"Eating, drinking and carrying on..." -- Adelaide Brennan 
8 . 29 . 2005 Four years ago today, this was happening:  Click for archived page with animated image of Katrina's path  
The population is back up to 75% of pre-Katrina levels, it's the fastest-growning city in the country and has the lowest unemployment rate. But New Orleans still has a long way to go. NPR did an excellent series of reports this week:
The AP gives a dose of sober reality: "Hope, reality collide in post-Katrina New Orleans":
There's plenty of good news, though. The charter schools are working well, a brand-new public/private teaching hospital is to go on the old site of Charity Hospital, things are very encouraging for small business development, the old flagship location of Ruth's Chris Steak House (who abandoned New Orleans and relocated their corporate offices after Katrina) is being turned into a community health center, and oddly enough New Orleans is on firmer footing than most of the rest of the nation during the recession. "Indeed, the construction boom spurred by massive federal and private investment has helped insulate the New Orleans area's economy as markets around the country have flagged." That boom can be seen throughout the city, and comes closest to my own history as we see my high school alma mater preparing to open their stunning new campus in Gentilly. The best thing the city has going for it right now is its people. There's a deep sense of New Orleans pride among its residents, and a lot of great work is still done on a grassroots level. As the city and the Gulf Coast continue their recovery, we must not let people (and especially the government) forget that in New Orleans, Hurricane Katrina was not a natural disaster. Hold their feet to the fire. The Gulf Coast must have restoration of the wetlands (a natural hurricane barrier) and Category 5 flood protection for the city. The Gambit's "Best of New Orleans. The local weekly papuh's annual best-of is out. To recap but a couple, Parkway Bakery and Tavern is named for Best Po-Boys ... 
And Cure was named Best Bar for Creative Cocktails: 
I know, big surprises there. :-) The recovery of Parkway and the appearance of a new business like Cure (which is truly a world-class bar) say a lot about how the city is doing, and progressing. "..." That represents my general speechlessness about the forthcoming debut of this new "reality" series from A&E: At first I thought, "This has to be a joke," then I remembered something about him actually having been deputized. (As if dealing with JP cops in general isn't enough.) Part of me says, "Gaaah, run away!" The other part says, "Oh, we must watch the insanity!" (Thanks, Tim!) (My favorite comment in the spew that is most YouTube comments was, "Steven Seagal: Fatman." For lack of a better term ... LOL.) [ Link to today's entries ]
Such a view. Here was our view of the Angeles Crest fires last night, looking off our back porch. 
That's about eight miles away. It's far, and we're not particularly worried so far, but it's scary and freaky and very disquieting to see sheets of flame coming off the top of that mountain. So, a sheet of flame that's about 3/8 inch tall from eight miles away is how tall exactly? 0.375" in degrees of arc, divided by .... uhh ... math geeks, feel free to chime in. Cocktails of the day: Scotch. Well, we figured that if the air was going to be full of smoke (oddly enough, we hardly smelled any last night, due to the lack of wind), we ought to drink some smoky drinks too. Scots whisky was appointed.
The name came from the swanlike copper neck of old copper pot stills, which are traditionally used to make single malt Scots whisky. This was one of a series of single malt Scotch cocktails Gaz created, resulting in aghast cries from those who assert that one should never mix a single malt Scotch. "Garbage in, garbage out!" he rightly replied. I chose to use Rothman & Winter's Orchard Apricot rather than Apry for its lower sugar content. We didn't have any Highland Park 12 in the house, so I went with the 18. Lest you gasp in horror ... this was a frakking fantastic drink. Lucques Restaurant in West Hollywood, CA makes a variation of this that looks interesting, kind of a blend between this, a Rob Roy and a Breakfast Martini. It's sufficiently different such that it should have its own name, I think, although they still call it by the same name as the original. I think it deserves at least a numeric distinguishment.
Given the proximity of the fires, and the "Oh, FECK!" factor, even though they weren't close enough to be really worrisome, we resolved to keep drinking, and stayed in the Scotch oeuvre. This next one is from Harry Craddock's Savoy Cocktail Book, yet in a Gargantuan quantity for six people. We adapted it thusly and found it to be delightful, like a Rob Roy but with near-equal proportions, far more bitters and a little more sweetening to offset the bitters. Lovely.
We're still not getting much smoke tonight, although my eyes burned a bit this morning. The fire's moving toward Altadena, and we have good friends who are only about a mile away from its current position. Wish them, and everyone else in Altadena and La Cañada-Flintridge, the best of luck. Pairing cocktails with food. One of the better seminars at Tales of the Cocktail this year was by Melkon Khosrovian of Modern Spirits and TRU Organic Gin, called "The Science of Cocktails." Primarily it was about pairing cocktails with food and why it works so well (contrary to what some sommeliers, and egotistical chefs (*cough*CharlieTrotter*cough*) say). I'll write up something coherent from my notes soon (god, was that six weeks ago already?). In the meantime, here's an excellent article from Epicurious called "Dare to Pair Cocktails and Food". Ryan Magarian (of Aviation Gin), and Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg (a husband-wife chef-writer team who have written some of the most amazing books on culinary arts -- The Flavor Bible is, well, my bible) comment on what works when pairing cocktails and food, and a lot of it is knowledge of flavors plus common sense.) Sample recipes for food and drinks are provided (yay!). [ Link to today's entries ]
The List. Bobby Heugel of Anvil Bar and Refuge in Houston (one of my very favorite bars) has released "The List," which is one hundred "libations we feel you should try at least once in your life ... for better or worse."  Click for larger, readable version When I went through this list and counted, I found that I had had 89 of those libations. Last night, I decided to start for the finish line and raised the total to 90.
