. They didn't always all floor me, but all the bad memories of bad cocktail ghosts past were slowly being exorcised out of my head.
Of course once I'd "discovered" the Paloma I was also surprised to find out how elusive it was. I remember one time going to what looked like a decent restaurant in the West Village. The menu wasn't anything too fancy, but it had its own bar with an attentive staff that seemed like a place where a Paloma would be a pretty reasonable order. You would think. The bartender looked at me and said, "I'd never heard of that. Could you tell me what's in it?"
"Well, it's got tequila," I started. The bartender nodded with a smile.
"Then there's lime," I continued as I kept my eyes on his face. Good, I still had him.
"...and like, I think there was grapefruit soda..." He started frowning a little. I averted my eyes.
"...and salt!" I ended. I took a deep breath and looked back up at him. He just stared at me with a look on his face as if I had just made a not very flattering remark in reference to his mother's honor.
"Um, well," he stuttered, "We don't have grapefruit soda, but we do have grapefruit juice and I could add a little tonic to that, but are you sure that's a real cocktail? It sounds kind of...weird"
"No! It's really good!" I insisted. My companion at the time looked just as skeptical as well.
The drink that was produced was horrifying. I don't know what went wrong with it, but it was ten kinds of wack that no one should put anywhere near their mouth ever. Even the glass seemed ashamed with its contents.
"But...but, it had all the elements," I dejectedly sputtered later on to my friend who thought I had earned my comeuppance for apparently lying about the existence of such a drink. The Paloma not only taught me that cocktails could actually taste good, but it also taught me the importance of balance and proportions. Maybe if I had given the bartender exact measurements it would've turned out differently. And I still feel a little bad about it because the guy honestly did not know the recipe. Maybe he made other cocktails that were awesome and I caught him on a bad day, not that I tried anything else because the first drink was so discouraging.
Nowadays I know of many places I can walk into where if I name a drink I can get it, and on the chance that the bartender does not know it or they don't have a particular ingredient, they can suggest I try something else in the similar vein of flavors that I was looking for. I don't even have to give an exact recipe. I can be as vague as "I don't know, I just want something real fruity." This is something I have a hard time taking for granted whenever I remember the first Paloma I ever had and the Bizarro version that almost destroyed the universe.
Friday, May 23, 2008
Frank Caiafa of Peacock Alley
"I like to go seasonal with seasonal ingredients, and fresh if I can without a doubt. The other thing is we have to take into consideration is volume," said Frank Caifa, bar manager for the Waldorf=Astoria's Peacock Alley, when I interviewed him a little while back for this month's Featured Cocktail. "I try to shy away from muddled drinks because we get so busy. In the summer I’ll have one or two. I like to mix it up. I like to have some savory, classic, or my twists on the classics and some dessert style drinks because some of the guests that come here are the post-theater crowd."
Besides hotel guests, other crowds that visit the legendarily swanky Peacock Alley include people who come for events or before and after events as well as other non-hotel guests.
"I think people look for a different experience," Caifa said, citing an early lesson he learned in his almost three years of working with Peacock Alley. The hotel has a lot of European and English guests so Caifa decided to offer English beers, which didn't go over as well as he'd planned.
"The stumble we had was, I wanted people to feel at home and they wanted to try different stuff."
The result of that lesson is a mix of high-end spirits and housemade fresh ingredients. The Raspberry Beret features house-spiced Grand Havana Rum, Cointreau and raspberry puree. Other drinks include the SE Sidecar made with Evan Williams bourbon, Canton Ginger liqueur and fresh sour made by the staff. The Au Pear is made with Grey Goose Pear vodka, pear puree, sweet vermouth and a house-infused white raisin and vanilla bean grappa.
The menu also features luxury-priced cocktails. The Millionaire's Martini, made with Jean-Marc XO Vodka, and an olive stuffed with artisinal bleu cheese, is priced at $25, while the Grand Platinum Margarita, made with Patron Platinum tequila, Grand Marnier 150 (Cuvée Speciale Cent Cinquantenaire), and fresh lime juice, goes for $50.
When asked if customers who come to the Peacock Alley are looking for luxury drinks, Caiafa answered, "They do because I think people are here for special events. They might think, 'Wow I wonder what it would be like to have a $50 margaritas.'"
Besides hotel guests, other crowds that visit the legendarily swanky Peacock Alley include people who come for events or before and after events as well as other non-hotel guests.
"I think people look for a different experience," Caifa said, citing an early lesson he learned in his almost three years of working with Peacock Alley. The hotel has a lot of European and English guests so Caifa decided to offer English beers, which didn't go over as well as he'd planned.
"The stumble we had was, I wanted people to feel at home and they wanted to try different stuff."
The result of that lesson is a mix of high-end spirits and housemade fresh ingredients. The Raspberry Beret features house-spiced Grand Havana Rum, Cointreau and raspberry puree. Other drinks include the SE Sidecar made with Evan Williams bourbon, Canton Ginger liqueur and fresh sour made by the staff. The Au Pear is made with Grey Goose Pear vodka, pear puree, sweet vermouth and a house-infused white raisin and vanilla bean grappa.
The menu also features luxury-priced cocktails. The Millionaire's Martini, made with Jean-Marc XO Vodka, and an olive stuffed with artisinal bleu cheese, is priced at $25, while the Grand Platinum Margarita, made with Patron Platinum tequila, Grand Marnier 150 (Cuvée Speciale Cent Cinquantenaire), and fresh lime juice, goes for $50.
When asked if customers who come to the Peacock Alley are looking for luxury drinks, Caiafa answered, "They do because I think people are here for special events. They might think, 'Wow I wonder what it would be like to have a $50 margaritas.'"
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Aureole's new summer cocktails
May 14
Aureole held a small gathering on the afternoon of the 14th to showcase several cocktails using Limonce limoncello and GranGala orange liqueur created by mixologist Ektoras Binikos. There was also a blind taste test for orange liqueur and the cocktails were paired with food created by Aureole's executive chef Tony Aiazzi. To say the least, the cocktail flavors were mainly citrus, and some played up the lightly sweetened aspect even more with a hit of soda. All seemed like drinks to go with food.
The food was interesting ranging from a very crispy-on-the-outside mini crab cakes, to some pretty sweet oysters. Though some guests (including myself) couldn't help but grab at some of the kumquats decorating the cocktail table.
The Amalfi
1 1/2 oz Citorn Vodka
1/2 oz Limonce Limoncello
1/2 fresh lime juice
2 sprigs lemon thyme
splash of yuzu juice
Capri
1 oz Miller's gin
1/2 oz Limonce Limoncello
5 kumquats
4 fresh mint leaves
3 dashes Regan's Orange Bitters
splash of soda
Mediterranee
1 oz Pineau Des Charentes
1/2 oz Limonce LImoncello
1 oz fresh Meyer lemon juice
zest of a Meyer lemon
2 dashes of Regan's Orange Bitters
1 sage leaf
Havana
1 1/2 oz Marti Autentico Cuban Rum
1/2 oz Imported GranGala Triple Orange Liqueur
1 oz fresh ruby red grapefruit juice
3-4 drops of Angostura bitters
1/2 oz fresh lime juice
fresh mint
Cote d'Azure
1 1/2 oz of Millers Gin
1/2 oz Imported GranGala Triple Orange Liqueur
Dash of Creme de Cassis
1 oz fresh lemon juice
splash of soda
9 blueberries, 3 for garnish
4 fresh mint leaves
Madame Butterfly
1/2 oz Imported GranGala Triple Orange LIqueur
1/2 oz orange vodka
1/2 oz Aperol
1/2 oz Verjus
1/2 oz yuzu juice
Aureole held a small gathering on the afternoon of the 14th to showcase several cocktails using Limonce limoncello and GranGala orange liqueur created by mixologist Ektoras Binikos. There was also a blind taste test for orange liqueur and the cocktails were paired with food created by Aureole's executive chef Tony Aiazzi. To say the least, the cocktail flavors were mainly citrus, and some played up the lightly sweetened aspect even more with a hit of soda. All seemed like drinks to go with food.The food was interesting ranging from a very crispy-on-the-outside mini crab cakes, to some pretty sweet oysters. Though some guests (including myself) couldn't help but grab at some of the kumquats decorating the cocktail table.
The Amalfi
1 1/2 oz Citorn Vodka
1/2 oz Limonce Limoncello
1/2 fresh lime juice
2 sprigs lemon thyme
splash of yuzu juice
Capri
1 oz Miller's gin
1/2 oz Limonce Limoncello
5 kumquats
4 fresh mint leaves
3 dashes Regan's Orange Bitters
splash of soda
Mediterranee
1 oz Pineau Des Charentes
1/2 oz Limonce LImoncello
1 oz fresh Meyer lemon juice
zest of a Meyer lemon
2 dashes of Regan's Orange Bitters
1 sage leaf
Havana
1 1/2 oz Marti Autentico Cuban Rum
1/2 oz Imported GranGala Triple Orange Liqueur
1 oz fresh ruby red grapefruit juice
3-4 drops of Angostura bitters
1/2 oz fresh lime juice
fresh mint
Cote d'Azure1 1/2 oz of Millers Gin
1/2 oz Imported GranGala Triple Orange Liqueur
Dash of Creme de Cassis
1 oz fresh lemon juice
splash of soda
9 blueberries, 3 for garnish
4 fresh mint leaves
Madame Butterfly
1/2 oz Imported GranGala Triple Orange LIqueur
1/2 oz orange vodka
1/2 oz Aperol
1/2 oz Verjus
1/2 oz yuzu juice
Thursday, March 20, 2008
A tiki party with DISCUS
March 19
Two interesting things from the evening:
1. Learning Bar Milano, the New York bar that Tony Abou-Ganim is a partner in, is planning to open April 7.
2. I shook hands with Tony Abou-Ganim.
You kind of geek out about certain things when you're familiar specific industries. I'd always heard about Tony, read about him, but never seen or spoken to him. So it was kind of exciting to actually meet him. If I had to compare this to something else from my life. It was like the time I stood in line for three hours at Forbidden Planet so I could get my comics signed by Grant Morrison and I was having my own little geek excitement moment when it was my turn to have him sign my comics and...OK, maybe that example is a bit hard to relate to as well.
