"Eating, drinking and carrying on..." -- Adelaide Brennan 
LAST POST: Looka! attempts to enter the 21st Century. This will be the last Looka! post you ever see as a completely hand-coded weblog. And if you're reading this via an RSS reader, this is the last post you'll see until you update your RSS reader, as the feed is changing. More below. Changes are afoot, kids! I've finally decided to take the plunge and convert this weblog into one that is entirely powered by WordPress, and thereby joining other weblogs of the current century. There are several things you'll have to keep in mind during this transition, if you're going to stay with me (and I sincerely hope you will). First off, it's going to take time. My dear friend Marleigh Riggins Miller is doing the conversion for me, but it's on her own time, so it might be a bit before we get started. Plus, I'll be in Europe for 2 weeks starting in the 3rd week of October, so that'll slow posting down a tad. I have a simple, temporary template up now, though, and I will be able to get posts up. They'll be ugly, but readable. To further complicate matters, I'm changing the URL of the blog. As of this moment please change your bookmarks and website links FROM
http://www.gumbopages.com/looka/ or especially The first of the old URLs above might work for a while, but the one ending in /index.html will NOT. Please change them as soon as you can. Sorry for the hassle. UPDATE! The RSS feed will also be changing! Please change your RSS feed FROM http://www.gumbopages.com/looka/looka.rss to the following new URL: This WordPress thing is gonna be good in the long run, but it's a huge pain to set up. ("The famous five-minute installation," my fishbelly white Irish ass.) Looka! is gonna look like hell for a bit, until Marleigh's finished, so please bear with us. This is a lot of work for both of us, but it will ultimately be a Very Good Thing, believe me. I'll be able to post more easily and quickly, and I hope more often. If you attempt to hit my URLs now you'll get the WordPress version, so to make a comment on this post hit the archived page at http://looka.gumbopages.com/archive/2009-09.html#30 where it'll be permanently archived. See you on the other side. This is exciting! And thanks for sticking with me for 10 years and then some. Let's see if we can make it another 10. xo
Cocktails of the day: Aviation Gin. Ryan Magarian, Portland-based bartender extraordinaire and co-creator of Aviation Gin was in town and behind the stick at The Varnish last night, slinging his gin into a host of delectable cocktails. Alas, no photos, because it was dim (like I like it) and my iPhone camera doesn't do well in dim, and I didn't have my regular camera with me, and y'know, sometimes I just want to drink and talk and socialize and have a good time and not have to worry about lugging cameras around and popping off flashes in dim bars for the frakkin' weblog. (Sorry, I love you all but I'm sure you understand.) I'm happy to write about it, though! First cocktail was an Aviation Gin take on a classic Dry Martini, which Ryan referred to as a 7th Street Dry. "For a true dry Martini, I really think you need a London Dry Gin, which Aviation is not," Ryan said. But treating Aviation as if it were in this cocktail was still mighty tasty. Take two ounces Aviation Gin, a half ounce of Dolin Dry Vermouth (specifically) and two dashes of Angostura orange bitters, with a nice big spray of oil from a lemon twist. The other botanicals in the gin, the cardamom and lavender especially, play beautifully with the herbal bouquet of the Dolin vermouth. Yummers. The second one I had ... well, I have to confess, it was so beautiful I kinda wish I did have a good picture of it. Amongst the Florence flasks full of cocktail ingredients that were arrayed along the bar was one containing a slightly foamy, brilliantly deep-red fluid that almost looked like Tru Blood. It was, in fact, fresh extracted red bell pepper juice, key ingredient in another of Ryan's originals:
This was really, really lovely. I love savory cocktails that have more vegetal flavors, and this one was perfectly balanced between sweet (with nice flavor from the honey) and sour, plus the bell pepper juice with its own sweetness and crispness ... you can almost feel the texture of biting into a piece of pepper. Gorgeous color too. I wanted to go home and juice a bunch of red peppers! Ryan consulted on the cocktail menu at the Westside Tavern in West L.A. and this is on their menu, so head on over and have one or three. Among the others we tasted were an Alaska Cocktail (2:1 gin to yellow Chartreuse, and 2 dashes orange bitters) and an Aviation (natch), plus we watched him make for someone else a Blackberry Honey Collins that looked and sounded delicious, but I needed to drive home, alas, so it was water by that point. Ryan was encouraging us to create new cocktails that play specifically to the flavor characteristics of Aviation, as a "New Western Dry" style gin, rather than simply drop it into coctkails thave been traditionally made with London Dry. Given that the liquor fairy just brought me a bottle, I think we'll do just that. Let's see if I can manage at least one or two by the end of the month. (Good luck with that!) Shamarr covers Nirvana. Here's Shamarr Allen, great New Orleans jazz trumpet player and jazz / funk / rock / hip-hop bandleader, covering "Smells Like Teen Spirit." His new album with his band The Underdawgs is out -- get it at the Louisiana Music Factory, on iTunes or at your local independent music emporium. [ Link to today's entries ]