Erik, as part of his long exploration of the Savoy Cocktail Book, wrote about the Fourth Degree and said he'd enjoyed it more by drying it out a bit, upping the gin to 2 ounces (and using Junipero) and 1/2 ounce each of the vermouths. However, the original proportions worked out beautifully for him by using Tanqueray, Dolin Dry and Martini & Rossi Rosso. Last night we used Beefeater, Dolin Dry and Dolin Rouge (with PF 1901 as the absinthe), and it was pretty damn good. I'll try the drier version too, and see what I think. Next, the Coffee Cocktail will make it 91. Punch of the day: Cape Fear Punch. I've mostly given up on the Food Network, because about 90% of their programming is crap (then again, as Sturgeon's Law is often cited, albeit slightly incorrecty, 90% of everything is crap). I do still watch "Good Eats" occasionally, because Alton Brown is one of the few remaining good things about FN. A recent edition of his show that's been sitting on our TiVo finally got watched last night, and it was about punch, a subject near and dear to our hearts 'round our house. As usual, Alton has done his homework (which I suspect included reading David Wondrich's Imbibe!), and right off the bat taught the Teeming Masses the long-cherished basic formula for punch ... while dressed as a 17th Century buccaneer:
(Alton, of course, being a fellow geek, had has deckhand recite, as he got to the fifth part, "He who controls the spice controls the Universe ... the spice must flow!" Heh.) He started off with a very simple punch recipe, using pints as the measurement and making a rather huge batch. One of lime juice (with the spent hulls), two of Demerara sugar, three of Batavia Arrack (to my surprise and delight) and four of tea (warm, so as to help dissolve the sugar), with grated nutmeg. The arrack will likely be difficult for some folks to find, but a title card said that it's available "on the world wide web" (the source for all things). The main punch recipe he dealt out, though, looked mighty good, and I'm looking forward to trying it:
You can do this in two batches, to keep the bubbles fresh. Add half of the base with one bottle of the sparkling wine and half the seltzer, and repeat when your guests have drained the bowl. The Oldest Bartender takes a break. Angelo Cammarata retired today. As far as we know, he was the world's oldest bartender:
Enjoy your retirement, Camm! Quote of the day: The Manhattan. One of the best bits of cocktail writing I've seen. "The hour arrives; we chill our cocktail glasses. Crisp, clean ice fills the tall tumbler where sweet sour mash and deep crimson vermouth tumble together over the cubes; liberal dashes of bitters fall into the fray. The long, slender bar spoon slowly enters the glass, gently easing its way between the slick cubes, turning slowly, introducing the threesome to one another. The ménage à trois indulges in prolonged foreplay, the ice melting, ever so slowly, over their bodies. They caress, probe, taste, and explore each other's desires. Time passes; they find their roles. Whiskey is a dominant soul, fiery yet gentle, gruff yet soulful, he wants to control the passion. But dear, sweet vermouth, her body slathered with rich, ripe fruits, tongue coated with sensuous spices, gently insists her whims be met. The struggle for power subsides into a blissful compromise; each has found its soul mate. The bitters slip in, out, and around the intertwined couple, softly nuzzling every nook and cranny, making the union complete. Passion is high as they leave the ice -- the time is very, very near. The glasses reach our lips. Oh God, that's good." I had read this one a while back, and had forgotten about it. Thanks to gaz and Angus Winchester for digging it back up again. Harry Shearer at Rising Tide, New Orleans. Here's a bit from the recent Rising Tide conference number 4, in which the New Orleans weblogging community gathers to put their heads together on rebuidling New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina and the Federal Flood. Harry, an adopted New Orleanian who divides his time between there and Los Angeles, was one of the main speakers at RT4 this year and related an anecdote about confronting Brian Williams of NBC News at a conference at Tulane, 9 months after the flood, and the question he asked him: The entirety of Harry's 27-minute talk can be found here. [ Link to today's entries ]
Tweedy and sons. Wilco's Jeff Tweedy rocks out with his sons Spencer (13) and Sam (9), via Michael (thanks!), who says, "Remember when you were a kid, and you'd hang around the house jamming on Meters songs with your dad?" Actually, my experience as a kid was more like hanging out by myself listening to my music, and then my dad shouting "Turn that crap DOWN!!" Then again, Dad did turn me on to Ella Fitzgerald and Dave Brubeck (but I was never able to turn him on to Neil Young or Bruce Springsteen, alas). "Star Wars" FAIL. AMC's "SciFi Scanner" weblog features sf author John Scalzi's Guide to the most epic FAILs in "Star Wars" design. "Between lightsabers that should be slicing off fingers and arthritic robots with exposed midriffs, the Star Wars universe is in desperate need of a new architect." 
"'Star Trek' fans, don't get smug," he says. "I'm coming after it next." (Eep.) Pie chart of the day. Via Eliot Gelwan's Follow Me Here weblog, which I used to read frequently Back In The Day, but somehow got out of the habit. Fortunately, I got back into it. 
Mmmmm, pie. Spam subject line of the day. If spam is good for anything, it's for occasional bits of comedy gold.