But more on the two points later.
It was a dreary, drizzling gray March evening when I walked into Bikini Bar. The Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, with the Olympian abbreviation of DISCUS, was holding a Tiki Rum Party. Suddenly, I was in Hawaii. Or at least an indoor sun-soaked beach house facsimile. Of all the bars I've been in, Bikini Bar is hands down the brightest. The tiki party theme was in full swing. There were leis, pupu platters, Hawaiian shirts and of course, plenty of rum and rum cocktails. They even had Blue Hawaii playing in the background on mute.
Taking advantage of the bi-level bar, Don Lee and Jim Meehan of PDT shook up several drinks downstairs, while upstairs, UK bar expert Angus Winchester mixed up another list of beverages.
Bret was already there when I arrived, though he couldn't stay for long since he had to head out to Broadway East. He was talking to Aaron Burns, senior marketing manager of Bacardi Innovations, a division of Bacardi Brands. Aaron chatted with me a bit about Rubi Rey, Bacardi's new single barrel finished white rum.
Aaron said the Rubi Rey has "the image of a vodka with the substance of a scotch." People are willing to pay more for premium vodkas and Bacardi decided that a premium rum would provide an alternative to those consumers who want something on a premium level that's not vodka. Aaron added that people are looking towards trying different premium spirits. Factoid of the evening from Aaron, "Ninety-five percent of the rums sold in the United States is sold for less than $15."
I kept going back and forth between upstairs and downstairs throughout the evening because of the number of people milling about directly in front of the bars made me feel claustrophobic. Also, for some reason I kept finding myself inevitably packed into a corner or awkwardly squeezed between to conversing groups. I felt like Houdini trying to escape out of a tight squeeze every five minutes. At the same time I was entirely too wrapped up in taking notes and peering over the bars to see what was going on while trying to see if I could snap some photos.
Being that mobile there was a lot of people I found myself running into and I mean that pretty much literally. As I sipped Colada Nueva Dos that Jim made downstairs I tried to reign in my short attention span to read some name tags and introduced myself to Martin Doudoroff of CocktailDB.
Upstairs I spotted someone across the room over the sea of heads who I thought looked familiar until I practically smacked myself on the forehead when I realized it was Joaquin. I managed to grab him right before he was leaving to say hi. Unfortunately, I don't do faces in crowds all that well. I wish I was joking at how bad I get with faces sometimes. Sometimes I feel like the journalist version of Adrian Monk. I have all these quirks hat you think would hamper me from doing my job.
At one point in the evening, a gentleman next to me asked how the Bajan Peach Smash that I was drinking tasted. I said it started off sweeter than how I usually like my cocktails, but as the ice melted it mellowed out a bit. I added that I tried the Baron Samedi's Brew and I thought that was kind of interesting.
As he turned to order the Baron Samedi I caught a glimpse of his name tag and performed a distinctly ungraceful double take.
After fully processing the name on the name tag, I thought to myself. "Tony Abou-Ganim just asked me my opinion about a drink."
Before heading out Tony came over to say good bye and I shook his hand and said, "I kind of had a minor 'rock star spotted' type of mini freak out back there."
"Yes, I saw it on your face," Tony said.
Tony was in town because things were gearing up towards the April 7 opening of Bar Milano.
Later when I got to chat a bit with Allan, a bartender working with Tony, who told me that everything seemed to be running on schedule and that Tony himself would probably be behind the bar for a little bit after opening to make sure everything is running smoothly. By the way, Allan also has an ode to nightlife type of project in the works, which you can preview here.
The party was drawing to a close and finally the both bars were clearing out. I went downstairs and plopped down on a stool and Jim introduced me to Don. I declared that Don had one of the coolest business cards I'd seen that evening.
"Hey! You're the one responsible for the foie-gras infused bourbon," I said to Don, remembering that Joaquin told me he scored the bourbon from PDT for his Loosey Goosey.
I asked Don a bit more about fat washing and how he got the idea for the foie-gras bourbon. Originally it was created to be part of a recipe for a sherry contest. Rather than strictly thinking about how to pair sherry with food, Don said that he thought, "Well, why don't we just make the cocktail like a food item?"
Don said he also did a bacon bourbon using the same bacon as the one used at Momofuku, which has a lot of flavorful fat. Don explained how a lot of bacon infusion recipes he's seen going around actually put the meat of the bacon in the spirit, when it's the fat that has the flavor. And they also cite infusion periods that are too long. Don said weeks is a bit of an overkill when a couple of days will do. And to avoid floating globules of fat, some form of fat washing is necessary. The bacon bourbon, for example, is frozen so that the fat solidifies on top for easy extraction.
Don and I ended talking a bit about Korean soju. Don has a grandfather who was a soju distiller, believe it or not. Don joked that the spirits selling skipped a generation. Having grown up in Korea, I referred to the efforts to make soju cocktails. Famously, or maybe infamously depending on your point of view, Lemon Soju and Yakult/Yogurt Soju, for example. I asked him if he'd ever thought about making his own soju cocktail. Don said, he would if there was a soju that met his standards. I mentioned how in Korea there seemed to be a bit of a premium soju boom going on, with more variety. Don said while that was the case, Korea's tumultuous history killed off artisinal soju, which was how it was made originally. As the country rapidly recovered from the Korean War, soju production became very industrialized and quality dropped a bit.
Before leaving I couldn't help but half-jokingly challenge Don to try and make a high-end version of Yakult Soju.
Drinks from the party:
Mai Tai
Bacardi 8
10 Cane rum
Orange Curacao
lime juice
orgeat
Colada Nueva Dos
Tommy Bahama
White Sand
Malibu Coconut
lime juice
coconut sorbet
pineapple juice
Royal Bermuda Yacht Club Cocktail
Mt. Gay Eclipse
lime juice
Cointreau
lime juice
Velvet Falernum
Dark and Stormy
Cruzan Black Strap
lime juice
ginger beer
Bajan Peach Smash
Cruzan Estate Dark
lemon wedges
peach puree
simple syrup
mint leaves
Coconut Grenade
Malibu Coconut
Bacardi 8
passionfruit syrup
Angostura Bitters
lime juice
coconut milk
Baron Samedi's Brew
Myers Dark
orgeat
Honey Cream
lime juice
ginger beer
Angostura Bitters
absinthe
Two interesting things from the evening:
1. Learning Bar Milano, the New York bar that Tony Abou-Ganim is a partner in, is planning to open April 7.
2. I shook hands with Tony Abou-Ganim.
You kind of geek out about certain things when you're familiar specific industries. I'd always heard about Tony, read about him, but never seen or spoken to him. So it was kind of exciting to actually meet him. If I had to compare this to something else from my life. It was like the time I stood in line for three hours at Forbidden Planet so I could get my comics signed by Grant Morrison and I was having my own little geek excitement moment when it was my turn to have him sign my comics and...OK, maybe that example is a bit hard to relate to as well.
But more on the two points later.
It was a dreary, drizzling gray March evening when I walked into Bikini Bar. The Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, with the Olympian abbreviation of DISCUS, was holding a Tiki Rum Party. Suddenly, I was in Hawaii. Or at least an indoor sun-soaked beach house facsimile. Of all the bars I've been in, Bikini Bar is hands down the brightest. The tiki party theme was in full swing. There were leis, pupu platters, Hawaiian shirts and of course, plenty of rum and rum cocktails. They even had Blue Hawaii playing in the background on mute.
Taking advantage of the bi-level bar, Don Lee and Jim Meehan of PDT shook up several drinks downstairs, while upstairs, UK bar expert Angus Winchester mixed up another list of beverages.Bret was already there when I arrived, though he couldn't stay for long since he had to head out to Broadway East. He was talking to Aaron Burns, senior marketing manager of Bacardi Innovations, a division of Bacardi Brands. Aaron chatted with me a bit about Rubi Rey, Bacardi's new single barrel finished white rum.
Aaron said the Rubi Rey has "the image of a vodka with the substance of a scotch." People are willing to pay more for premium vodkas and Bacardi decided that a premium rum would provide an alternative to those consumers who want something on a premium level that's not vodka. Aaron added that people are looking towards trying different premium spirits. Factoid of the evening from Aaron, "Ninety-five percent of the rums sold in the United States is sold for less than $15."
I kept going back and forth between upstairs and downstairs throughout the evening because of the number of people milling about directly in front of the bars made me feel claustrophobic. Also, for some reason I kept finding myself inevitably packed into a corner or awkwardly squeezed between to conversing groups. I felt like Houdini trying to escape out of a tight squeeze every five minutes. At the same time I was entirely too wrapped up in taking notes and peering over the bars to see what was going on while trying to see if I could snap some photos.
