johnder

D&C launched their new food menu today and had a chance to try 3 of the dishes on it very quickly. The house made soft pretzels with honey mustard and whole grain mustard, the whitefish ceviche with house made tortilla chips and the maple pork belly crostini. All were pretty amazing, but the the maple pork belly stood out the most as something I would consume with the cocktails. The new dishes come from Jim Flack, who is formerly of Olives at the W Union Square. I would say go check it out, because of the dishes I tried so far, they were pretty smokin. John

Another pretty amazing video here. It is a modified hard shake which is pretty interesting to watch, but the technique this guy uses overall is pretty amazing. He is so precise in his movements.

They have a new chef as Weinoo pointed out, Philip Kirschen-Clark formerly of Jimmy's 43 and WD-50. He is revamping the menu totally in terms of food. Had the chance to try most of the dishes Kurl mentioned back a few posts, but my understanding there was a lot more on its way.

Over at Stephan's bitters blog he posted a video of Stanislav doing his hard shake. Pretty amazing to see. See it here. P.S. Look at that cool book -- Cocktail Technic

I have to say -- after a long night of drinking on our first real day off Saturday night, there is nothing quite like waking up at 10:30 and mixing a batch of arrack punch. The smell of arrack first thing in the morning was churning my stomach something fierce. I had to tap my inner strength to actually have the fortitude to taste the batch when it was done.

Lol, your right. Thursday we juiced over 100 liters of lemon alone.

Indeed it is a version of the sam ward. Someone mentioned that during the time but I totally spaced on it. The lime was turned inside out, so you were forming the cup with the flesh on the outside, and drinking from the lime oil part of it.

Was in New Orleans for Tales of The Cocktail and was in the kitchen for the most of it along with 16 other people helping with all the drinks for event. We were juicing up to 20 liters of lemon, lime, orange and grapefruit juice every day with 16 other fearless workers. The "juice line" kept themselves fueled with a number of cocktails during the time, but at the end of the shift, all sweaty and hot, we were almost all drinking some form of beer or beer cocktail. Beer Picon, or michelada. At one point we were just swigging chilled Picon from the bottle. Given the amount of lime juice we were producing from limes (both with Sunkist motorized juicers, and hand juicers) we had an obscene number of lime helf shells. At one point during the day someone handed me a reverse lime cup made from a shell (skin side out) filled with green chartreuse. It was awesome. We didn't have time to find glasses.

Joaquin was there with me in New Orleans since Tuesday along with Phil. We were unfortunately stuck behind the scenes for most of it.

The Mariner 2 oz Compass Box Oak Cross 1/4 oz fresh pineapple juice 1/4 oz fresh lemon juice 1/2 oz smoked simple syrup stir, rocks lemon twist

That would be me. Glad you like it!

Maybe Miami Danny can shed some light on the situation. Any scoop on him? The two chefswebsite shows Juan Seda as the bar manager for it.

I have this one. It works well, but I find the 1 liter size constraining at this point. Given I am making liters of bitters for tales of the cocktail, its a bit tedious. But if you are working with smaller batches you should be fine.

sorry, been traveling a lot recently. PDT is indeed open tomorrow. Normal operating hours for a Friday. 6pm - 4am.

Death and Co launched their new cocktail menu on Friday. Aside from having an amazing new format, they now have the record for most number of drinks on a menu. I counted 74 drinks, of which it looks like 60 or so are new ones on the menu and about 14 carry over drinks from the previous menu. They broke down the menu by base spirit, then by method of prep. ie: Gin - Shaken and Stirred, Rum - Shaken and Stirred. They also have a Julep section as well as a Daiquiri section. I encourage you to go check it out. It's pretty awesome. John

Supposed to be delivered to the NYC area this Wednesday or Thursday hopefully.

I have been in the position where I have had to travel up to Burlington quite a bit over the past few weeks and stay at the Marriot where SW is. I have eaten at the bar numerous times with good results. They serve the full menu at the bar and most of the times I have stuck with the great Kobe beef burger they serve. It is served on a Ciabatta roll, with a nice basil aioli that goes with it. You also get your choice of start sides. Chick pea fries, onion rings, jasmine rice, double baked potato etc. Last time I was there I had their grilled pork chop that you again pick your starch side with. It was perfectly cooked, although the meat itself lacked flavor unfortunately. They are big on the "dipping sauces that you get with your mains, they have a selection of these that you can use. They seem to be all over the map, a "hot and numb" sauce, a harissa sauce, a "mom's sauce" which is basically emulsified balsamic and oil along with a few others. I have only tried the hot and numb and harissa and they were ok. Overall the food is good -- I find it slightly high in terms of prices, the Kobe burger being 19 bucks, and the pork chop being 28. I will keep going back when i stay up there (again this coming Thursday) as the alternatives are the Cheesecake factory or Rainforest cafe. Oh, they also make an excellent Whiskey smash, and actually use a jigger making it. Props to them.