Via Wes, who swears, "I'm not making this up." [ Link to today's entries ]
Cocktails of the day: An Evening at Copa d'Oro. Dangerously close to work, so far from home ... but the cocktail menu is too good not to be tempted to head over. Copa d'Oro in Santa Monica, run by our friend Vincenzo Marianella, is a stupendously good bar with a world-class cocktail menu, including their 6-8pm Happy Hour Menu -- classic cocktails like Aviations, Daiquiris and Ward Eights are a whopping $5. So yes, a Clover Club to start, please! I was considering continuing in that vein to save a little money, but the rest of the drinks on the regular menu are so damned good, and then of course I spied the bottle of housemade Pimento Dram behind the bar (Damian's recipe, I believe) ... well, that did it. I watched him make this one, so I'm pretty certain about the proportions.
Lovely drink. The Apry, allspice and Cynar play together very nicely. After that, in the section of the menu called "The Boys from Out of Town," featuring drinks by bartender friends from around the world, I spied one that made me go "Ooh!" It's yet another Manhattan variation, but man ... there's something about Manhattan variations that I just can't get enough of. Simple tweaking of the bitter component, or a small addition of another flavor, can transform it into such a new and wonderful drink. (The Manhattan itself might just end up being my favorite drink, period ... it regularly gets into a shoving match with the Sazerac for that position.) I really like the bartender who came up with this one -- great guy, and a monstrous talent. I hope I finally get my procrastinatory behind to his city and into his bar sometime soon. You can use any good sweet vermouth for this, but Carpano Antica is specified (as it's the best). Use Laird's 100 proof bonded apple brandy for this, too. I think they had run out the other night and were using Laird's applejack, and the former is far superior. I decided to kick this up a notch and used Laird's 12 Year Old Apple Brandy the other night, as I was feeling extravagant. Hoo-boy ...
This drink is wonderful. The alchemy created brings notes that are chocolatey with even a hint of mint from the Fernet, the medicinality of which fades far into the background with the combined efforts of that beautiful, bright apple flavor and the deep, rich spiciness of the Carpano. Bravo, Jim! (And thanks to Roberto for making it for me, and for taking such good care of us last Wednesday night, and thanks to Joel for confirming the proportions for me.) Eight steps to Meat Nirvana. I'm not in the habit of posting press releases -- PR person's email -> Looka! is not something you'll usually see around here -- but when the press release is full of good cooking advice, that's a very good reason to pass it along. Via Rick (thanks!), here's Executive Chef John Schenk of the Strip House Steakhouse in Las Vegas telling us how to achieve grilled meat perfection:
"How do you want that? Bloody, or burned to a crisp?" Just this side of bloody, thanks, a lovely medium rare, even a bit on the rarer side of medium rare. Mmmmm. Meat. [ Link to today's entries ]
FЯESH LEMONAID 10¢ Driving along through this or that neighborhood, you spot something on the sidewalk. A lemonade stand. Manned by couple of kids. Me, I always stop. There's not much that's more refreshing than a nice, tall glass of lemonade on a hot summer day. It's easy peasy to make, too -- water, sugar and lemons. It's one of the things that absolutely makes summer. And what's better than lemonade? Grown-up lemonade with booze in it! (We'll get back to that in a bit.) You know how to make lemonade, right? I would imagine that you do, but let's assume that your mom always made it for you, and that hers was so good and so perfect that you never really got around to making any for yourself. It really couldn't be easier, but as with most drinks it helps to have a method. Before you start squeezing, though, here are some tips to maximize your juice output.
Better yet, plant a lemon tree in your yard, and then they'll be free. (My favorite price!) I also recommend straining the fresh-squeezed juice. You don't want seeds, of course, and lemon pulp tends to adhere to the glassware and makes it more difficult to clean. I like to press some lemon zest (only the yellow zest, not the white pith) with a muddler to extract the lemon oils too, which gives an extra depth of flavor. This is an optional step if, like me, you occasionally are afflicted with laziness. A sharp vegetable peeler is ideal for removing the zest.
See? Easy peasy. (But you knew that.) Now let's have a go at making a single serving of lemonade. Get a nice tall glass. Fill it with ice, preferably nice big cubes. Add an ounce of lemon juice and 3/4 ounce of simple syrup (as above, a whole ounce if you like it sweeter). Fill it with fizzy water and you have a lovely, summery fizzy lemonade, but ... hmm. This also sounds like ... wait a minute, it's missing something ... oh yeah! Two ounces of gin. (London dry, Plymouth or Old Tom, like the drink's namesake.) Then that glass of fizzy lemonade becomes a Tom Collins. Well, heck-ola. Now it's a cocktail! (Hold that thought.) Let's start playing around with this basic lemonade. I've been attending the Jazz and Heritage Festival in New Orleans for many years, and perhaps the single tastiest and most refreshing beverage on the entire Fair Grounds is Strawberry Lemonade. The weather tends to be hot and humid, and this drink is bright, sweet, tart, fruity and oh-so-wonderful. As you'll notice, the technique is very similar to what I described above. I never managed to get the exact recipe from the folks who make it at Jazzfest but again, it's pretty easy stuff and yields spectacular results. Here's Emeril Lagasse's recipe (the man knows New Orleans). 