Thursday Drink Night: Kahlúa Coffee Cream. Today I am not only writer and mixologist, but also God Emperor of Procrastination. This event happened a week ago, alas, but I've been pretty slammed the last couple of weeks. Sorry 'bout that. Let's make up for it with a drink. A week ago last night Malo Taquería in Silver Lake hosted a live, in-house edition of Thursday Drink Night. In case you hadn't seen a mention of it around these parts, TDN is a presentation of The Mixoloseum, hosted weekly in its online chat room from 4pm until around midnight Pacific Time (7pm until when the East Coasters get tired, Eastern Time) in which a topic or particular spirit is explored by the participants, many drinks are made far and wide and we sample, critique and discuss. It's a lot of fun, and you should join in sometime (there's usually always someone in the chat room, not just on Thursday nights). On Thursday, September 10, the sponsored product was Kahlúa Coffee Cream, a not-yet-released product that should be out within the next month or so, in time for the holidays. It's a cream version of the well-known coffee liqueur, and should prove to be very popular. Of course, I being me, problem child that I am ... I'm not a fan of cream liqueurs in general. Kahlúa Coffee Cream is a good product though, with a robust coffee flavor (100% Arabica beans used in its production, as with the main liqueurs) and the creaminess isn't too cloying, with a relatively light mouthfeel. It's excellent on its own over ice, or poured into coffee ... but liqueurs like this are notoriously difficult to mix with. Despite my dislike for cream liqueurs, I wanted to come up with a drink that did justice to the sponsor's product, but was tailored to my own taste. My solution? Add a trainload of bitters to it. :-) My first idea was for what I called the "Caffè Flip," in which Kahlúa Coffee Cream was the base and which I augmented with Fernet Branca (Fernet and coffee is a well-known combination). I tried it at home and really liked it. Some tasters in the chat room preferred it with 1/2 ounce Fernet, but I like it at 3/4.
I packed my bartending kit and headed to Malo, armed with the necessary bitters just in case the bar didn't have them. They did, in fact (well-stocked bar, y'all!), but to my surprise they had no Fernet Branca in the bar! Ah well, I should have known that a tequila bar might not necessarily carry strong Italian bitters. It is for this very kind of occasion (plus indigestion, overindulgence and sheer craving) that I keep a flask of Fernet with me most of the time. However, I neglected to refill it before heading over, sigh. I was searching behind the small service bar for something I could substitute, when Marleigh suggested, "How 'bout Angostura? I think that's all we've got." Bingo!  Marleigh and me, mixing at Malo Photo shamelessly stolen from Matt Robold This version, which I think I like even better, switched languages from Italian to Spanish, as Trinidad is closer to South America than it is to Italy. If it's too bitter for you, use the smaller amount of Angostura, but I prefer it with the 3/4 ounce amount. In case you were wondering, the reason for the separation of the egg is because when I tried to shake all of it together, I didn't get a satisfying head of the kind I like when I make egg drinks. There must be some food chemistry at work here with the cream content of the liqueur, I suppose. When I tried separating the egg and dry-shaking the white first, then adding the remaning ingredients and yolk, I got the nice, thick, creamy head you see above you (which would be even nicer, thicker and creamier had my egg been and not two days after the sell-by date). 
I'll soon have a No. 2 version of this with Kahlúa Especial and rum instead of the cream liqueur, as soon as I think of what rum I'd like to use. Stay tuned. Plucky Survivors See America Four! Days 3 - 4.
The Plucky Survivors have finished their
Yay, death and chocolate Whoopie Pies!
Day 5 -- Hershey to State College! John Boutté sings for Charity Hospital. The best male singer in America writes and sings a new song to help raise money to bring back New Orleans' Charity Hospital.
Plucky Survivors See America Four! Days 1-2.
Yep, it's that time of the year, kids (and I'm running a bit late, eek!) My good friends
Coming up tomorrow ... Baltimore to Philadelphia. The Museum of Mourning Art. The Mutter Museum. The American Philosophical Museum. Independence Hall. The Liberty Bell. The National Constitution Center. A cheesesteak. (Or two. Or five.) Wondrich dispels Sazerac myths. Dave's been doing this for a while now, laying it down officially in his marvelous book Imbibe!. New Orleanians love telling the story about how the Sazerac is the first-ever cocktail, and that the cocktail got its name because Antoine Peychaud served his brandy-and-bitters drink in an egg cup, called coquetier in French, and that got anglicized to "cocktail." It's a great story. There's just one thing ... It ain't true. (Of course, when has that ever stopped anyone from telling a good story?) Dave will be giving a seminar at The Museum of the American Cocktail in New Orleans on Tuesday the 8th, entitled "The Big Two Revisited: A Fresh Look at the Origins and History of the Sazerac and the Ramos Gin Fizz". Dave gently stomps on some of our cocktail myths (long overdue for someone to to this, really) and will make a case that the city's "official cocktail" pickers got the wrong one.
Although I love Sazeracs too, I'd be happy with Dave's choice for what should be New Orleans' official cocktail, except for the fact that they're so damned fattening. August Looka! entries have been permanently archived. [ Link to today's entries ]
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 ]
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