Being that mobile there was a lot of people I found myself running into and I mean that pretty much literally. As I sipped Colada Nueva Dos that Jim made downstairs I tried to reign in my short attention span to read some name tags and introduced myself to Martin Doudoroff of CocktailDB.Upstairs I spotted someone across the room over the sea of heads who I thought looked familiar until I practically smacked myself on the forehead when I realized it was Joaquin. I managed to grab him right before he was leaving to say hi. Unfortunately, I don't do faces in crowds all that well. I wish I was joking at how bad I get with faces sometimes. Sometimes I feel like the journalist version of Adrian Monk. I have all these quirks hat you think would hamper me from doing my job.
At one point in the evening, a gentleman next to me asked how the Bajan Peach Smash that I was drinking tasted. I said it started off sweeter than how I usually like my cocktails, but as the ice melted it mellowed out a bit. I added that I tried the Baron Samedi's Brew and I thought that was kind of interesting.
As he turned to order the Baron Samedi I caught a glimpse of his name tag and performed a distinctly ungraceful double take.
After fully processing the name on the name tag, I thought to myself. "Tony Abou-Ganim just asked me my opinion about a drink."
Before heading out Tony came over to say good bye and I shook his hand and said, "I kind of had a minor 'rock star spotted' type of mini freak out back there."
"Yes, I saw it on your face," Tony said.
Tony was in town because things were gearing up towards the April 7 opening of Bar Milano.
Later when I got to chat a bit with Allan, a bartender working with Tony, who told me that everything seemed to be running on schedule and that Tony himself would probably be behind the bar for a little bit after opening to make sure everything is running smoothly. By the way, Allan also has an ode to nightlife type of project in the works, which you can preview here.
The party was drawing to a close and finally the both bars were clearing out. I went downstairs and plopped down on a stool and Jim introduced me to Don. I declared that Don had one of the coolest business cards I'd seen that evening.
"Hey! You're the one responsible for the foie-gras infused bourbon," I said to Don, remembering that Joaquin told me he scored the bourbon from PDT for his Loosey Goosey.
I asked Don a bit more about fat washing and how he got the idea for the foie-gras bourbon. Originally it was created to be part of a recipe for a sherry contest. Rather than strictly thinking about how to pair sherry with food, Don said that he thought, "Well, why don't we just make the cocktail like a food item?"
Don said he also did a bacon bourbon using the same bacon as the one used at Momofuku, which has a lot of flavorful fat. Don explained how a lot of bacon infusion recipes he's seen going around actually put the meat of the bacon in the spirit, when it's the fat that has the flavor. And they also cite infusion periods that are too long. Don said weeks is a bit of an overkill when a couple of days will do. And to avoid floating globules of fat, some form of fat washing is necessary. The bacon bourbon, for example, is frozen so that the fat solidifies on top for easy extraction.
Don and I ended talking a bit about Korean soju. Don has a grandfather who was a soju distiller, believe it or not. Don joked that the spirits selling skipped a generation. Having grown up in Korea, I referred to the efforts to make soju cocktails. Famously, or maybe infamously depending on your point of view, Lemon Soju and Yakult/Yogurt Soju, for example. I asked him if he'd ever thought about making his own soju cocktail. Don said, he would if there was a soju that met his standards. I mentioned how in Korea there seemed to be a bit of a premium soju boom going on, with more variety. Don said while that was the case, Korea's tumultuous history killed off artisinal soju, which was how it was made originally. As the country rapidly recovered from the Korean War, soju production became very industrialized and quality dropped a bit.
Before leaving I couldn't help but half-jokingly challenge Don to try and make a high-end version of Yakult Soju.
Drinks from the party:
Mai Tai
Bacardi 8
10 Cane rum
Orange Curacao
lime juice
orgeat
Colada Nueva Dos
Tommy Bahama
White Sand
Malibu Coconut
lime juice
coconut sorbet
pineapple juice
Royal Bermuda Yacht Club Cocktail
Mt. Gay Eclipse
lime juice
Cointreau
lime juice
Velvet Falernum
Dark and Stormy
Cruzan Black Strap
lime juice
ginger beer
Bajan Peach Smash
Cruzan Estate Dark
lemon wedges
peach puree
simple syrup
mint leaves
Coconut Grenade
Malibu Coconut
Bacardi 8
passionfruit syrup
Angostura Bitters
lime juice
coconut milk
Baron Samedi's Brew
Myers Dark
orgeat
Honey Cream
lime juice
ginger beer
Angostura Bitters
absinthe
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
March 3, Pt. 2
Flatiron Lounge and Rayuela
After the jizake seminar and tasting, I got back in the office and had about an hour or so to get any work done before I had to run to the Flatiron Lounge for the Tales of the Cocktail New York media reception. Because I only had Monday morning to finish coding and send out our Weekly E-Newsletter before the seminar and tasting, I had been up late on Sunday night getting the bulk of it done. As I always like to tell people, "The internet is always open," so doing things on the weekend isn't anything new. Even so, by the time I got back in the office I was pretty tired and was wondering where the day had gone. I told my friend the day before, "I really don't know if I can do three events tomorrow."
He was not amused. "My heart bleeds for you," he retorted with dripping sarcasm.
While this might sound a bit lame and "Oh, poor me," the truth is event-hopping is not as glamorous as it sounds when it's your job. If you're going just to hang out and take in the sights, it's extremely fun, but I'm there with my antennae at attention and my notebook and pen always at hand in case I hear or see something. I guess I could take it a bit more easy, but call it an occupational quirk if you will, as soon as I hear something that makes me go "Ooooohhh," out comes the pen. Not to complain or bellyache of course. I actually think it's one of my job perks. I like to think of it as playing Harriet the Spy for my real job, what with my furtive looking around and jotting things down.
Flatiron Lounge was PACKED when I got there. The crowd was an interesting mix. Within the first five minutes of getting through the crowd I squeezed past two keffiyehs (worn by a too cool for school Lower East Side looking girl-guy set), a set of quite possibly not ironic mutton chops, and an older gentleman with a bristly mustache that looked like it could handily take out Wilford Brimley's walrus 'tache in a knock-down drag out brawl not unlike the Rowdy Roddy Piper and Keith David fight scene from "They Live." All these different people of different ages, shapes, sizes, backgrounds and scenes brought together by the powerful magnetism of alcoholic beverages.
I figured penetrating the dense crowd could take place later, since I was more interested in seeing what the bar was serving up. I spotted Flatiron's owner and cocktail expert Julie Reiner behind the bar. She was a blur of red in her crimson shirt. The bartenders worked overtime to churn out drinks. I managed to grab myself a Southside Fizz (mint muddled in simple syrup, Plymouth gin, lime juice, simple syrup, shaken and strained into a glass, then topped with soda and garnished with a mint sprig).
I got to chat briefly with Ann Tuennerman, Founders of Tales of the Cocktail, who informed me that there would be a collaborative beverage blog going on during the entire event.
I tried to scan the crowd to see if there was anybody I knew and literally found myself face-to-face with Fodor's restaurants and hotels editor (and former NRNer) Erica Duecy who introduced me to her friend Marshall Altier.
Erica excitedly told me about a book idea she was shopping around about what she liked to call her "adventures with aperitifs." With a lot of anecdotes and stories talking about innovations and recipes. As she put it, sort of like "Eat, Pray, Love" but with aperitifs.
She also told me about the beverage program Marshall was working on for Terroir included cocktails using beer and wine.
I'd seen Marshall behind the bar from when I stopped by Tailor previously, and he works with beverage programs for other locations around the city. I asked him if there were any particular reason for creating a cocktail list based on wine and beer, and he explained that Terroir did not have a license for serving liquors. Also, it worked with the restaurant's seasonal wine bar concept. (The restaurant's opening met some previous delays, but I got an email from Marshall this afternoon saying that Terroir is set to open tonight. However the cocktail menu won't be up and running just yet.)
I snagged a New York Sour (Rittenhouse Rye, lemon juice, orange juice and simple syrup shaken and strained into a double rocks glass. Topped with red wine and garnished with an orange slice and cherry), and we talked a bit more about cocktails and about Tales of the Cocktail specifically when I noticed it was almost 7 pm and I should probably head over to Rayuela. I excused myself and made my way towards the door when I ran into Mr. Bret Thorn who introduced me to photographer Jennifer Mitchell and I got caught up in a conversation as we joked about combining food photography with paparazzi photography. I entirely forgot why I was headed towards the door in the first place.
I did get to Rayuela eventually. The restaurant was hosting the official launch of The Liquid Team and had some other previews going on, but the star of the hour was the Liquid Chef, mixologist Junior Merino. Bartender Magazine honored him by inducting him into the Bartender Hall of Fame.
I tried to see if I could spot Junior to offer my congratulations but ran into Akiko again who was talking to Peter Pioppo. Peter, a foodie turned food photographer, was responsible for the photos of Junior's cocktails that were decorating the second level of the restaurant.
I caught up with Junior and congratulated him. I asked him what being inducted into the Bartender Hall of Fame entailed and he showed me his sparkly ring set with what looked like an aquamarine.
Junior's signature cocktail, Coming Up Roses, was available, but there were also nine other cocktails he created for other locations served at tables throughout the restaurant.