Did I say that there's not much that's better than lemonade? Well, one of those things would be strawberry lemonade. Now ... think about adding a shot of reposado tequila to that. Limonada por mi Amante, anyone? Use this as a launching point -- you can use raspberries, blackberries or pretty much any fruit that tastes good with lemons (which would be almost all of them). Also, that aforementioned Tom Collins? Instead of building it in the Collins glass start it out in a mixing glass, throw in a few raspberries, muddle them with the gin, lemon juice and simple, then double-strain that into your ice-filled Collins glass and fill with soda. Nice berry garnish. Ta-daa! Raspberry Collins. Or any other Somethingberry Collins you care to make. So simple, but believe me, your guests will rave about it. Let's take another direction -- instead of adding fruit, let's start experimenting with the syrup. For another dimension of flavor, try making a lemongrass syrup instead of simple. Take a cup of water and a cup of sugar (two if you want it rich), plus two sliced lemongrass stalks (center only), bruised slightly. Bring to a simmer for 10 minutes, then let cool. Strain and bottle -- it's helpful to add a splash of vodka as a preservative. Make your lemonade with this as the sweetener, maybe muddling a few kaffir lime leaves or some Thai basil or cilantro, and you've got some nicely exotic southeast Asian flavors going too. (The syrup also makes delicious iced tea sweetener, an idea I stole from Crook's Corner in Chapel Hill, NC.) I suspect you see where we're going with this. By taking a basic lemonade recipe, varying it by adding booze and/or fruit and/or flavored sugar syrups, you have a range of cocktail before you that's limited only by your imagination, and what's in season. Here's one I really like -- sophisticated, herbal, floral, yummy. 
I'm sure you've noticed that this is basically a Tom Collins, but with a flavored syrup instead of muddled fruit. Try a syrup with basil, lemon verbena, thyme ... go to the herb section of your local farmer's market and go nuts. Now let's do something unusual with the basic lemonade recipe. I came across this a while back and although I don't make it as often as I'd like (due to my aforementioned lazy bastardness), it is filled with deliciousness and in its way reminds me of the beloved sno-balls I grew up with in New Orleans, thanks to a Secret Ingredient. In Brazil they take a different approach toward making lemonade, whizzing together not only juice but skin and even pith. (Plus, there's that Secret Ingredient.) Brazilian lemons are also quite a lot like limes, so for this recipe we'll be using the largest limes we can find. I usually have an easy time finding them in local Latin or other ethnic markets or supermarkets; otherwise use one-and-a-half to two smaller limes for one big one. 
You won't believe how good this is. Now ... add a jigger of good cachaça or white rum to that. Oba! You can also make your lemonades into more complex cocktails by adding more ingredients, such as liqueurs or bitters. Ted "Dr. Cocktail" Haigh, who is a not-so-mild-mannered graphic designer for movies when he's not in his not-so-secret identity as our planet's pre-eminent cocktail archaeologist, has created a number of superb cocktails in his day. One of these was in honor of the author Daniel Handler, specifically in his guise as Lemony Snicket, creator of the series of children's books A Series of Unfortunate Events. Doc was the graphic designer on the film version of the first couple of books, and created the Lemony Snicket Cocktail using gin, lemon juice, limoncello and yellow Chartreuse. While cogitating over my lemonade article, I thought this powerful but tasty cocktail might make a nice lemonade-based tall drink too.
(By the way, to make Ted's original Lemony Snicket cocktail, up the gin to 2-1/2 ounces, lower the lemon juice to 1/2 ounce and omit the simple and fizzy water. Garnish with a curly lemon twist.) I think by now you've got a good idea where you can go with this, which is almost anywhere. Before we finish I'll toss out one more lemonade (actually, technically a limeade) that I came up with a few years ago, with two slightly different versions. 
Or, if you don't have coconut water handy ...
If only they made sparkling coconut water. I'm tempted by put some into my soda siphon and charge it up and see how that works, using the first recipe, and then we'd have just one Nilsson Fizz. Both of these drinks are named for that great singer and songwriter who put de lime in de coconut and drank 'em both up. (It relieve de bellyache.) Enjoy! And have a bitchin' summer! [Reposted from the Mixoloseum Weblog ... come by and see what everyone else is writing about!] Wow. In 2004, astronomers pointed the Hubble Space Telescope into a patch of sky that appeared to be utterly empty -- no planets, stars or galaxies, just black. Turns out that that patch of nothing contained 10,000 galaxies, each one containing hundreds of billions of stars. I feel so small. [ Link to today's entries ]
Concert of the day. Having been a huge fan of The Frames for going on 20 years now (eep), of course I look forward with great anticipation to any and all news from Frames leadman Glen Hansard and his non-Frame musical partner Markéta Irglová, also known as The Swell Season. Their new album, Strict Joy, is coming out in late October (in which they're backed by The Frames!), and they previewed six songs from it on NPR's "All Songs Considered" the other day, plus one we know well. From NPR:
Enjoy! Cocktail of the day: Rittenhouse Daisy. Our friend John served these at Seven Grand the other night. I didn't get the exact description from him before leaving the bar, but decided to give it my interpretation. As John noted later in the comments, I didn't get it quite right -- unsurprisingly, after having tasted four whiskies at the first gathering of the Seven Grand Whiskey Society and then trying to rely on my unreliable memory as to what flavors I noted in the drink. I was pretty happy with my version, though, so I'll leave it up -- first though, here's the one John made for us:
That was mighty good. Now, my rather liberal, memory-marinated-in-whiskey version that I came up with the next day, which isn't bad if'n I do say so myself.
