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A Drink From Daniel Boulud Cocktails

In last week's FineCooking.com post, I put up a recipe from Daniel Boulud Cocktails & Amuse Bouches. The book is actually a set of two small books, cocktails for Him & Her. 

The Mayfair Sour is a nice drink from the book. Soft and gentle.

This photo is not from the book. The book is pretty.

Mayfair Sour
By Xavier Herit

1 fl. oz. Plymouth Gin
.75 fl. oz. Benedictine Liqueur
.75 fl. oz. Apricot Liqueur
.75 fl. oz. Lemon Juice
1 Egg White
5 Drops Peach Bitters

In a shaker, combine all ingredients except bitters and shake once without ice, then shake again with ice. Strain into a chilled martini glass. For garnish, dash a few drops of bitters on top of foam.

Read the full post on FineCooking.com here.

Joel Baker to Take On Tres Tequila Lounge in San Francisco

Joel Baker, formerly a bar manager at Bourbon & Branch and Burritt Room, will be taking over the bar program at Tres Tequila Lounge & Mexican Kitchen in San Francisco, the bar/restaurant formerly known as Tres Agaves. 

 

Image stolen from Tres website

 

Most of the plans are still a bit nebulous and we shouldn't expect to see any changes until early March, but Baker told me he'd look into expanding the tequila program into other agave spirits including adding more mezcal and sotol. They'll begin serving tequila shots with a choice of sangrita chasers in red or green as well.

He'll also work on staff education and take some time getting up to speed himself on their huge tequila selection. Baker does plan to expand the cocktail menu, keeping on classics like the margarita (of course), La Paloma, Batanga, etc. and adding a half dozen or so house cocktails. He'll also be putting a few non-tequila drinks on the menu, meant to pair with the restaurant's food. 

I'm looking forward to seeing what's in store. 

Check Out This Amazing Cocktail Chart

This poster is pretty darn amazing. Click to enlarge in a pop-up. 

 

 

Also, it's on sale today, January 30th until noon Eastern Jan 31 for $28.

I can't seem to paste the text of the press release, but here's where to go to buy it from Pop Chart Lab.

 

Absinthe and Oranges

On my FineCooking.com blog, I post a recipe from Scott Baird of the Bon Vivants. It's from the book A Taste for Absinthe. 

This is my lousy picture of it.

There's a better picture of the drink from the book over at FineCooking.

L’arc de Triomphe
By Scott Baird

1 fl. oz. Absinthe
1 fl. oz. Fresh Orange Juice
1 fl. oz. Fresh Lemon Juice
1 fl. oz. Bitter Orange Marmalade
¾ fl. oz. Egg White
Peychaud’s Bitters
1 fl. oz. Seltzer Water
Wide Strip of Orange Peel, for Garnish

Add the absinthe, orange juice, lemon juice, marmalade, egg white, and a dash of
Peychaud’s to a pint glass with the spring from a Hawthorn strainer (remove the spring from the strainer and drop it in the glass). Dry shake for 30 seconds, until it is nice and frothy. Open it up, add ice, and shake well to make cold.

Pour the seltzer into a footed beer glass or short stemmed wineglass. Strain the drink into the glass. Add 2 dashes of Peychaud’s and garnish with orange zest. Serve.

Tequila, Honey, Maraschino, Bitters

In a recent blog post on FineCooking.com, I post a recipe from Brendan Dorr of Baltimore. 

 

The drink contains Partida tequila, Barenjager, Marschino liqueur, and bitters. 

 

El-Oso
By Brendan Dorr

1.75 fl. oz. Partida Anejo Tequila 
.75 fl. oz. Barenjager Honey Liqueur
.3 fl. oz. Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur
2 dashes Jerry Thomas' Own Decanter Bitters
Orange Peel for Garnish

Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass, add ice and stir until very cold. Strain into an old fashioned glass with new ice and garnish with orange peel.

The full post on FineCooking is here.