The cocktails I sampled at Rayuela (recipes provided at the event):
Rising Star (Rayuela)
3/4 oz. Inniskillin Ice Wine Vidal
3/4 oz. Boiron Lychee Puree
3 oz. Moet & Chandon Brut Champagne
The ingredients are poured into a Champagne flute, stirred, then garnished with star fruit & red currants.
Passion-Kumquat Mojito (42 Restaurant)
2/6 lime
3 halved kumquats
3/4 oz. Boiron passion fruit puree
3/4 oz. simple syrup
7 to 10 mint leaves
2 oz. Leblon Cachaca
1/2 oz. Fever Tree Bitter Lemon
Muddle first five ingredients, then add cachaca, Bitter Lemon and ice. Shake and pour, then garnish with kumquat flower and mint sprig.
Adelita (Cafe Frida)
2 oz. Hine Cognac
1/2 oz. Monin Cinnamon
1 whole egg
1 oz. evaporated milk
1 oz. fresh orange juice
Pour ingredients into shaker, and shake with ice. Strain into martini glass rimmed with crushed cookies and garnish with blood orange slice.
After the jizake seminar and tasting, I got back in the office and had about an hour or so to get any work done before I had to run to the Flatiron Lounge for the Tales of the Cocktail New York media reception. Because I only had Monday morning to finish coding and send out our Weekly E-Newsletter before the seminar and tasting, I had been up late on Sunday night getting the bulk of it done. As I always like to tell people, "The internet is always open," so doing things on the weekend isn't anything new. Even so, by the time I got back in the office I was pretty tired and was wondering where the day had gone. I told my friend the day before, "I really don't know if I can do three events tomorrow."
He was not amused. "My heart bleeds for you," he retorted with dripping sarcasm.
While this might sound a bit lame and "Oh, poor me," the truth is event-hopping is not as glamorous as it sounds when it's your job. If you're going just to hang out and take in the sights, it's extremely fun, but I'm there with my antennae at attention and my notebook and pen always at hand in case I hear or see something. I guess I could take it a bit more easy, but call it an occupational quirk if you will, as soon as I hear something that makes me go "Ooooohhh," out comes the pen. Not to complain or bellyache of course. I actually think it's one of my job perks. I like to think of it as playing Harriet the Spy for my real job, what with my furtive looking around and jotting things down.
Flatiron Lounge was PACKED when I got there. The crowd was an interesting mix. Within the first five minutes of getting through the crowd I squeezed past two keffiyehs (worn by a too cool for school Lower East Side looking girl-guy set), a set of quite possibly not ironic mutton chops, and an older gentleman with a bristly mustache that looked like it could handily take out Wilford Brimley's walrus 'tache in a knock-down drag out brawl not unlike the Rowdy Roddy Piper and Keith David fight scene from "They Live." All these different people of different ages, shapes, sizes, backgrounds and scenes brought together by the powerful magnetism of alcoholic beverages.
I figured penetrating the dense crowd could take place later, since I was more interested in seeing what the bar was serving up. I spotted Flatiron's owner and cocktail expert Julie Reiner behind the bar. She was a blur of red in her crimson shirt. The bartenders worked overtime to churn out drinks. I managed to grab myself a Southside Fizz (mint muddled in simple syrup, Plymouth gin, lime juice, simple syrup, shaken and strained into a glass, then topped with soda and garnished with a mint sprig).
I got to chat briefly with Ann Tuennerman, Founders of Tales of the Cocktail, who informed me that there would be a collaborative beverage blog going on during the entire event.
I tried to scan the crowd to see if there was anybody I knew and literally found myself face-to-face with Fodor's restaurants and hotels editor (and former NRNer) Erica Duecy who introduced me to her friend Marshall Altier.
Erica excitedly told me about a book idea she was shopping around about what she liked to call her "adventures with aperitifs." With a lot of anecdotes and stories talking about innovations and recipes. As she put it, sort of like "Eat, Pray, Love" but with aperitifs.
She also told me about the beverage program Marshall was working on for Terroir included cocktails using beer and wine.
I'd seen Marshall behind the bar from when I stopped by Tailor previously, and he works with beverage programs for other locations around the city. I asked him if there were any particular reason for creating a cocktail list based on wine and beer, and he explained that Terroir did not have a license for serving liquors. Also, it worked with the restaurant's seasonal wine bar concept. (The restaurant's opening met some previous delays, but I got an email from Marshall this afternoon saying that Terroir is set to open tonight. However the cocktail menu won't be up and running just yet.)
I snagged a New York Sour (Rittenhouse Rye, lemon juice, orange juice and simple syrup shaken and strained into a double rocks glass. Topped with red wine and garnished with an orange slice and cherry), and we talked a bit more about cocktails and about Tales of the Cocktail specifically when I noticed it was almost 7 pm and I should probably head over to Rayuela. I excused myself and made my way towards the door when I ran into Mr. Bret Thorn who introduced me to photographer Jennifer Mitchell and I got caught up in a conversation as we joked about combining food photography with paparazzi photography. I entirely forgot why I was headed towards the door in the first place.
I did get to Rayuela eventually. The restaurant was hosting the official launch of The Liquid Team and had some other previews going on, but the star of the hour was the Liquid Chef, mixologist Junior Merino. Bartender Magazine honored him by inducting him into the Bartender Hall of Fame.
I tried to see if I could spot Junior to offer my congratulations but ran into Akiko again who was talking to Peter Pioppo. Peter, a foodie turned food photographer, was responsible for the photos of Junior's cocktails that were decorating the second level of the restaurant.
I caught up with Junior and congratulated him. I asked him what being inducted into the Bartender Hall of Fame entailed and he showed me his sparkly ring set with what looked like an aquamarine.
Junior's signature cocktail, Coming Up Roses, was available, but there were also nine other cocktails he created for other locations served at tables throughout the restaurant.
The cocktails I sampled at Rayuela (recipes provided at the event):
Rising Star (Rayuela)3/4 oz. Inniskillin Ice Wine Vidal
3/4 oz. Boiron Lychee Puree
3 oz. Moet & Chandon Brut Champagne
The ingredients are poured into a Champagne flute, stirred, then garnished with star fruit & red currants.
Passion-Kumquat Mojito (42 Restaurant)
2/6 lime
3 halved kumquats
3/4 oz. Boiron passion fruit puree
3/4 oz. simple syrup
7 to 10 mint leaves
2 oz. Leblon Cachaca
1/2 oz. Fever Tree Bitter Lemon
Muddle first five ingredients, then add cachaca, Bitter Lemon and ice. Shake and pour, then garnish with kumquat flower and mint sprig.
Adelita (Cafe Frida)
2 oz. Hine Cognac
1/2 oz. Monin Cinnamon
1 whole egg
1 oz. evaporated milk
1 oz. fresh orange juice
Pour ingredients into shaker, and shake with ice. Strain into martini glass rimmed with crushed cookies and garnish with blood orange slice.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
A post long overdue
what happened was I set up a blog entry to read over and finish up, but then had to go out of town AND managed to succumb to an insidious week-long cold that had been going around the office, felling colleagues left and right. So without further excuses...
February 8
I headed on over to the received an invitation from Ruth's Chris Steak House to discuss the concept's food and beverages with the two people most qualified to discuss such things. Vice president of culinary and purchasing James Cannon, and vice president of beverages Kevin Boyer.
My colleague Mike Dempsey and I headed over to the 51st Street location for a chance to sample different menu items and talk about them.
Kevin explained that Ruth's Chris was doing a lot to keep up with drink trends with regards to cocktails. For example, fresh-squeezed ingredients or using infusions. For example, Ruth's Chris introduced its own infusion the Lemonessence, which is made by infusing vodka with lemons and is used for some of the new fusion cocktails like The Pear Twist.
The menu also gets a fresh infusion of ideas through a company-wide contest for new food and beverage items. I got to sample one of the winners, a submission from a Dallas Ruth's Chris location, the Orange Citrus Mojito. It is made with orange-flavored rum, Triple Sec, orange juice, fresh lime juice and a splash of soda water.
The Pomegranate Martini is shaken tableside and is an eye-catcher with its deep burgundy and purple liquid served in a martini glass rimmed with yellow sugar.
Kevin also talked about how Ruth's Chris works with suppliers to have available drinks that are especially for Ruth's Chris. Ruth's Chris works with California wine cellar Parducci (owned by Mendocino Wine Co.) for an exclusive Pinot Noir.
Since wine is also served by the glass at Ruth's Chris, opened bottles are cared for with technology such as uses vacuum enclosers and sealers, as well as hand pumped inert gas to help preserve the life of an opened bottle of wine. However Kevin explained, that while technology can help to a degree, in the end it still comes down to the people who serve it. Servers are trained to continuously nose and taste test the wine to make sure it is good to serve no matter when or how many times it was opened.
Another interesting item on the specialty martinis section was the Spicy Mango Martini. It was a drink made with Absolut's limited edition (30,000 cases of the stuff was bottled) New Orleans Vodka, shaken with fresh lemon sour and garnished with a lemon slice and three whole black peppercorns that dotted the floating lemon slice. It was a very simple drink showcasing the mango and black peppercorn-flavored vodka which was created especially by Absolut with 100% of the profits going to various Gulf Region charities.
Besides helping out a cause for a region that's close to the company's heart the cocktail is also an opportunity to have something different and special on the menu.