Back in the old days, a Daisy cocktail was spirit (brandy, rum, whiskey, gin, etc.) with lemon juice and sugar (differing from a sour in that there was usually only 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of sugar) plus a few barspoons of grenadine. To a lesser extent then, and far more often now, I see herbal liqueurs like Bénédictine, Grand Marnier or yellow Chartreuse being used instead of grenadine. This is A Good Thing. Why? Speaking of grenadine ... as you know, it's easy peasy to make at home with real pomegranate juice. This grenadine works beautifully in countless classic cocktails that callf or that ingredient. Sadly, what you see in bars these days is more often than not red-dyed sugar syrup with artificial flavoring of some kind, which hasn't been within five miles of an actual pomegranate. This does not work well in cocktails. At all. Last night I was served the most execrable Mai Tai ever (in a place which shall remain nameless, from a bartender who was later described to me as being at the bottom of the talent scale at this particular establishment). It was described on their menu quite nicely, with the proper classic recipe: two rums, orange Curaçao, fresh lime juice, orgeat and simple syrup. That sounded good enough for me. A tall glass was filled with ice (okay, tall rather than short, that's OK too), some premix was added (uh oh ... well, maybe it was a housemade Mai Tai mix with the lime and syrups). Rums were added (Myers's Dark and ... Bacardi, sigh. Then just as I was about to think I'd be satisfied the bartender added what looked like a full jigger of grenadine, turning the entire drink beet red. One sip revealed that it also rendered the drink undrinkable. Sigh. I returned it, politely and apologetically, saying "I'm so sorry, but this is so sweet I can't drink it. I wasn't expecting all that grenadine, as the menu didn't specify it," and politely asked if I could exchange it for something else. It was exchanged, but the waves of attitude signifed that that bartender now hated me. Oh well. What's a guy to do? I'm not paying $10 for an undrinkable cocktail, especially when it's not made the way that the establishment's menu (which even described the history of the drink and touted that this was the original, proper recipe) specifically says it's made. Just say no to fake grenadine, and to grenadine abuse! MxMo XLI: Vodka - Roundup is up! A whole lot of vodka drinks (c'mon, don't cringe) are now up at Felicia's Speakeasy. You might even want to try some of them! (I kid, I kid.) Thanks a million to Alicia Sauter for hosting this month. The chicken foot that ate New York City. Okay, it was a chicken heart, but I still think of that Bill Cosby routine whenever I think of eating unconventional chicken parts. I'm a fan of what some might consider to be unconventional chicken parts. The hearts and gizzards are used in Louisiana's beloved dirty rice. Fried chicken livers with pepper jelly are one of my very favorite things. I think lots of folks, especially Louisianians, would agree with me ... but I think they might draw the line with this: 
Mmm. (Umm.) Okay, here's the thing ... I like the idea of eating chicken feet. It's seem to me that they'd be nice and crispy if you deep-fried them, but every time I see them at dim sum places they're in some sauce and soft and not-crispy, and the one time I tried them I didn't care for the consistency and texture. Why, I asked, can they not just deep-fry them?! Well, a Chinese friend of mine recently said that they usually are deep-fried, but then stewed. The dish in this fascinating article from Serious Eats gives a recipe in which the feet are deep-fried for several minutes, then indeed stewed, but the marinade and sauce (Cantonese black bean sauce with chile) look so good that I'm tempted to give it a try. The part about having to clip the nails still kinda makes me shudder a bit, though. [ Link to today's entries ]
The Happiness Machine. Here's a wonderful video, produced for an article in The Gambit, New Orleans' alternative weekly newspaper. It's a visit to the Hubig's Pies factory in the Faubourg Marigny in New Orleans. I love them, I grew up with them, and I don't care how many goddamn points are in a single pie. They are wax paper-wrapped wonderfulness for under a dollar, and they haven't changed the recipe or piemaking process since they opened in 1922. It may not exactly be good for you, but it's good:
There's also a photo tour on Hubig's site, but it's so much nicer to see it in motion. The accompanying article is fascinating and informative. For instance, I had no idea that Hubig's had once been a nationwide operation, and the Depression killed off every one of Simon Hubig's factories save for the one in New Orleans. It always just seemed so ... ours. Long live Savory Simon! Stan the Man. I confess I have been remiss by not having mentioned this before, but cocktail historian, educator and Renaissance man Dave Wondrich has a new column in The Faster Times called Annals of the Bar. Make it a regular stop. In his most recent column, Dave pays tribute to one of the unsung heroes of the bar, a 1970s-era bartender named Stan Jones. Stan took some of the first steps out of the dark ages into which bartending had fallen to get us where we are today, although sadly not many were listening at the time.