We use smoked cardamom pods, bring it to a boil with a 1:1 simple syrup and let it steep. Cool. Enjoy.

Had lunch for the first time there today with weinoo. Pretty awesome. Although I am sitting lethargically here at my desk after that broth. They have a lunch special, 16 bucks for the ramen of your choice, pickles (which was a piece of pickled carrott, daikon and tomato) and your choice of either spicy cod roe over rice or pork over rice. The rice bowl was really good also. Gotta love the kewpie mayo. John

Grouse or Compass Box Asyla are two great choices.

The new menu debuts tonight along with the wylie wd-50 dog. Beer Cassis Dubonnet Rouge, Theuriet Cassis, Brooklyn Brewery Local 1 beer. In the 1930’s, aperitif cocktails such as the Byrrh Cassis, which appears in the Savoy Cocktail Book, were commonly enjoyed in sidewalk café’s of cosmopolitan French cities. Hopefully, substituting a better-known quinquina for Byrrh, a proprietary fortified aperitif wine that contains quinine and topping the drink with beer instead of soda will renew the ritual. The Kin Kan Beefeater, lemon, house made kumquat syrup, St. Germain Elderflower This drink was created when winter seasonal produce became scarce as the frost melted and the trees began to flower. Kin Kan, Japanese for kumquat, is a small, aromatic citrus fruit that is cultivated throughout Southeast Asia from autumn until winter. We preserved the last remaining kumquats and are using the syrup and a hint of St. Germain elderflower liqueur to sweeten this floral spring sour. Swiss Mist Plymouth Gin, lemon, grapefruit syrup, egg white, Kubler Absinthe This grapefruit-accented silver gin sour is finished with a mist of Kubler Absinthe Suisse Blanche, distilled in the Val- de- Travers region of Switzerland where absinthe traces it’s roots. Absinthe Suisse Blanche, which forgoes the herbal maceration before bottling that gives green absinthe it's color is traditionally distilled with local alpine plants and botanicals. The Rose Noilly Pratt Dry Vermouth, Clear Creek Kirschwasser, raspberry This drink appears in Petits et Grands Verres, a 1930’s French cocktail book that calls for the drink to be made with sirop de groseille: red currant syrup. Until fresh berries are available locally, we’re substituting raspberry preserves to give this cocktail a hint of what’s to come. Bee's Sip Chamomile infused Barsol Quebranta Pisco, Masumi “OkudenKantsukuri” sake, Barenjager Honey Liqueur “OkudenKantsukuri”(mirror of truth), is a junmai sake bottled with no added alcohol from refined rice grains by one of Japan’s historic brewers.The sake balances the chamomile and elderflower in Jim’s shout out to ace Pegu Club bartender, Kenta Goto. We’re hoping this is the May flower you’ve been waiting for after all those April showers. Pearl Button Mae De OuroCachaca, Lime, Lillet Blanc, San Pellegrino Limonata What do you call a drink mixed with Brazilian cachaca, a French quinquina and a citrus-spiked Italian mineral water? Is it a bird? A plane? A caipirinha collins or a corpse reviver #7? Well, John Deragon’s name for it is so damned catchy, we gotta run with it. Chien Chaud Rhum J.M. Blanc, Yellow Chartreuse, Coconut Water On a recent trip to Martinique, I asked cocktail maven David Wondrich if he’d be willing to share a recipe for the spring menu. After our visit to the J.M. distillery,we enjoyed ti punch and ate entirely too many acras (salt cod fritters)and then it came to him: the one and only hot dog cocktail. East Village Athletic Club Cocktail Siembra Azul Blanco Tequila, Lemon, Yellow Chartreuse, Grand Marnier The Last Word, a beguiling mixture of equal parts gin, lime juice, Green Chartreuse and maraschino liqueur was first documented in Ted Saucier’s Bottoms Up in 1951. Saucier credited the Detroit Athletic Club for sharing the recipe: we tinkered with the recipe and named it after our hood. Rhubarbarita Partida Reposado Tequila, lemon, rhubarb puree, Grand Marnier, Veloce As soon as we could secure a sufficient quantity of rhubarb, Don prepared a puree sweetened with Partida’s agave nectar that Jim usedto make a margarita spiked with Veloce, an Italian spirit that treads the line between flavored vodka and stone fruit eau de vie. Enjoy it until the short rhubarb season comes to a close. French Maid Hine “H” Cognac, lime, sugar, Velvet Falernum, ginger beer, mint, cucumber A Hendricks gin mojito with muddled cucumber has popped up on menus all over the country in the past few years. Milk & Honey barman Sammy Ross substituted bourbon for gin and dubbed it the Kentucky Maid giving us a moniker to create a drink family. Jim’s contribution, the French Maid, is a spicy addition to the family made with clove and almond spiced Falernum and