"We don't want to be all exclusive," Kevin said about beverages such as using Absolut New Orleans or the partnership with Parducci, but he added, "these special things we like to do for the sake of offering something that customers can't get anywhere else."
Kevin said the drink will stay on the menu as long as the vodka is available in locations, but they're disappearing fast.
February 8
I headed on over to the received an invitation from Ruth's Chris Steak House to discuss the concept's food and beverages with the two people most qualified to discuss such things. Vice president of culinary and purchasing James Cannon, and vice president of beverages Kevin Boyer.
My colleague Mike Dempsey and I headed over to the 51st Street location for a chance to sample different menu items and talk about them.
Kevin explained that Ruth's Chris was doing a lot to keep up with drink trends with regards to cocktails. For example, fresh-squeezed ingredients or using infusions. For example, Ruth's Chris introduced its own infusion the Lemonessence, which is made by infusing vodka with lemons and is used for some of the new fusion cocktails like The Pear Twist.
The menu also gets a fresh infusion of ideas through a company-wide contest for new food and beverage items. I got to sample one of the winners, a submission from a Dallas Ruth's Chris location, the Orange Citrus Mojito. It is made with orange-flavored rum, Triple Sec, orange juice, fresh lime juice and a splash of soda water.
The Pomegranate Martini is shaken tableside and is an eye-catcher with its deep burgundy and purple liquid served in a martini glass rimmed with yellow sugar.
Kevin also talked about how Ruth's Chris works with suppliers to have available drinks that are especially for Ruth's Chris. Ruth's Chris works with California wine cellar Parducci (owned by Mendocino Wine Co.) for an exclusive Pinot Noir.
Since wine is also served by the glass at Ruth's Chris, opened bottles are cared for with technology such as uses vacuum enclosers and sealers, as well as hand pumped inert gas to help preserve the life of an opened bottle of wine. However Kevin explained, that while technology can help to a degree, in the end it still comes down to the people who serve it. Servers are trained to continuously nose and taste test the wine to make sure it is good to serve no matter when or how many times it was opened.
Another interesting item on the specialty martinis section was the Spicy Mango Martini. It was a drink made with Absolut's limited edition (30,000 cases of the stuff was bottled) New Orleans Vodka, shaken with fresh lemon sour and garnished with a lemon slice and three whole black peppercorns that dotted the floating lemon slice. It was a very simple drink showcasing the mango and black peppercorn-flavored vodka which was created especially by Absolut with 100% of the profits going to various Gulf Region charities.
Besides helping out a cause for a region that's close to the company's heart the cocktail is also an opportunity to have something different and special on the menu.
"We don't want to be all exclusive," Kevin said about beverages such as using Absolut New Orleans or the partnership with Parducci, but he added, "these special things we like to do for the sake of offering something that customers can't get anywhere else."
Kevin said the drink will stay on the menu as long as the vodka is available in locations, but they're disappearing fast.
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Naima
I almost got lost on my way to Naima on 27th and 10th Ave. for a tasting. I forgot there was a huge parcel of land that ate up part of 27th street starting at 8th Ave., and didn't let 27th return until 10th Ave.
Located a block away from the nightspot Marquee and tucked away in an industrial section of town. Melanie Weitzner, explained that the area with its industrial space is home to quite a few galleries and other artistic ventures.
Naima has a cocktail list as well that I wanted to give a spin. The first cocktail was the restaurant's signature Naima, made with red grapefruit vodka, maraschino, lime juice and cranberry juice. I thought there was a blush of liqueur at the bottom of the glass, but realized it was actually a maraschino cherry.
Melanie told me how the two owners Alessandro Passante and Roberto Guotto were childhood friends from back home on the island of Capri.
"Friends from back home" seemed to be the theme of the evening. I talked to Naima's bartender Bratislava. He told me that besides working at Naima he was also working at Employees Only.
"Oh? Do you know Dushan?" I asked, referring to Dushan Zaric of Employee's Only, who I had met a while back.
Bratislava said that in fact he was friends with Dushan from back in the day when they were both in Serbia. They both worked at a bar in Belgrade called Absinthe, which was opened by a man who first organized the first bartending school in Belgrade. Bratislava also said that they served real absinthe there for a while before it was made illegal.
This lead to a discussion about absinthe and where it came from, who still makes it or if anybody can recreate the original between Bratislava, Alessandro and myself.
I also ordered the Markana, made with cachaca, Aperol, pineapple juice and lime juice. Alessandro said it was a cocktail that people either really enjoyed or didn't because of the Aperol, but it was something that's a little bit different.
And last but not least, I got a sneak peak of a cocktail that's being worked on for the new cocktail list. Alessandro said it's still unnamed, but unofficially it's called the Amore Mio. It's made with gin, Prosecco and strawberries cooked with sugar and vanilla.
For the curious, the food I had:
Pear con prosciutto, gorgonzola e noci
Soft Cold Pear stuffed with gorgonzola, walnuts wrapped with prosciutto
Cestino di parmigiano ripieno di mozzarella di bufala
Bufala mozzarella, arugula, tomatoes & olive oil in a parmesan shaped basket
Ravioli Capresi
Homemade ravioli filled with caciotta cheese and marjoram in light tomato sauce
Farfalle con zucca, gamberetti e rucola
Bow tie pasta with butternut squash, shrimp and arugula
Grigliata di polipo, radicchio trevigiano e finocchi
Grilled mix of octopus, trevisan raddichio and fennel
Carre' d'agnello con pure' di patate e broccoli al vapore
Grilled lamb chops served with mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli
Strawberry Pannacotta
Located a block away from the nightspot Marquee and tucked away in an industrial section of town. Melanie Weitzner, explained that the area with its industrial space is home to quite a few galleries and other artistic ventures.
Naima has a cocktail list as well that I wanted to give a spin. The first cocktail was the restaurant's signature Naima, made with red grapefruit vodka, maraschino, lime juice and cranberry juice. I thought there was a blush of liqueur at the bottom of the glass, but realized it was actually a maraschino cherry.
Melanie told me how the two owners Alessandro Passante and Roberto Guotto were childhood friends from back home on the island of Capri.
"Friends from back home" seemed to be the theme of the evening. I talked to Naima's bartender Bratislava. He told me that besides working at Naima he was also working at Employees Only.
"Oh? Do you know Dushan?" I asked, referring to Dushan Zaric of Employee's Only, who I had met a while back.
Bratislava said that in fact he was friends with Dushan from back in the day when they were both in Serbia. They both worked at a bar in Belgrade called Absinthe, which was opened by a man who first organized the first bartending school in Belgrade. Bratislava also said that they served real absinthe there for a while before it was made illegal.
This lead to a discussion about absinthe and where it came from, who still makes it or if anybody can recreate the original between Bratislava, Alessandro and myself.
I also ordered the Markana, made with cachaca, Aperol, pineapple juice and lime juice. Alessandro said it was a cocktail that people either really enjoyed or didn't because of the Aperol, but it was something that's a little bit different.
And last but not least, I got a sneak peak of a cocktail that's being worked on for the new cocktail list. Alessandro said it's still unnamed, but unofficially it's called the Amore Mio. It's made with gin, Prosecco and strawberries cooked with sugar and vanilla.
For the curious, the food I had:
Pear con prosciutto, gorgonzola e noci
Soft Cold Pear stuffed with gorgonzola, walnuts wrapped with prosciutto
Cestino di parmigiano ripieno di mozzarella di bufala
Bufala mozzarella, arugula, tomatoes & olive oil in a parmesan shaped basket
Ravioli Capresi
Homemade ravioli filled with caciotta cheese and marjoram in light tomato sauce
Farfalle con zucca, gamberetti e rucola
Bow tie pasta with butternut squash, shrimp and arugula
Grigliata di polipo, radicchio trevigiano e finocchi
Grilled mix of octopus, trevisan raddichio and fennel
Carre' d'agnello con pure' di patate e broccoli al vapore
Grilled lamb chops served with mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli
Strawberry Pannacotta
Thursday, January 31, 2008
'These aren't the food items you're looking for...'
I went down to Tailor to give the "solids" cocktails a spin. I wasn't expecting to, but ended up running into Eben Freeman (previously) on my way downstairs to the bar. We exchanged greetings and he said he'd be down in a few.
Even though the bar is downstairs, it's not a dark tucked away affair, but is a whole other level of the restaurant that's pretty bustling.
As I looked over the menu, I realized that besides the solids I had no idea what else I was going to have. I needed a plan of attack. Since I was going for solid cocktails, I figured why not go for "drinks that taste like non-drinks"? Though quite honestly, when you look at Tailor's beverage menu, a lot straddles the line with food-based flavors. For example, the "Tailor Made" spirits include the Pumpernickel Raisin Scotch, as well as a Huitalacoche Mescal.
The Grape Nut Shochu used for the Asa Gohan (Grape Nut shochu, Crazy Milk Sake and raspberry)? Flavored with real cereal. Bartender Alex said that the infusion process required vacuum sealing the mixture to help draw out the flavor.
I had a Pumpernickel Flip while I waited for the solid cocktails to be prepared upstairs. Made with aforementioned pumpernickel raisin scotch, pomegranate, molasses, egg yolk and freshly grated nutmeg.
Eben got behind the bar to mix some drinks and was asked if he was doing a hard shake. Eben laughed and said that since he talked about it in a Food & Wine article, "I have to do it all the time now."