Many of us revere Stan to this day, so much so that during the recent Drink.Write conference the Cocktail and Spirits Online Writers' Group have adopted him as our patron saint for the Mixoloseum:  Photo by Rumdood, illustration by Dr. Bamboo Stan, you're the man. Are some things really meant to be? A few of my friend who are familiar with my bacon obsession (and who gleefully take part in it given the opportunity) have been sending me a link from the Huffington Post that's been making the rounds, "Things Made of Bacon that Shouldn't Be", featuring photos of silly, jokey stuff that was never really meant to be consumed: the bacon bra, the bacon Hitler hairdo and mustache, etc. But then there's stuff that is indeed meant to be consumed, and we're in a whole other world. I'm actually a fan of the Justin and Dave, the Bacon Salt guys. By all rights and by my usual standards and causes for ranting, you'd think I'd never touch a product like Bacon Salt. It's not made of bacon. It contains no bacon whatsoever. It contains no pork. It contains no meat. In fact, it's not only vegetarian, it's vegan, and kosher. But ... dammit, it tastes good. It's wrong, but it tastes good, and I use it. Then came Baconnaise. Again, I was skeptical. Again, contains no bacon. (I had considered trying to make a mayonnaise using all or part bacon fat instead of oil, but my little mini-conscience appeared over my right shoulder and began bludgeoning me with a little two-by-four.) But, y'know, dammit ... it's pretty good too. Subtle if you're not eating it out of the jar or dipping vegetables in it, but it gives you a nice hint of bacony flavor on a sandwich. I even liked the "Lite" version, although it's got an unpleasant, spongy-gummy consistency as you spoon it or spread it due to the gums and fillers that replaced the fat (but once it's on the sandwich you can't really tell). We're even a fan of their Bacon Lip Balm. It doesn't taste like bacon so much, but it's got a really bacony aroma that wafts up from your lips right into your nose. I like it. If it had SPF in it it'd be perfect. So what are the Bacon Salt folks up to now? Um ... 
Yes folks, it's bacon-flavored lube. Here are the intrepid pioneers at J&D trying out the first samples that came from their manufacturer, and the even more intrepid intern -- you'll see how he ends up at the end of the video. Quote of the day: "That could really make someone's genitals taste like bacon." Cocktail-Related, non-WTF Quote of the Day. Via Mary, from one of the Thin Man movies (neither of us remembers which one, but it was one of the later ones after Nick and Nora had a kid, which kinda took the wind out of the series' sails). Nick's out in a nearby park playing with their little boy, and Nora wants to call him home:
Well ... sure, I'd come running too. [ Link to today's entries ]
Mixology Monday XLI: Vodka. Vodka. The Rodney Dangerfield of spirits. That's our theme this month for Mixology Monday XLI, hosted by Amelia at Felicia's Speakeasy. Actually, to be specific, the theme is ... "Vodka is Your Friend."
Sure, good points all. Haven't we made progress, though, in getting the public to drink more adventurous spirits? Yes, but it's still the best-selling spirit in the United States, although its hold on the market isn't as strong as it once was. Perhaps the "I don't get no respect, no respect at all" attitude from multitudes of bartenders and cocktail geeks for the last several years might have made an impact. There is the little detail that it doesn't really taste like anything, and quotes like the one from Audrey Saunders I've always liked: "A vodka cocktail is a cocktail with a hole in it." But true confessions time ... I had my vodka period. I had my infused vodka period. I had my time back in the '90s when I drank ... Cosmopolitans. I've come a long way since then -- so have many of us. We scoff at the vodka & tonic drinkers who drink it just to get a buzz, and specifically because it doesn't taste like anything (leaving less telltale traces on their breath). We scoff, we snort, we p'shaw. But vodka has its uses, and we all know it. Okay, there's the "I only use vodka for making tinctures and preserving syrups," which I admit saying. Then again, there's ... Moscow Mules! C'mon! Who doesn't love a Moscow Mule? It's summery, it's refreshing, and you get to drink out of those cool copper mugs, if you have any (vintage ones are usually readily available on eBay). One of the first vodka cocktails I thought of when I started to think about this topic was one I had learned from Dave Wondrich in his book Esquire Drinks, which is the Gypsy cocktail. Paul Clarke wrote about that one at length for his MxMo post today, how vodka can be used to soften and stretch a liqueur as the primary flavor component of a cocktail (and the Gypsy's a damned fine one). Although some of us may look down at flavored vodkas or cocktails based on them, there are lots of excellent flavored vodkas out there. (Lots of crappy ones too, so caveat emptor.) To name two, the products from Hangar One and Modern Spirits are outstanding. Flavored vodkas have a long tradition in eastern Europe, from homemade infusions to more commercialized products like the Stolichnaya line. My absolute favorite of those, though, my favorite vodka and perhaps one of my favorite spirits, is Żubrówka.