house made ginger beer. The Mariner Compass Box Oak Cross, pineapple juice, lemon, smoked cardamom syrup It’s hard to imagine a bunch of weather-hardened sailors sipping gimlets. The historic cocktail of choice among British Naval officers has fallen from grace as bartenders all over the world force artificial Rose’s lime cordial to walk the plank. John’s alternative is made with a blended malt Scotch whiskey mixed with citrus, pineapple and a smoked cardamom syrup that reminds us of the days when spices came to market on ships sailed by hard drinking sailors. Hotel d’Alsace Bushmills, Cointreau, Benedictine, rosemary To commemorate the 400th birthday of Bushmills, we decided to put Irish whiskey to work in something other than a shot glass. David Slape named the drink after the posh Parisian hotel that Irish scribe Oscar Wildemspent his last years in. Although Wilde was fond of drinking absinthe in his final years, we think he may have appreciated this lavish dram of Irish whiskey, French liqueur and fresh spring herbs. The Brown Bomber George Dickel No. 12, Lillet Blanc, Suse We substituted Hard hitting Tennessee Whiskey for gin in the recipe for Nick Blacknell’s White Negroni and named it after the champ: Joe Louis, nicknamed the Brown Bomber of Detroit. Louis, considered the greatest heavyweight fighter of all time, lost his first title fight in 1936, regained it in 1937 and defended it for 12 years, fighting 24 times and recording 22 knockouts. Defend your title. Dewey D Old Overholt rye whiskey, Lustau East India Sherry, Aperol Don Lee fashioned this Negroni tribute cocktail of sorts with rye whiskey (although not Canadian like the man himself) and Sherry since Dewey has always featured it in his beverage program at WD 50. Wylie Dufresne is the draw at WD 50, but let’s not forget that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Benton's Old Fashioned Bacon infused Four Roses Bourbon, Maple Syrup, Bitters The crossroad of Haute Barnyard and Barroom: using his connections to the artisan commodities market and science, bartender Don Lee combined one of the foodstuffs we all crave with beloved bourbon and got us through the winter. This one’s too good to take off the menu. Bizet Shinn Estate Rose, Luxardo Bitter, Amaro, Moet White Star David Slape makes yet another contribution to the ever expanding opera cocktail genre with the Bizet, a Champagne Americano of sorts named after Gorges Bizet, a gifted 19th century French opera composer who wrote the score to Carmen. The Rite of Spring Tanqueray Gin, Vya Dry, Momofuku's ramp pickle juice When ramps, the wild spring onions that sprout up in cool, forested regions of the Northeast show up at the farmers market: we all know that spring has officially begun. To commemorate their arrival, Don refashioned the "dirty" martini, the mixological equivalent of someone putting a cigarette out in your beer, with pickled ramp brine from Momofuku Ssam Bar and dry vermouth from Quady Winery in California. Coda Pampero Rum, Neisson Rhum Blanc, Lime, Demerara, Allspice Dramm, egg In music, a coda (Italian for "tail") is a passage that brings conclusion to a particular piece. Beethoven developed the coda into a feature of utmost importance in his sonatas. In Daniel Eun’s words, “The coda allows one, after having worked through the exposition, development, and climax of a piece to look back upon the main body; take it all in, and end with a sense of balance.” Wylie Dog Deep Fried Crif Dog, Deep Fried Mayo Cubes, Tomato Molasses, Freeze Dried Onions, Romaine lettuce

Bentons is staying.

Unfortunately yes -- the Staggerac is coming off the menu along with almost everything else. One or two drinks will be sticking around for an encore though.which are staying. The problem with the staggerac is the supply of Stagg. it was a limited edition and we pretty much exhausted the supply of it.

very soon -- I will post the drink list once we figure out the last of the logistics. Changing the bar setup to get 20 new drinks in place is always a fun logistical challenge.

I agree with toby, at PDT it is a very tight bar -- luckily we tend to stay in our own stations, but we do tend to stray back and forth, usually with a handful of drinks being dropped of to service. If I have a free hand I will usually tap a person to signify I am behind them, especially if they are talking to a customer. But we have also adapted the "down the line" call -- mainly because it is so tight, we can only go in a straight line. :-) While I tend to tap people on shoulder or lower back, there are certain bartenders in NYC that have a fondness for tapping, uh, slightly lower. When I say tapping I really mean grabbing. Ok, groping. No names though, but you know who you are!