Eric, a fan of Eben's work who followed him to Tailor from WD-50 came in and Eben served him his usual, bourbon and elderflower syrup. Eric explained that it's not on the menu at Tailor, but he used to order it at WD-50.
The solids arrive plated like little appetizers. The order suggested by Eben is to eat the Cuba Libre jelly, then the Ramos Gin Fizz marshmallow, and finally the White Russian breakfast cereal.
The Cuba Libre jelly cube used to be a gin and tonic jelly cube, but Eben said he decided that he didn't want two gin drinks together. Also, since it was a cube of jelly, it sort of made a pun with "Cuba." One thing to know about Eben Freeman is that he likes puns. It's fitting that he's a fan of this particular device that uses confusion between similar things since what he does with cocktails is much the same. Food techniques and flavors somehow manage to find their way into beverage form around Mr. Freeman.
Eben explained that since a well-made Ramos Gin Fizz is almost meringue-like, it seemed like a natural conclusion to make a marshmallow with it.
As for the crispy cereal in the White Russian? It's real cereal tossed in Kahlua, then blasted in a dehydrator, then tossed in Kahlua and blasted once more. The "milk" is vodka, simple syrup and half-and-half. Drinking this one is a bit of a challenge since if you're not careful a bulk of the cereal stays in the bowl and all you get is milk. It's best to try and throw it back as vigorously as possible without hurting your neck.
I wasn't sure what I was expecting, but it's definitely a weird Jedi mind trick to pop a bit of brown jelly sitting on a lime chip in your mouth only to get hit with an alcoholic tang. Or to look at what looks like a miniature bowl of Cocoa Krispies, only to empty the bowl into your mouth and think, "White Russian."
The Crumble I had afterwards provided a same sort of complex disconnect. Made with brown butter, a lime and clove cordial called Falernum and pear cider. The brown butter taste is there. Buttery and fruity. Simply put, it was crumble-esque.
Alex explained that the brown butter rum is made by fat washing, a process I talked about previously in regards to the foie gras bourbon created by Don Lee at PDT.
The Crumble comes with a square block of ice sitting in the middle of the cup. I asked Alex why that is and he said that smaller pieces of ice provide too much surface area which then makes the ice melt faster, diluting the drink. So to keep dilution at a minimum and the bubbles in the cider alive, a huge block of ice is used to cool it.
"Like those huge balls of ice Japanese bartenders use?" I asked.
"Yea." Alex answered. "You know they actually hand carve those? We haven't gotten that ridiculous yet."
I ended the evening with a Bazooka. And I really wish I had more occasions to use that line. It's exactly what you'd think it'd be. It's a cocktail with bubble gum flavor. Oddly enough I will say that vodka, bubble gum cordial and house sour does not taste odd at all.
Even though the bar is downstairs, it's not a dark tucked away affair, but is a whole other level of the restaurant that's pretty bustling.
As I looked over the menu, I realized that besides the solids I had no idea what else I was going to have. I needed a plan of attack. Since I was going for solid cocktails, I figured why not go for "drinks that taste like non-drinks"? Though quite honestly, when you look at Tailor's beverage menu, a lot straddles the line with food-based flavors. For example, the "Tailor Made" spirits include the Pumpernickel Raisin Scotch, as well as a Huitalacoche Mescal.
The Grape Nut Shochu used for the Asa Gohan (Grape Nut shochu, Crazy Milk Sake and raspberry)? Flavored with real cereal. Bartender Alex said that the infusion process required vacuum sealing the mixture to help draw out the flavor.
I had a Pumpernickel Flip while I waited for the solid cocktails to be prepared upstairs. Made with aforementioned pumpernickel raisin scotch, pomegranate, molasses, egg yolk and freshly grated nutmeg.
Eben got behind the bar to mix some drinks and was asked if he was doing a hard shake. Eben laughed and said that since he talked about it in a Food & Wine article, "I have to do it all the time now."
Eric, a fan of Eben's work who followed him to Tailor from WD-50 came in and Eben served him his usual, bourbon and elderflower syrup. Eric explained that it's not on the menu at Tailor, but he used to order it at WD-50.
The solids arrive plated like little appetizers. The order suggested by Eben is to eat the Cuba Libre jelly, then the Ramos Gin Fizz marshmallow, and finally the White Russian breakfast cereal.
The Cuba Libre jelly cube used to be a gin and tonic jelly cube, but Eben said he decided that he didn't want two gin drinks together. Also, since it was a cube of jelly, it sort of made a pun with "Cuba." One thing to know about Eben Freeman is that he likes puns. It's fitting that he's a fan of this particular device that uses confusion between similar things since what he does with cocktails is much the same. Food techniques and flavors somehow manage to find their way into beverage form around Mr. Freeman.
Eben explained that since a well-made Ramos Gin Fizz is almost meringue-like, it seemed like a natural conclusion to make a marshmallow with it.
As for the crispy cereal in the White Russian? It's real cereal tossed in Kahlua, then blasted in a dehydrator, then tossed in Kahlua and blasted once more. The "milk" is vodka, simple syrup and half-and-half. Drinking this one is a bit of a challenge since if you're not careful a bulk of the cereal stays in the bowl and all you get is milk. It's best to try and throw it back as vigorously as possible without hurting your neck.
I wasn't sure what I was expecting, but it's definitely a weird Jedi mind trick to pop a bit of brown jelly sitting on a lime chip in your mouth only to get hit with an alcoholic tang. Or to look at what looks like a miniature bowl of Cocoa Krispies, only to empty the bowl into your mouth and think, "White Russian."
The Crumble I had afterwards provided a same sort of complex disconnect. Made with brown butter, a lime and clove cordial called Falernum and pear cider. The brown butter taste is there. Buttery and fruity. Simply put, it was crumble-esque.
Alex explained that the brown butter rum is made by fat washing, a process I talked about previously in regards to the foie gras bourbon created by Don Lee at PDT.
The Crumble comes with a square block of ice sitting in the middle of the cup. I asked Alex why that is and he said that smaller pieces of ice provide too much surface area which then makes the ice melt faster, diluting the drink. So to keep dilution at a minimum and the bubbles in the cider alive, a huge block of ice is used to cool it.
"Like those huge balls of ice Japanese bartenders use?" I asked.
"Yea." Alex answered. "You know they actually hand carve those? We haven't gotten that ridiculous yet."
I ended the evening with a Bazooka. And I really wish I had more occasions to use that line. It's exactly what you'd think it'd be. It's a cocktail with bubble gum flavor. Oddly enough I will say that vodka, bubble gum cordial and house sour does not taste odd at all.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
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.
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.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Hotel Delmano: The art of keeping a not-so-secret secret
I was gearing up to make my rounds of different lounges when I saw the blog buzz building around Hotel Delmano. After reading reports of people being turned away and phone numbers being taken down for a wait list, I decided I needed to bump up the Brooklyn joint on the list of bars to visit before it got too difficult to set foot in the place.
"I hope people in Williamsburg don't like to get their drink on at 7 pm on a Tuesday night," I thought to myself as I stepped off the L train at Bedford Ave.
I made a beeline for 82 Berry St. right after work but was relieved to find that I managed to find the place in a relative state of calm. I noticed several people passing by the place try to peer curiously into the frosted windows, and while I was in there, several curious locals even stepped in to ask about what was going on. In fact, the unassuming "main" storefront of the place, with its locked gate, almost made me think the place was closed at first glance. If you plan to make a visit you're going to want to go around the corner to the "side" entrance. Obviously, when it's busier this would not be an easy mistake to make.
I slowly pushed the door open and it was like I had stepped through a rift in the space time continuum and I found myself in the hotel bar somewhere in early between 1900 and 1950. From the old-school clunky cash registers behind the bar to the worn looking mirrors. I started wondering if there was an "oldfoggylookingmirrors.com, your one stop shop for all old-looking mirrors" somewhere out there. I was especially digging the iron fridge doors with portholes.
I started out with The Corpse Reviver No. 2 (gin, cointreau, lillet, lemon juice, pastis)
"Why's it a No. 2?" I innocently asked the lone bartender Kevin Denton, who had a passing resemblance to a brunette version of Michael Pitt. I also found out he was the friend former NRNer, now Fodor's editor, Erica Duecy's husband. New York is funny like that.
He smiled broadly and answered, "Because it came after No. 1."
I admit I walked into that one. Kevin did explain that the difference was that No. 1 was a brandy based drink. No. 2 is made with gin.
I asked him how the crowds have been since it seemed so quiet that evening. He said people had picked up on the coverage from blogs and the weekend had been pretty busy with people from "all over" dropping in.
I valiantly attempted to document the place and my drinks in the dim lighting of the place, but I knew it was a lost cause with my dinky digital camera. Nonetheless, I snapped away hoping that maybe there'd be some salvageable shots when I got home.
However, my photo taking efforts did attract the attention of one of the owners of Hotel Delmano, Zeb Stewart, who was taking some pictures of his own with a serious looking digital SLR. At least I think it was digital. Again, it was a little dark.
He explained he'd seen some photos floating around of the new bar that weren't so great so he was trying to get some better images to use for press purposes out there. (Operators, take note. Nothing wrong with being proactive about having photos available.)
It was obvious the look and feel of the place was very important to him. I asked him if everything was functional or just for design. For example, the ladder at the end of the bar and all the bottles on the high shelves.
