Entries tagged with 'cocktails'
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"A great Negroni makes you want to munch like you just smoked a Snoop Dogg's bong worth of hash." What do you get when President Obama's favorite chef (Tony Mantuano of Spiaggia) decides to do a restaurant side project at an art museum? Based on my first visit to Chicago's Terzo Piano in the Art Institute of Chicago's new modern wing, pretty much the usual second-rate food at usually ridiculously marked-up prices ($17 salads anyone?). That said, while my first visit was punctuated by disappearing waitresses and clumpy, grainy-sauced, overcooked pasta with 2.5 morels in it and an uninspired trio of $19 sliders, Chicago food-writing vets like Phil Vettel of the Chicago Tribune and Penny Pollack of Chicago Magazine were...
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Photograph from liza31337 on Flickr Last weekend, while tending bar at a private party near Seattle, I placed a drink on the menu that ultimately brought me much dismay. Not because of the quality of the drink; no, this is a venerable and world-class summer refresher. Rather, my dismay was prompted by the ho-hum approach many guests had toward the drink. "This stuff," the host said sympathetically at one point, holding the bottle of Pimm’s No. 1 Cup in his hand and shaking his head, “this stuff is so unappreciated.” By many people, perhaps, including the guests at that party; but as Jonathan Miles noted in Sunday’s New York Times, the fan base for Pimm’s may be narrow but it...
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The menus at craft-cocktail bars across the country are peppered with venerable classics that, until a few years ago, remained largely forgotten. The Corpse Reviver #2; the Blood and Sand; the Pink Lady—these and many other drinks from the late 19th and early 20th centuries languished in dust-covered obscurity until cocktail historians—yes, there are such things—dug them out of old bartending manuals and polished them off for a new generation of curious tipplers. One of the most influential people in terms of reintroducing these concoctions to 21st-century drinkers is Ted Haigh, known in the mixological world as Dr. Cocktail. Back when his book, Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails, was first published in 2004, it was notable enough news to spark...
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Over at The Cocktail Chronicles, Serious Eats contributor Paul Clarke raves about Bittermens's newly released Xocolatl Mole Bitters, whose "durable and versatile flavor," he claims, makes for "explosively good cocktails." Check out his review, or order them now....
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From cookbookjj.com Cocktail books, like cookbooks, tend to have a fairly short lifespan. While there are some on the shelf that are worn and stained from years of use, there are many others gathering dust, and that wind up in used bookstores and boxes at the Salvation Army after their relevance has waned and they no longer have anything tasty or novel to offer. In the category of mixology books that are not only kept, but collected and even treasured, are the books by Charles H. Baker, Jr., a writer and bon vivant who penned two sets of globe-trotting books in the 1930s, '40s, and '50s that focused on food and drink: the two-volume Gentleman’s Companion (1939), and a follow-up...
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Wired has an amusing recipe for a Manhattan-esque cocktail it calls The Manhattan Project. You would be correct in assuming that this is a drink of literally explosive proportions. It involves freezing Mentos into ice cubes and including them in a mixture of Diet Coke, rye whiskey, a splash of vermouth, and a couple dashes of bitters. Whether anyone would nurse that concoction long enough for the ice to melt around the Mentos is a question scientists haven't answered yet. [via Neatorama]...
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Photograph of a speakeasy in 1933 by Margaret Bourke-White from LIFE photo archive host by Google While the "speakeasy" trend in new bars has been going on for so long in New York that some establishments are sliding into "speak-cheesy" territory, it's still a relative novelty in most of the country. In today's New York Times, William Grimes takes a broad view of today’s speakeasy-style bars, and what they have—and don’t have—in common with the 1920s originals. Speakeasies had their heyday during Prohibition, when their hush-hush approach to selling alcohol had more to do with avoiding prison than with any kind of urban trend. As Grimes notes, these bars ran the gamut from small rooms with a table, a...
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When attending a party at someone's home, the drink options are usually right out in front of you: A beer? Glass of wine? Or maybe a cocktail or some punch? While many people have their standard go-to drink that they choose, there are also the indecisive guests who may want a cocktail but don’t want to deal with the alcohol payload in a martini, or who want to enjoy the flavor of a glass of wine but want something a little more exciting to get into the party mood. Wine cocktails have been making a bit of a comeback at bars and restaurants in recent years, and now Seattle writer A.J. Rathbun has a guide to wine cocktails for home...
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On Saturday SE cocktails contributor Paul Clarke finished his ambitious booze-blogging project "30/30" (30 cocktails in 30 days) on the Cocktail Chronicles. No. 30: the Prescription Julep. Hope that hangover's not too bad....
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Barcade in Brooklyn, New York, from Esquire's list of Best Bars in America. A great bar is a composite creation; it’s not all about the drinks. For all the consideration that’s given to the quality of the cocktails, wine, and other drinks poured in an establishment, a bar should be judged along many other factors. Is it comfortable and neither too frenetic nor too sleepy? Does the music fit the mood without leaving you humming that damn Journey song for the next three days? Does the bartender laugh at your jokes, then come back with even better ones? In the May issue of Esquire, the editors present the third annual collection of the Best Bars in America. The list...
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