 

A Visit to Honor Bar in Emeryville

Honor Bar opened recently in Emeryville, California, and I stopped in for a visit. 

The space is a square room with an oval bar against the back side, a window into the kitchen on the far left, and seating at both communal and smaller tables. The bar top is high with a deep red surface, the color of red tabletop candles. 

In the room there is a pinball machine and an old Joust arcade game. The small entry room (where you'd expect to find a hostess stand if this was still a restaurant) is also filled with nicknacks.

Not far from the entrace is a large washbucket of beer on ice- this is part of the "honor bar" of the name. You're free to grab a beer and drink it while you wait at the bar to get a cocktail, and pay for it then.  I like this policy. 

We arrived at the bar early in the evening so we didn't have to wait for a seat nor for a drink. At least at that capacity, Honor Bar feels to me more like a tavern than a bar. Food is an important part of the program while the bar dominates the space. It's a chipper venue, and the crowd was post-work people in nice clothes rather than the t-shirt and jeans slacker found in a lot of East Bay bars. 

But onto the drinks: Alex Smith has created a wonderful menu (Honor Bar cocktail menu here) and the execution was perfect in nearly all the drinks we tried. They were all coming out awesome, so we had seven of them. 

The Black Sabbath (laphroaig, averna, absinthe, orange bitters) was a clever mix of flavors I wouldn't have guessed would work together, the Bleeding Monarch (bourbon, passion fruit, orgeat, campari, balsamico amaro) was surprisingly tiki-esque, the Porfiriato (reposado tequila, guajillo-infused mezcal, cocchi di torino, licor 43, cinnamon bitters) had just a subtle heat that came in on the drink's finish, and the Jenkin's Ear (aged rum, oloroso sherry, hum botanical, angostura bitters) had a bright beautiful entry and dark nutty sherry finish. 

The drinks were really great, the space was comfortable, and everyone was nice. If Honor Bar were near my house I'd be there all the time. 

A Couple of Cocktails

On my FineCooking.com cocktail blog, I've listed two wintry cocktails over the last two weeks. The first was created by Willie Shine for 1534. It's a simple cognac-based tropical style drink using Disarrono where orgeat might normally go.  

That recipe is here. 

The second one is from David Delaney Jr. of Worcester, Massachusetts. It was a finalist in this year's Angostura cocktail challenge, and contains a bunch of things that seem like it would taste like pie: cherry, cinnamon, allspice, apple, and maple syrup.

(Photo by CJ Foeckler)

On Second Thought
By David Delaney Jr. of Still & Stir

1.5 fl. oz. Laird's Applejack 
.5 fl. oz. Benedictine Liqueur
.5 fl. oz. Cherry Heering Liqueur
.5 fl. oz. Grade "A" Maple Syrup
.75 fl. oz. Fresh Lemon Juice
5 dashes Angostura Aromatic Bitters

Shake all ingredients with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a dehydrated, cinnamon-dusted lemon wheel.

The full post for that drink, including the explanation of the name, is here.

 

A Gin and Aquavit Cocktail

In Friday's post on FineCooking.com, I have the recipe for the Gin Junkie. The cocktail contains gin, aquavit, St. Germain elderflower liqueur, agave nectar, and orange bitters. 

I found the drink listed in All the Gin Joints, the gin recipe collection book by Michael Turback. The Gin Junkie recipe was created by Aleko Lilly of Barrio Capitol Hill in Seattle.

Gin Junkie
By Aleko Lilly

1.5 fl. oz. Gin
.5 fl. oz. Linie Aquavit
.25 fl. oz. St. Germain Elderflower Liqueur
.25 fl. oz. Agave Nectar/Syrup
2 Dashes Orange Bitters
Lemon Peel for Garnish

Combine gin, aquavit, elderflower liqueur, agave syrup, and bitters in a mixing glass filled with ice. Stir to chill and strain into a pre-chilled cocktail glass. Squeeze lemon peel over surface to express oils and drop into the cocktail.

Head on over to FineCooking for more information.