"Nope, it's entirely functional. That's all of our liquor up there," Zeb said. He designed the place originally and was also hands-on with building it. Another owner, Michael Smart, also helped with the building and finalizing some of the design ideas. Interesting detail to consider how they managed to conjure up the old look and feel of Hotel Delmano: Michael also works with antique restoration, according to Zeb. The third partner in this venture is Alyssa Abeta.
I was curious about the all the attention to detail. In fact, I really liked the iron doors with portholes for the fridge behind the bar.
"It looks practically...steampunk." I said.
Zeb seemed amused with that assessment, but I could tell that's not what he was going for.
I tried one more time, "Also you see a lot of bars trying to emulate a sort of Prohibition style..."
He saw where I was going and headed me off at the pass by explaining the idea was to make the place "a real social club." It wasn't about serving cocktails, but more about serving a setting. That made sense. The attention to detail was meant to play a role as setting up how guests should act or expect to act in the space, so the look of an old social club or bar like one you might find in Havana gives a quiet intimate space.
Zeb said, "To me, the most important thing was that the cocktails were to be really good and that people come and talk."
Hence all the hush-hush on coverage before the place opened. Zeb said there were some small parties, mostly for locals, before the grand opening, but the point was not to have it all out in the open in order to maintain local hangout integrity.
And not to be exclusive. It's not a top-secret bar with an elaborate entrance procedure. It just happens to be a little tucked away is all. There's no door policy -- no dress codes or anything like that -- except that it's strictly first come first. Also, Zeb explained that there's a cap on how many people can be in the place at one time to keep it from getting crazy and compromising a conversation-friendly atmosphere. Those who can't make it in can leave a number where they can be contacted at once the crowd eases up. Zeb said the ideal crowd size for Hotel Delmano was around 75-80 people.
Zeb was trying explain to me how originally he wanted the tiling on the top of the refrigerators behind the bar to go down to the doors instead of the porthole doors that were now in place, when he asked if I'd seen the bathroom.
I noticed the one coming in but he shook his head and said, "No, the one in the back. We did the tiling on the door there. Let me show you."
I dumped my camera and bag on the bar hoping that through some unspoken bartender ESP Kevin would understand that I wanted him to keep an eye on it so I could follow Zeb to go look at the back bathroom. I think it's pretty safe to say I'm rarely excited to look at a bathroom stall door. I oohed and ahhed when I did see it. It was sort of like the entrance to a pressure chamber on an old submarine, but once you opened the tiled door, the inside of the bathroom stall was elegantly done with dark wood paneling that made me think of...what? The portholes in the fridge and the bathroom door, the wood-tiled bathroom...
"OK, this is going to sound really nerdy, but do you know the video game 'Bioshock'?" I asked before I could stop myself. I was letting my geek flag fly. (Explanation: Bioshock is a survival horror, first-person shooter game that received a lot of acclaim for it's well-rendered world, which showcases an alternative history underwater society that has a sort of steampunk meets Art Deco style to it.)
Zeb said he was familiar with it but mentioned that the look he was going there was more old glamor meets Titanic. I had to concede this was a better description.
I confessed, "I have to know, did you get the mirrors this way or did you make them look like this?"
They were all old mirrors, but they definitely had a little help getting into the state they were in.
"We used a secret recipe that I'm afraid I'd have to kill you if I told you," Zeb mysteriously answered, "but I will tell you that we breathed in a lot of toxic fumes to bring this look to you...we risked our health and general well-being"
The current cocktail menu at Hotel Delmano has a total of seven drinks, but like any good bar, you can order something off the list. Kevin said that menu changes would probably come once the initial buzz died down and the place settled into its new digs a bit. He said that the bartenders were definitely eager to show their stuff and there were several projects that each were working on. Kevin hinted that some pet projects in the works from the other bartenders involved ingredients like absinthe and pickled vegetables.
Food is also in the works for the near future. Especially to take more advantage of the wine list already in place.
"I hope people in Williamsburg don't like to get their drink on at 7 pm on a Tuesday night," I thought to myself as I stepped off the L train at Bedford Ave.
I made a beeline for 82 Berry St. right after work but was relieved to find that I managed to find the place in a relative state of calm. I noticed several people passing by the place try to peer curiously into the frosted windows, and while I was in there, several curious locals even stepped in to ask about what was going on. In fact, the unassuming "main" storefront of the place, with its locked gate, almost made me think the place was closed at first glance. If you plan to make a visit you're going to want to go around the corner to the "side" entrance. Obviously, when it's busier this would not be an easy mistake to make.
I slowly pushed the door open and it was like I had stepped through a rift in the space time continuum and I found myself in the hotel bar somewhere in early between 1900 and 1950. From the old-school clunky cash registers behind the bar to the worn looking mirrors. I started wondering if there was an "oldfoggylookingmirrors.com, your one stop shop for all old-looking mirrors" somewhere out there. I was especially digging the iron fridge doors with portholes.
I started out with The Corpse Reviver No. 2 (gin, cointreau, lillet, lemon juice, pastis)
"Why's it a No. 2?" I innocently asked the lone bartender Kevin Denton, who had a passing resemblance to a brunette version of Michael Pitt. I also found out he was the friend former NRNer, now Fodor's editor, Erica Duecy's husband. New York is funny like that.
He smiled broadly and answered, "Because it came after No. 1."
I admit I walked into that one. Kevin did explain that the difference was that No. 1 was a brandy based drink. No. 2 is made with gin.
I asked him how the crowds have been since it seemed so quiet that evening. He said people had picked up on the coverage from blogs and the weekend had been pretty busy with people from "all over" dropping in.
I valiantly attempted to document the place and my drinks in the dim lighting of the place, but I knew it was a lost cause with my dinky digital camera. Nonetheless, I snapped away hoping that maybe there'd be some salvageable shots when I got home.
However, my photo taking efforts did attract the attention of one of the owners of Hotel Delmano, Zeb Stewart, who was taking some pictures of his own with a serious looking digital SLR. At least I think it was digital. Again, it was a little dark.
He explained he'd seen some photos floating around of the new bar that weren't so great so he was trying to get some better images to use for press purposes out there. (Operators, take note. Nothing wrong with being proactive about having photos available.)
It was obvious the look and feel of the place was very important to him. I asked him if everything was functional or just for design. For example, the ladder at the end of the bar and all the bottles on the high shelves.
"Nope, it's entirely functional. That's all of our liquor up there," Zeb said. He designed the place originally and was also hands-on with building it. Another owner, Michael Smart, also helped with the building and finalizing some of the design ideas. Interesting detail to consider how they managed to conjure up the old look and feel of Hotel Delmano: Michael also works with antique restoration, according to Zeb. The third partner in this venture is Alyssa Abeta.
I was curious about the all the attention to detail. In fact, I really liked the iron doors with portholes for the fridge behind the bar.
"It looks practically...steampunk." I said.
Zeb seemed amused with that assessment, but I could tell that's not what he was going for.
I tried one more time, "Also you see a lot of bars trying to emulate a sort of Prohibition style..."
He saw where I was going and headed me off at the pass by explaining the idea was to make the place "a real social club." It wasn't about serving cocktails, but more about serving a setting. That made sense. The attention to detail was meant to play a role as setting up how guests should act or expect to act in the space, so the look of an old social club or bar like one you might find in Havana gives a quiet intimate space.
Zeb said, "To me, the most important thing was that the cocktails were to be really good and that people come and talk."
Hence all the hush-hush on coverage before the place opened. Zeb said there were some small parties, mostly for locals, before the grand opening, but the point was not to have it all out in the open in order to maintain local hangout integrity.
And not to be exclusive. It's not a top-secret bar with an elaborate entrance procedure. It just happens to be a little tucked away is all. There's no door policy -- no dress codes or anything like that -- except that it's strictly first come first. Also, Zeb explained that there's a cap on how many people can be in the place at one time to keep it from getting crazy and compromising a conversation-friendly atmosphere. Those who can't make it in can leave a number where they can be contacted at once the crowd eases up. Zeb said the ideal crowd size for Hotel Delmano was around 75-80 people.
Zeb was trying explain to me how originally he wanted the tiling on the top of the refrigerators behind the bar to go down to the doors instead of the porthole doors that were now in place, when he asked if I'd seen the bathroom.
I noticed the one coming in but he shook his head and said, "No, the one in the back. We did the tiling on the door there. Let me show you."
I dumped my camera and bag on the bar hoping that through some unspoken bartender ESP Kevin would understand that I wanted him to keep an eye on it so I could follow Zeb to go look at the back bathroom. I think it's pretty safe to say I'm rarely excited to look at a bathroom stall door. I oohed and ahhed when I did see it. It was sort of like the entrance to a pressure chamber on an old submarine, but once you opened the tiled door, the inside of the bathroom stall was elegantly done with dark wood paneling that made me think of...what? The portholes in the fridge and the bathroom door, the wood-tiled bathroom...
"OK, this is going to sound really nerdy, but do you know the video game 'Bioshock'?" I asked before I could stop myself. I was letting my geek flag fly. (Explanation: Bioshock is a survival horror, first-person shooter game that received a lot of acclaim for it's well-rendered world, which showcases an alternative history underwater society that has a sort of steampunk meets Art Deco style to it.)
