johnder

The pork buns, banh mi, 2 stone pots, chawanmushi, cauliflower, 3 platters of ham, sea urchin and 30 oz rib eye didn't help matters much either.

I actually brought a banh mi sandwich home as well.

I am not sure of the origin on the name, but I assume it has some reference to prohibition. The cocktails right now at $10, but I am not sure if that is their final price, or their pre-opening price. I will confirm shortly. Oh, one other thing - as you can see in Donbert's photo the bar (which seats about 13) is entirely made of marble. While it looks great, I am worried about how much barware the marble will consume in the form of tipped over drinks that shatter.

Is it: Supermac 348 7th Ave (Between 29th Street and 30th Street) ?

I am not sure what hotels are like but my assumption is you will need a union membership to work for them. I think you would be better off finding a place you want to work and after drinking there a few times, talking to the bartenders and owner(s) about the possibility of working there as a barback or in an "stage" position to see if it works out. I think this would a) get your feet wet, and b) show the other bartenders and owners that you know what you are doing and also not afraid to work your way up.

So slkinsey, donbert, themaininwhite and myself stopped by a new cocktail place that is opening in the East Village called Death and Company. We heard about this place from a few bartender friends we know and decided to check it out. The place is slightly hard to find as there is no major signage outside aside from the name embedded in the concrete in the saddle of the doorway. It is much easier to find as it is the only storefront on the street that is made entirely of dark wood with a very imposing /heavy/awesome wood door and equally impressive door handle. Don and I actually stopped by quickly last week for a drink, but tonight was our first real tasting of the cocktails and some of the food. While the menu is still in its early stages, they do have some drinks that stand out: Jersey Tenor -- Applejack, Lemon, Maple, Egg White, Soda, Fee's Sipping Seasons -- Applejack, Cognac, Maple, Angostura Daisy Day Martinique -- La Favorite Rhum, Charteuse, Lime St. Matilda -- Herradura Silver, Lemon, Mathilda Poire Liqueur, Pear All of which were pretty awesome in the times I have tasted them. They have some pretty first class Bar talent working there, so the drinks are definitely prepared with care -- right down to the massive cold draft ice machine they have cranking out the ice. One of the owners Dave Kalpan is a graduate of the B.A.R course, and the other, Ravi DeRossi is the owner of The Bourgeois Pig and The Bourgeois Pig West. After speaking to Dave he is definitely passionate about his liquor and has amassed an impressive list of spirits and wines. One of the nice touches is the spirits list which does a good job at highlighting their selection Don and I were blown away by the Las Amantes Joven mescal which had an insane smoke aroma to it that worked great in the drinks we tried them in. As far as the food the menu as it stood focused mainly on bites to eat along with the drinks. I have a copy of all the full menus, but don't want to highlight anything until they offically open, as I know they are in the process of still tweaking things. For those that are interested, I suggest you stop by and check it out. It is definatley worth a stop in, especially if you have been to other cocktail places in NYC, as you may see a few familar faces hanging around. As I mentioned they are having their offical opening on Janurary 15th, but people are welcome to stop by in the meantime and check it out. I will be stopping by later in the week and see if I can grab some photos of the cocktails. The info is: Death and Company 433 6th Street, Between 1st and A (North side of the street) Hours of operation are 6pm to 2am. [hours updated 1/16/07]

The ABC law for New York State states: Section 65.3 means that I should not be drinking in a few places in NYC myself as I have worked up that repuration.

Bravo just announced they are renewing TC for a 3rd season. If you are interested in being a contestant you can fill out an application here. A quote from the press release states:

Lol, thanks Sneak! I remember this shot as I was blinded for 3 minutes afterwards from his 100000 candlepower flash.

Henry/Ling -- New York Magazine posted a photo of when we were there that night. I think this was our selection of cocktails and my arm. Here.

Cool! Jonge or Oude Genever? How does it compare to the Boomsma? ← It is the Jonge. I don't have a bottle of Boomsma on had to do the side by side comparison, but it was very smooth. I actually picked up a hint of pine in it. I have a picture in flickr of the bottle here.

I hope at some point to experience it. After having dinner with docsconz recently and him raving over the food makes me want to go even more!

A friend from London came to visit for the holiday and gave me some bottles that I can't find here in the US. One of the bottles was Bokma genever. I decided to make an improved holland cocktail with it. 2 genever gin 1 teaspoon maraschino 1 teaspoon simple 2 dashes peychaud lemon twist stir, up. I also got a bottle of Plymouth navy strenght and a bottle of Monin violet liqueur.

I wrote it down somewhere, I need to see if I can find it. If I remember correctly it was Boubon, Lillet, Lemon? I think. I will check if I have the paper at home. On a side note, I had dinner at Ame (in the St. Regis hotel) and had a pretty tasty cocktail that had chai infused vemouth, aperol, lemon and soda. It was really good. The chai infused vermouth was a very good match to the aperol.

So was there last night with a pretty large party, I would have preferred to go and sit at the bar with just myself and my wife once my friends found out I was going they all wanted to come along. I have to say the whole password of the day and standing on a street corner fending off 3 people asking for change for 2 minutes until someone answered the door was slightly off putting. Once inside though the space is pretty amazing. There is a podium directly to the right when you enter the door and they check your reservation and lead you to the table. The front room has the bar with probably 10 seats and a few smaller booths, and the back room up a small flight of stairs has some of the larger booths. We had 6 people to fit in the booth and it was quite cozy. It was at the point where we had to arrange our knees so we could actually fit in the booth, otherwise we would be knocking knees all night. The menu is pretty huge and slightly unwiedly with its wooden cover. It was hard to navigate it in the small confines of the table unfortunately. A really nice touch was the fact they served water as soon as we sat and even gave us a cocktail amuse which was prosecco, pear liquor and vanilla while we looked through the menu tome. The menu is broken up with classic cocktails, cocktails from around the world, staff favorites and a few other sections. 5 of the 6 people at the table were drinking (one was driving) We had one Aviation, one Democrat cocktail (house cocktail), one Old Cuban (an Audrey Saunders drink), my wife asked for Martinez and after spying their rye selection, I asked for a pappy van winkle sazerac. The hostess while helpful didn't know what a Martinez was, but I explained it to her and hoped for the best. The place was about 60% full when we showed up and the drinks arrived pretty quickly. One of the complaints a friend told me was the service was slow, mainly on the time for each cocktail to be made but it wasn't the case tonight. Unfortunately the order got slightly messed up. I ended up getting a snifter of rye and my wife got was looked like a classic martini with an olive. I think she realized the error pretty quickly with my wifes drink and brough back a correct Martinez that was decently prepared. I didn't have the energy to send my drink back and just settled for the glass of straight rye. We only ended up staying for one drink as it was sweltering in the room. It was unbearably hot. I am sure it had to do with the fact that we were packed into the booth pretty tightly but also there was very little air circulation in the room. Unfortunately I needed to leave the next day to head back to NYC but would like to go back again at some point and as I mentioned sit at the bar to have a little more interaction with the bartenders. Overall the room is really well decorated, they definately have a great selection of liquors, have great ice and obviously take care in their cocktails. The downside is the crazy password / secret vibe they are going for which is negated by the fact you can just go to the website and make a reservation. Standing on the street talking into a small intercom at 10pm at night while looking over your shoulder isn't my bag. Next time I am back in SF, I am definately going to sit at the bar and spend some more time checking things out.

Well you have pretty much the ingredients for a basic sour -- base, sugar and citrus. You can do a variation on a Gin Ski, I would try Muddle 2 strawberries with 1/2 oz lime and 1/2 to 3/4 oz simple. Add 1.5 oz gin, shake, up. Doesn't make use of the basil, but you can easily muddle that in as well. If I had the time I would actually make a basil simple syrup to use in place of the plain simple if you really want to incorporate the basil. You can also try the Peach Blow Fizz variation. 1.5 oz gin 3/4 oz cream 1/4 oz simple syrup 4 fresh strawberries 1 oz fresh lemon juice 1/2 oz fresh lime juice Shake, up. Again, no basil, but could try adding it, but not sure about the basil + cream combo.

I am heading to Bourbon & Branch tonight with a few fellow cocktail people, I will report back afterwards letting everyone know how it was. John

I have been on a milk punch kick recently. Tonight I had one with 2oz Turkey 101 and 1 oz Goslings along with some half and half, simple and a few drops of vanilla extract. Very tasty in front of a warm fire.

Doh, well I forget where someone told me it was the same Sam (TC and foodcart), oh well. Sounds like you had a blast at momo regardless. Did you ever make it to DUMBO Jacques or did you stay in the city? John

I was actually wondering where the rye inside the bottle came from. ← According to the little info sheet they give out, it is from KBD (Kentucky Bourbon Distillers) in Bardstown, warehouse "G"

Tonight -- the daddy of all sazeracs with... ... ... It was amazing. So smooth, even at 135 proof. I am spoiled now. Although at $110 a bottle I will have to restrain myself.

Evidence to the contrary. Restaurant magazine in the UK also reported that Ramsay had been spotted dining at Nobu in London three days after the New York opening. Ramsay was also due to be cooking a gala dinner in Vere in Dubai on the 2 and 3 December. ← In both times I was there for dinner (once in the main room and once in the london bar) he wasn't there unfortunately. john

The contest was to create an original cocktail using Baileys and match an "amuse" to it. awful.

Yeah, she was AWFUL. One wonders if she'd had a few too many cocktails herself before the shooting started. ← The thing that annoys me the most is the reference on her website which she is called the "Worlds best bartender" by Orange county magazine. WTF!

Last nights starting challenge was a joke. Coming up with a cocktail featuring baileys was disgusting -- and that "cocktail guru", jeeze, don't get me started.