 Waiting for an occasion, I suppose, we still hadn't cracked open the bottle of Żubrówka that had been in our freezer since the boys brought it from Paris, but opportunity presented itself for a taste in November of '04. We had dinner at Warszawa, the excellent Polish restaurant in Santa Monica, before heading to McCabe's to see the Savoy Family Band play. It had been years since I'd been, and it was even better than I remember -- bacon wrapped plums, crispy potato pancakes, grilled kielbasa sausages, pierogis of every description, beef stroganoff, thick pea soup with smoked ham and marjoram, smoked fish salad with dill ... and Żubrówka! There it was, listed on the spirits menu, and what better time to try it than before a Polish meal. It arrived in a little vodka glass, ice cold right from the freezer. I know a true Pole would scoff at me, but instead of knocking the whole thing back, I took a healthy sip first, as I wanted to savor it and get the entirety of the aroma and flavor. Oh, my. I instantly fell in love with this stuff. Spicy, yet almost sweet but not syrupy like a liqueur; paradoxically, it was dry yet reminded me of candy -- traces of caramel and nougat and vanilla. It also tasted like green herbs, but not medicinal. I tasted flowers, and lemon, and even coconut (!), and so many things going on in there. This stuff's dangerous. I immediately wanted more. I've never read Somerset Maugham's The Razor's Edge, but in it one character describes the flavor of Żubrówka as smelling of "freshly mown hay and spring flowers, of thyme and lavender, and it's soft on the palate and so comfortable, it's like listening to music by moonlight." I can dig it. After enjoying our Polish meal and two-plus hours of the finest Cajun music to be heard, the very first thing we did when we got home was to crack open our bottle of authentic Polish Żubrówka. The difference between the domestic Polish and European version and the type produced for export to America is that the most authentic Żubrówka has a long blade of bison grass in the bottle, and some American versions don't due to USDA regulations. There's a bit of artificial coloring and probably at least some artificial flavoring in the form of neutralized extracts to avoid the coumarin problem (at least one website claims that "true" bison grass vodka is now legal in all 50 states). The French bottling, which we had, looked like this. It was goooooood. It was ... well, it was like the stuff we had at the restaurant, only a bit more complex, certainly subtler. It was great. Unfortunately we ran out of that stuff pretty quickly once it was opened, and barring more trips to Paris or expensive shipping from Europe I think that for the time being I'll still be happy with the American-export version. They say that if you travel to Poland and start drinking with the locals, don't ever try to outdrink them (unless you're Russian, and then only maybe). I'd better be very careful. If I'm in Warszawa or Cracow, drinking with locals, and they bring this stuff out, I'm a dead man ... 'cause it's so good I would have no incentive to stop unless I become unconscious. From what I understand, most if not all Poles would consider the consumption of Żubrówka in a cocktail as being a crime, an offence against decency, utter blasphemy. It's to be consumed ice-cold, alone and quickly. However, there is one major exception ... This drink, which translates from Polish as "apple tart" or "apple pie" and is also sometimes called "Tatanka", appears to be the one exception to the prohibition against mixing Żubrówka with anything else, and seems to be looked upon fondly.
SzarłotkaThis is a fantastic drink. It's sweet, because it's mostly juice, but if you use a good unsweetened one like Martinelli's (or a good fresh-pressed cider, even) you won't mind that a bit. Not only do our friends go mad with joy when they taste Żubrówka, they go even madder when they taste this drink. The flavor combination is wonderful. ("Can I have a pitcher of these?" our friend Gregory asked after his first taste.) I think the proportions in that drink are pretty flexible -- we've had success with 2 parts juice to 1 part vodka. As for other drinks ... I've found a few web pages here and there with some other Żubrówka recipes, but most if not all of them look too liqueur-heavy and pretty unappealing. CocktailDB only had two, and one of them looked icky (3/10 Goldschlager, gaah). Contrary to what seems to be Polish popular opinion, I think that Żubrówka would make an excellent cocktail ingredient if used judiciously and carefully. The first one I decided to try is simply a takeoff on the above drink, only made drier and with a little bit more seasoning. I reduced the juice content and added a complementary-flavored dry spirit, plus two other ingredients that lent some allspice and cinnamon to the flavor profile -- they are apple pie spices, after all. It's still a bit on the sweet side, but as all that comes from the juice it's not cloying at all. If you want it drier (and stronger), cut the juice back to 1 ounce and up the brandy a bit. The proportions on this drink are very pliable -- tweak them as you will. I decided not to use a garnish but changed my mind after taking the picture and putting the lights away. I was too lazy to get them out again, so please do add the garnish.
Na zdrowie! [ Link to today's entries ]
Wondrich in the Colbert Nation. The great Stephen Colbert had the good taste to invite author, cocktail historian and all-around good guy Dave Wondrich onto his program last night, where Dave made him some tough-times cocktails and invented a new one ... The Colbert Bump! Hmm, we'll have to see about that new drink. Colbert Bumps for cocktail hour tonight!
