the first cocktail that rocked my world was a margarita from picante. i stood and watched it happen: a generous pour of tequila, a splash of triple sec, and real lime juice. not a mix. that blew my mind. jen, dm, ab, and i put away three pitchers over a prolonged taco orgy and post-dinner slurfest. later, one of us fell into a pile of tires.
and so i learned: a cocktail should be, simply, great or at least very good liquor, and fresh juice.
the next benchmark was a sidecar from the lounge at michael mina. this was the first time i'd had a non-margarita cocktail that didn't taste like cough syrup. and that was all the excuse i needed. that was my drink of choice for the next few months; i've had many sidecars since and most of them have in fact tasted like cough syrup.
the current benchmark is co-owned by scott beattie from cyrus and colin macdougall and david wolowidnyk from west. from scott, i love the waverly place echo (mandarin, kaffir lime leaf, five spice) and pelo del perro (grapefruit, coconut, and smoked salt). the latter might be my favorite drink of all time. from colin and david: kaffir fling (kaffir, ginger, orgeat, lime), pie (pumpkin and spice), four o'clock (bourbon, vanilla, orange blossom foam), passage to india (mango, jalepeno, cilantro, curry), and a half-dozen others they've invented on the spot.
parts II and beyond: notes on my latest experiments, drinking experiences and reports
- tkw
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment