Naughty, Nice and a Wicked Manhattan

Back in the day, whenever the winter holidays rolled around, my college roommate Ford McKenzie, our respective others and I would typically celebrate the season with a trip to Jacqueline’s for champagne. It was the kind of swanky Manhattan Upper East Side locale that made you feel like celebrating simply by crossing the threshold. The proprietress, Jacqueline, was a gallic Auntie Mame-type who kept the conversation flowing and the flutes full of bubbly, whether we could afford it or not. Naughty.

Jacqueline’s is long since gone, but we’ve never stopped reminiscing about the place. In fact, we’ve probably been in search of an ultimate Christmas hangout ever since. This year, Ford serves up a solution – a visit to the cocktail lounge Two E at the Pierre Hotel on Fifth Avenue facing Central Park. A check of the website suggests that it does seem to offer that elusive blend of Old World charm, uptown sophistication and holiday bling that we’ve been seeking for years. Nice.

I enter the lobby of Two E at the prescribed meeting time, and take in the sparkling, 15-foot Christmas tree that seems to have sprouted at the center of the lounge. There’s a nice selection of cushy seating, and jazzy Christmas tunes fill the room.  

Ford is attired in his holiday best – a trim, Thom Browne winter navy suit with chalk pinstripe, custom white shirt by Maxwell's of Hong Kong, antique gold Tiffany watch, and a skinny Charvet necktie accented with a 1960s gold Mad Men-style tie clip. It is hard to tell which is more merry and bright -- Ford, or the holiday tree?   He bemoans the fact that he has gained a few pounds this autumn eating too many “fat food truck lunches.”  What? Did you miss those adventures?  I did too. Somebody’s been sneaking out for food truck grub on his own. Naughty.

We’re joined by our friend Rosemary – Lesley Gore lookalike, professional de-clutterer, scourge of useless kitchen appliances and fashion forward trendsetter.  She’s swathed in black wool, adorned with a single silver brooch, and wears a furry black chapeau that is a cross between a Jackie Kennedy pillbox and a Russian Cossack hat. Nice.     

Now for an important disclaimer:  we did not … repeat … NOT bring a food truck picnic into the Pierre Hotel. What kind of slobs do you take us for? 

Two E is well appointed for the holidays, with a massive ginger bread house on the bar that is bigger than most Manhattan studio apartments and appears to be move-in ready.  

We scan the signature cocktail menu. Rosemary has had a tough week, and choses “Love at First Sight,” a mix of Bulldog Gin, St. Germain, Slim-line Simple Syrup, Lemon Juice, Sliced Strawberries and Brut Champagne. 

Ford’s peruses the menu and his eye goes directly to “Wicked Manhattan” a noveau culinary cocktail of Patron Angejo Tequilla, Crème de Casis, Kendal Jackson Grand Reserve Chardonnay, Peychauds Bitters and Chartreause.  It’s hardly traditional, but Ford is intrigued and heads to the bar to get more information from Paul the bartender who is happy to oblige. Paul also offers a no-fault guarantee. If Ford doesn’t like the drink, he can exchange it for a traditional Manhattan. Nice.

While Paul does not exactly fit the part of an over-the-top female French bon vivant, he is friendly and informative and mixes up that Wicked Manhattan with quite the holiday flair. 

Ford succumbs to the temptation. The Wicked Manhattan is a bit fruitier than it’s predecessor, but he likes the floral scent, and wonders for a moment if he should just inhale the lush aroma. In the end, he wickedly imbibes two. Naughty.

After several rounds of Wicked Manhattans, and champagne cocktails, we decide that a snack is in order. Ford declines, given his diet and all. Rosemary and I each order a serving of three Angus Beef Sliders with a side of horseradish sauce. Ford proceeds to help himself to a slider from each of our plates. Very Naughty. 

As we leave the Pierre Hotel and gaze across to Central Park, the moon on the breast of the new fallen snow, gives a luster of midday to objects below.  The glare from Ford’s Mad Men tie clip and Rosemary’s brooch is blinding, but festive nonetheless. 

Epilogue and Shameless Foreshadowing

Hours later, I arrive home, and there is a cardboard box waiting on the doorstep emblazoned with a graphic illustration of a slightly crazed pig.   

It’s an early holiday gift from Zany, Luigi and Sticky Hands in Chicago.  How exciting is this??

They’ve sent me a membership in the Bacon of the Month Club!! Naughty and Nice! 

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

©2013 T.W. Barritt All Rights Reserved

A Comfort ‘N Tonic and Tumblers from the 1964-1965 New York World’s Fair

The summer cocktail season has arrived, so I’ve looked beyond my favorite brown spirits for something a bit lighter and brighter.  In my quest, I stumble upon this classic cocktail recipe book once given to me by a friend – “From New York and Restaurants at the World’s Fair – 46 Great Drinks.”

Don’t you just love the white gloves and the high fashion Betty Draper look of the woman on the cover?  I can almost see the White Rain Hairspray dressing her auburn tresses.  

The pamphlet raises a myriad of questions.  Who is that lovely woman, and her clean cut male companion?  How many more exhibits will they be able to view once they’ve finished that Manhattan and Old Fashioned?  Why just 46 great drinks?  Why not 50?  

Here’s a look at our favorite couple relaxing at home, about to make one of their favorite drinks from the World’s Fair.  He looks a bit like Perry Cuomo in this shot.

“They” don’t really hold “World’s Fairs” anymore.  The future is here, and the world is much smaller than it used to be.  Still, I remember the sense of awe I felt as a child when I first glimpsed the symbol of the World’s Fair, The Unisphere. It still stands in Flushing, Queens. 

The Fair was full of futuristic exhibitions and historic first, and the architecture alone – including the multi-tiered New York State Pavilion – was considered a gleaming symbol of the dawning space age. 

We brought home all kinds of cool items from the World’s Fair, including a set of these smoked glass tumblers featuring various exhibits from the World’s Fair.  The original tumblers went to my eldest brother, but I managed to recreate a set for myself by rummaging through a couple of antique stores.  

The pamphlet is actually a promotional item for Southern Comfort, designed to highlight “Southern Comfort’s completely unique taste and flavor.”   Southern Comfort is a whisky spirit flavored with a proprietary blend of “rare and delicious ingredients” that remain a secret to this day. Many of the recipes in the World’s Fair pamphlet – including the “Comfort ‘N Tonic,” swap out traditional spirits and replace them with Southern Comfort. 

I’ve actually never tried Southern Comfort, but I remember it was a favorite of my Dad’s Aunt Lou.   A world traveler, and always the life of the party, Aunt Lou would say, “I need to be comforted” when the cocktail orders were being taken.  She would have enjoyed this recipe:

Comfort ‘N Tonic

 1 jigger (1 ½ oz.) Southern Comfort

Juice and rind of ½ lime

Tonic Water

Squeeze lime over ice cubes in 8-oz. glass.  Add liquor, lime rind; fill with tonic, stir.

I mix my Comfort ‘N Tonic in the tumbler honoring the New York State Exhibit.  The Southern Comfort adds a touch of spice and citrus and smooths out the tonic water.  It’s quite refreshing.  The cocktail transports me back to an era when absolutely anything was possible. Cheers to the comfort of the good old days!  

©2013 T.W. Barritt All Rights Reserved

I’m Old Fashioned

I’ve never seen the Tom Cruise movie “Cocktail” and that’s probably a good thing because I’m an old fashioned kind of guy. That’s why the course “Classic Cocktails,” taught by Anthony Caporale at The Institute of Culinary Education had immediate appeal for me.

Imagine a Saturday night “getting wet.” Don’t worry – it’s a bartending term that aptly describes the action behind the bar. As Caporale says, when you’re mixing cocktails it’s inevitable that things are going to get wet and sticky. Caporale has been in the spirits business for years. He’s a high-energy instructor with a high proof mix of tips, tricks and fascinating anecdotes about the classic cocktail. I’ve already taken his excellent course on Whiskey, Bourbon and Scotch. You can get a taste of his approach at his Art of the Drink website.

Did you know the art of the cocktail emerged during Prohibition? Yes, folks started drinking more because alcohol was illegal, and they started adding things like fruit juice and bitters to mask the taste of some pretty poor quality booze. Fortunately, our tastes and techniques have evolved and mixing cocktails has become an art. Within minutes, Caporale provides the basics on colorless and brown spirits along with a couple of dashes of history and economics, and then gets us started on pouring techniques. Skilled bartenders don’t measure – they count and pour. With a proper pour spout and the right technique, you pour a ½ ounce of liquor per second.

Our source material for the course is six basic cocktail recipes found in David Embury’s “The Fine Art Of Mixing Drinks,” a bartending Bible first published in 1948. Embury was a pioneer in the field of cocktail culture. Caporale adds a modern twist. He’s got a degree in engineering so he’s very good at breaking recipes down into components so you understand the formula, technique and the approach instead of obsessing over a specific recipe. As he explains it, every cocktail starts with a base spirit, and then a combination of mixers, sweetened liquors, fortified wines, or sweet and bitter ingredients are added. The key, he says, is balance. He’s not a fan of the super sweet cocktails popularized in recent time in the United States.

We are each positioned at a station equipped with a tin shaker, an array of bar tools and easy access to a lot of ice. Once we get through a few warm up rounds of pouring, mixing and shaking we get to work and shake up a Dry Gin Martini (the only way to go with a Martini):

A Manhattan with Bourbon and Sweet Vermouth:

An Old Fashioned made with Dewers White Label whiskey on the rocks:

A Rum Daiquiri, which is much simpler and tastier than the super sweet blender concoction we often think of:

A Side Car made with Cognac, Triple Sec and lemon:

And, a Jack Rose made with apple “jack” brandy and rosy-colored Grenadine:

The mixing and shaking gets fast and furious at times. So how do I fare? Well, I’ve already hinted that I’m not Tom Cruise. My pouring aim is off at times (you need to get the spirits into the cocktail shaker, not all over your sleeve) and my Manhattan Cocktail, which I’m pretty experienced at preparing, comes out a bit watered down. But, my Dry Gin Martini is sublime, and I think I’ve discovered a new favorite in the Side Car.

Cheers to Anthony Caporale for shaking up a spirited evening of insider techniques and classic cocktail lore!

©2012 T.W. Barritt All Rights Reserved