Contrary to stated instructions, feel free to use Democratic gin. The Bittersweet Truth of Starting a Bar. My coverage of Tales of the Cocktail '09's been a little spotty and haphazard, and shall continue to be because, as Uncle Walter said, that's the way it is. Let's toss in a bit more coverage, though, with an account of the first seminar I attended at Tales about three weeks ago. It's the dream of every cocktail nerd. A way to make money from our passion. We've all thought about it, for at least a few minutes, haven't we? "How cool would it be to have my own bar?" It'd be very cool indeed. It'd also be more work than you could possibly have imagined. Could you survive it? Some friends of ours, longtime professional bartenders all, have done it and lived to tell the tale. Other successful businesspeople we know have done it as well. Some of them were the panelists in Wednesday's excellent seminar, "The Bittersweet Truth of Starting a Bar." We saw our friend Eric Alperin of The Varnish in Los Angeles (one of our very favorite bars) before the session started, and he gave us the gist of what their session featuring advice about starting a bar would be: "Don't." He was only half-kidding. Part of what they were trying to accomplish was to discourage would-be bar owners a little bit, if only for the reason that it's likely far more daunting, far more work, involving far more knowledge than you ever imagined. This was the first of the sessions aimed at professionals rather than enthusiasts, and I think it was one of the most valuable that Tales has ever offered. All of our panelists are well-versed in the monumental work of starting a bar. Moderator H. Joseph Ehrmann is the owner of Elixir on San Francisco, and rounding out the panel were Cedd Moses and his partner Ricki Kline of 213 Ventures in Los Angeles, who own 14 bars in the downtown area. They were all in agreement on one thing -- the truth of starting a bar really is bittersweet. First off, being knowledgeable about cocktails and being a skilled bartender is only the tip of the iceberg. The most important set of knowledge you can have is business skills, and the more business experience and training you have the better. Take some accounting and management classes at the very least -- H. went to school and got an MBA. Cedd and H. both spoke about the enormous importance of writing your business plan, which is vital to the entire operation. If you're from a bartending background, you might not know about this, and you need to. It's key. You need to go into great depth and create an amazing business plan with every aspect of your business, projections, cost points, liquor cost, staffing costs, etc. laid out ahead of time, in great detail, and with constant updating. When you open you have your guidelines and you know you can hit a home run and have your business be successful both financially and in creating something you believe in. Eric emphasized the importance of a bartending background as well, what he called "the kung fu of bartending," which is basically hard work at everything you do. It's taking that metaphor and knowing that hard work and specificity, making a system for every tiny aspect of the operation, is going to become a kind of magic. Eric's background was in New York restaurants (the Batali/Bastianich operations Lupa and Vinoteca) and in bars like Milk & Honey and Little Branch. "All those experiences compelled me to make the machine run more efficiently," he said. "I'm there constantly tweaking and making the environment for my bartenders, staff and customers to be a paradigm for where I want to work. If you're specific about what you want, and it's going to blossom. People who come to your bar are going to see and feel that." He emphasized the importance of getting to the level when you can walk away from behind the bar, even having your first vacation, is all about the first three years put in being there every single day, tweaking and setting up systems. How do you do the little things? "There's nothing that annoys me more than when a system isn't adhered to," Eric said. Every detail, from how the ashtrays are put out to whether a napkin goes down when a drink is served, is part of your system, exactly how you want your operation to work. "If you're opening a bar, it's your bar -- build it and run it the way YOU want it. Be specific in what you want, and it will allow your staff to shine. I want them to buy into my system too. Make that happen on a daily basis and use that to figure out a way to inspire your staff." Ricki spoke at length about his role in 213 Ventures as the designer and being in charge of construction, how having someone skilled at this in your operation can make or break it. "So many people have a particular architectural ax to grind, to achieve something for themselves. Their interests are not your interests. Choosing the right person to do this kind of work is essential -- before anyone else arrives on the first day, this is the first person who'll be there. Make sure they're working for YOU. If you're the owner and not the bartender, don't leave it up to me to design your underbar and back bar -- everyone has their own specific way of working. Eric knew what he wanted from day one. It wasn't always easy to give it to him, but we did, and now he's a very happy client." It might sound dry to someone who only thinks about how much he or she loves to make cocktails and work with people to show them a good time, but what we learned, just scratching the surface of what one needs to learn, is that it's all about the numbers -- those of you who hate math ... sorry. "Owning a bar is different from being a bartender. You have to understand the numbers, the business. You have to take a finance or accounting class if you have no background. It's a very difficult business to make money in. You have to get your finances in order, and have somebody really good with it at the masthead. Have a love affair with Excel." They talked about raising money from investors too, which is pretty much the only way you're going to be able to go forward. "The banks are not going to lend you money to start a bar," said H. "They're not. They're too risky." You also have to make sure you protect yourself from your investors too, keeping them silent for the most part, and H. emphasized the importance of keeping control over at least 51% of your business. The session could easily have taken up two full days, as we didn't have time even to get into liquor ordering, inventory maintenance, hiring and training of staff. There was so much information it made your head spin -- I had seven pages of notes -- and they were only scratching the surface. It was daunting, because it was meant to be. If you don't have a handle on this, if you want to open a bar because you think it's cool, you'll almost certainly be out of business in less than six months. 
We tasted a lovely cocktail called the Winter Sour, mixed by Chris Ojeda of The Varnish. It's a simple but tasty Campari sour with a rosemary syrup, both bitter and sweet, which was a metaphor for the business -- bitter and sweet with a successful balance. The yin and yang. The finance and math are the bitter, the profits are the sweet. You won.t get the sweet unless you focus on the bitter! [ Link to today's entries ]
The Chimes on CNN. Our friends Jill and Charles Abbyad, owners of the Chimes B&B in New Orleans, are two of the best, nicest and most hospitable hosts on the planet, and their house is one of THE best places to stay in New Orleans. We were delighted to see a little bit about them and their business on CNN's Money section. Do stay there when you visit the city. It's a short walk to the St. Charles streetcar line, which'll have you downtown and in the Quarter in 15 minutes. Chilling Effects: The Intellectual Property of Booze. Vidiot over at the Cocktailians weblog has a great post today about boozy intellectual property and the trademarking of drinks. Seems he had a MxMo cocktail rub someone the wrong way a while back, and got a lawyerly slap. This prompted him to take a look at past and current attempts, successful and otherwise, to trademark a drink. It's beginning to happen more and more these days, and if things keep going like this it'll get ridiculous.
Sometimes this stuff does get out of hand. I had an unpleasant encounter with an expletive-deleted, overly-eager intellectual property attorney last year. Turns out he was acting on his own, apparently looking for fodder for billable hours and not at the specific behest of the spirits company, who were mortified when they found out and apologized sincerely.
As for my recipes, I give 'em away for free. Drink an Animalito today! July Looka! entries have been permanentlyarchived. [ Link to today's entries ]
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