Zeb said he was familiar with it but mentioned that the look he was going there was more old glamor meets Titanic. I had to concede this was a better description.
I confessed, "I have to know, did you get the mirrors this way or did you make them look like this?"
They were all old mirrors, but they definitely had a little help getting into the state they were in.
"We used a secret recipe that I'm afraid I'd have to kill you if I told you," Zeb mysteriously answered, "but I will tell you that we breathed in a lot of toxic fumes to bring this look to you...we risked our health and general well-being"
The current cocktail menu at Hotel Delmano has a total of seven drinks, but like any good bar, you can order something off the list. Kevin said that menu changes would probably come once the initial buzz died down and the place settled into its new digs a bit. He said that the bartenders were definitely eager to show their stuff and there were several projects that each were working on. Kevin hinted that some pet projects in the works from the other bartenders involved ingredients like absinthe and pickled vegetables.
Food is also in the works for the near future. Especially to take more advantage of the wine list already in place.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
'What do I have to do to get a drink around here?'
Jan. 9
I wish I could say I sampled all the cocktail delights that the opening of Haru's Wall Street location offered, but on the night of Jan. 9, the place was packed and getting to the bar almost required inhuman strength and perseverance. At opening parties that provide drinks for guests, that's really not surprising though. In fact, have an open bar period and really, you're just asking for a chaotic siege scene that rivals The Battle of Hornburg in "The Two Towers."
I was in attendance with two coworkers. Alexis Henry who helps slaps together our pages over at the desk, making NRN look pretty every week, and Eryka Hughes from production. We had made a beeline for the sushi, but then tried to wind our way back to the bar. After shuffling a bit just around the periphery of the bar, one of the people working the event looked to me and said, "There's another bar upstairs, it's probably less crowded."
Just a few moments ago in the upstairs section of the place, "Mr. Benihana" Rocky Aoki himself had made a little speech about the opening of the new location, so threading our way up to the second level became difficult all of the sudden like a flash flood. I was carried past past Mr. Aoki in the deluge. I was tempted to swim across the current of people to introduce myself, but all I could think of to say to him was, "Congratulations on the new location! Awesome party!!" then give him a huge thumbs up. So I decided to scratch that idea.
The music in the place was pumping. You could hear it even before you got into the place. As soon as I saw the DJ booth I wondered if Mr. Aoki had roped Steve into spinning for the evening, but then noticed that this was not the case. I paused to assess the crowd. It was mainly Wall Street-looking types. There was the random sprinkle of an out-of-place looking hipster. I couldn't help myself as I imagined what would've happened if Steve Aoki did spin at this event. I imagined a Jets vs. Sharks meets the rumble at the "House of Blue Leaves" in "Kill Bill" type of scenario. Except with suits and the hipsters. It would've been pretty glorious. And ridiculous. Two great tastes that taste great together.
The upstairs bar was strictly sake and beer. I got a glass of Kaori, and sipped tentatively. I wasn't very familiar with sake, so I made note of the sweet sake with all intent of looking it up again. I noticed a figure next to me leaning in, writing down the name of the sake into a little notebook.
"Hm, yea, I should probably pull out my notebook as well," I thought before noticing that the short pixie haircut looked pretty familiar. I took a step back to figure out who it was when the figure looked up.
"Akiko!" I tried to shout at Akiko Katayama over the music.
"Hi!" she shouted back.
I've run into Akiko at events before and she was one of the first people I recognized at an event when I first started working at NRN thanks to all the Iron Chef: America I had watched. We got to talking about sake and she pointed out how they were also being served in a cedar box. I'd gotten mine in a glass cup, so she let me take a look at the cedar box and note how it smelled like...cedar. I made a little mental "hmm," as I contemplated if having an aromatic vessel is something that'd only work for sake. She mentioned how she was interested in writing about cocktails now and we discussed the drink menu at Tailor. She'd tried the smoked coke and bourbon. I was jealous. Note to self: Head to Tailor either at the end of this week or the beginning of the next.
I tried drier sake that packed an odd one-two punch of being dry yet, hitting the back of your tongue with sweetness.
We ventured back to the downstairs bar since I knew I wasn't leaving until I tried at least one cocktail. We managed to squirm our way up to the bar. I noted that it seemed like the full bar menu was available. It wasn't one of those, red, white or a signature cocktail type of shindigs. The only hitch to this being that there weren't any menus anywhere. We spotted a bright, blue drink and asked the sippers what it was. "Komodo Dragon," they answered.
It was a drink made with vanilla vodka, coconut rum, pineapple juice and blue curacao. It gave off a sweet scent that attracted a lot of attention, and people asked us what the drink was as we walked past. Eryka noted that it smelled overwhelmingly like a dessert, yet wasn't as sweet as you'd expect it to be.
The opening party was supposed to go until 9. The crowd had dwindled significantly, but at 9:30, the bar was still pouring and the food still being practically forced upon guests, and the music continued to play as scattered groups here and there busted out some moves. Though the upstairs bar was now closed and some people were walking about starting to tidy up the place. Some of the servers who had been dressed up as geisha earlier in the evening were now walking around without their wigs. One server's face showing relief because her tight blonde chignon was finally free from the frizzy black bouffant wig.
I looked around and declared. "Yea, I think we should start heading out now."
I wish I could say I sampled all the cocktail delights that the opening of Haru's Wall Street location offered, but on the night of Jan. 9, the place was packed and getting to the bar almost required inhuman strength and perseverance. At opening parties that provide drinks for guests, that's really not surprising though. In fact, have an open bar period and really, you're just asking for a chaotic siege scene that rivals The Battle of Hornburg in "The Two Towers."
I was in attendance with two coworkers. Alexis Henry who helps slaps together our pages over at the desk, making NRN look pretty every week, and Eryka Hughes from production. We had made a beeline for the sushi, but then tried to wind our way back to the bar. After shuffling a bit just around the periphery of the bar, one of the people working the event looked to me and said, "There's another bar upstairs, it's probably less crowded."
Just a few moments ago in the upstairs section of the place, "Mr. Benihana" Rocky Aoki himself had made a little speech about the opening of the new location, so threading our way up to the second level became difficult all of the sudden like a flash flood. I was carried past past Mr. Aoki in the deluge. I was tempted to swim across the current of people to introduce myself, but all I could think of to say to him was, "Congratulations on the new location! Awesome party!!" then give him a huge thumbs up. So I decided to scratch that idea.
The music in the place was pumping. You could hear it even before you got into the place. As soon as I saw the DJ booth I wondered if Mr. Aoki had roped Steve into spinning for the evening, but then noticed that this was not the case. I paused to assess the crowd. It was mainly Wall Street-looking types. There was the random sprinkle of an out-of-place looking hipster. I couldn't help myself as I imagined what would've happened if Steve Aoki did spin at this event. I imagined a Jets vs. Sharks meets the rumble at the "House of Blue Leaves" in "Kill Bill" type of scenario. Except with suits and the hipsters. It would've been pretty glorious. And ridiculous. Two great tastes that taste great together.
The upstairs bar was strictly sake and beer. I got a glass of Kaori, and sipped tentatively. I wasn't very familiar with sake, so I made note of the sweet sake with all intent of looking it up again. I noticed a figure next to me leaning in, writing down the name of the sake into a little notebook.
"Hm, yea, I should probably pull out my notebook as well," I thought before noticing that the short pixie haircut looked pretty familiar. I took a step back to figure out who it was when the figure looked up.
"Akiko!" I tried to shout at Akiko Katayama over the music.
"Hi!" she shouted back.
I've run into Akiko at events before and she was one of the first people I recognized at an event when I first started working at NRN thanks to all the Iron Chef: America I had watched. We got to talking about sake and she pointed out how they were also being served in a cedar box. I'd gotten mine in a glass cup, so she let me take a look at the cedar box and note how it smelled like...cedar. I made a little mental "hmm," as I contemplated if having an aromatic vessel is something that'd only work for sake. She mentioned how she was interested in writing about cocktails now and we discussed the drink menu at Tailor. She'd tried the smoked coke and bourbon. I was jealous. Note to self: Head to Tailor either at the end of this week or the beginning of the next.
I tried drier sake that packed an odd one-two punch of being dry yet, hitting the back of your tongue with sweetness.
We ventured back to the downstairs bar since I knew I wasn't leaving until I tried at least one cocktail. We managed to squirm our way up to the bar. I noted that it seemed like the full bar menu was available. It wasn't one of those, red, white or a signature cocktail type of shindigs. The only hitch to this being that there weren't any menus anywhere. We spotted a bright, blue drink and asked the sippers what it was. "Komodo Dragon," they answered.
It was a drink made with vanilla vodka, coconut rum, pineapple juice and blue curacao. It gave off a sweet scent that attracted a lot of attention, and people asked us what the drink was as we walked past. Eryka noted that it smelled overwhelmingly like a dessert, yet wasn't as sweet as you'd expect it to be.
The opening party was supposed to go until 9. The crowd had dwindled significantly, but at 9:30, the bar was still pouring and the food still being practically forced upon guests, and the music continued to play as scattered groups here and there busted out some moves. Though the upstairs bar was now closed and some people were walking about starting to tidy up the place. Some of the servers who had been dressed up as geisha earlier in the evening were now walking around without their wigs. One server's face showing relief because her tight blonde chignon was finally free from the frizzy black bouffant wig.
I looked around and declared. "Yea, I think we should start heading out now."
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