Food & Wine Article Featuring Audrey Saunders

[slbunge]

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There is an article in May 2005 Food and Wine about Audrey Saunders titled "Mixing it Up with a Cocktail Purist". The article is fun to read, loosely built around time the author spent with Ms. Saunders where she was divining the recipes for Champagne cocktails from a 1939 book titled The Gentleman's Companion, Vol II by Charles H Baker, Jr.

Ms. Saunder's discusses her purist approach to the cocktails she will be serving at her new bar, the Pegu Club.

Entertaining read.

Is her new bar open? If so, have any of the avid cocktail fans from eGullet stopped in for a drink?

[slkinsey]

Here I am at home, trying to figure out what to make for my inaugural cocktail with Gary's orange bitters when my friend ewindels calls to tell me that Audrey has a big article about her in the latest issue of Food & Wine.

Right off the bat, they get the right idea: "In her reverence for vintage cocktails, mixologist Audrey Saunders is part scholar and part priestess." Well, we already knew that. Also mentioned is her upcoming and eagerly anticipated cocktail hotspot and mixologist Mecca, the Pegu Club. I'm glad that cat is finally out of the bag.

Here's a taste:

David Wondrich, author of Esquire Drinks, praises her for applying "scientific method" to her cocktails. "She's like a research mixologist," Wondrich says. His favorite example is the twist—those discs of lemon peel that sometimes garnish martinis. "Most bartenders cut them thick, with the pith on, because they don't care," Wondrich says. "The old school says you just want the peel, because the pith is too bitter. Then there's Audrey, who makes vodka infusions with just the pith, to see how bitter it is. She's always trying stuff."

If you watch a bartender like Audrey as she tinkers with a recipe, tasting, adjusting, tasting again, it occurs to you that cooking and bartending aren't that different. You might even be tempted to apply the current phrase "bar chef." But don't, because Audrey doesn't like it. For one thing, she insists that a good bartender should never be the center of attention. "It's not about me, it's about you," she says. "The minute you sit at my bar, I want to make you a great drink. I love for you to sit down at the bar, and I love to put a napkin in front of you."

At one point, writer Pete Wells is moved to declare, "this is why I love Audrey." It's rare to find someone at the top of their game who is also a truly delightful person to be around, and if there is one thing that for me has been a great reward of getting to know the "cocktail purist" community in NYC it's that everyone I've met so far has been just a delightful and interesting person.

Congratulations to Audrey. And if you need to find me in the evenings after it opens, you might think of calling the Pegu Club.

[Blondie]

Also mentioned is her upcoming and eagerly anticipated cocktail hotspot and mixologist Mecca, the Pegu Club.  I'm glad that cat is finally out of the bag.

Fantastic! When and where, exactly? If it's the east end of Houston I'll renew my lease right now

[winesonoma]

Also mentioned is her upcoming and eagerly anticipated cocktail hotspot and mixologist Mecca, the Pegu Club.  I'm glad that cat is finally out of the bag.

Fantastic! When and where, exactly? If it's the east end of Houston I'll renew my lease right now

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23 brands of Gin? I'm on a plane, when does this place open?

[slkinsey]

Not open yet, but soon... And yea, it sounds pretty exciting, doesn't it?

[cdh]

Mighty exciting!

Can't wait. Now I don't regret having failed to venture up and over to try Audrey's creations up on the Upper East. Houston St is a place I'm much more likely to find myself with an urge to get a fine cocktail.

[plattetude]

Is it open yet? Is it? Is it?

(BTW, how old must an infant be for it to be socially acceptible for new parents to plan a babysitter for a trip to a new bar? Please say 3 mos. is old enough... )

Christopher

[KatieLoeb]

Is it open yet?  Is it?   Is it? 

(BTW, how old must an infant be for it to be socially acceptible for new parents to plan a babysitter for a trip to a new bar?  Please say 3 mos. is old enough...  )

Christopher

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Sweetie, after three months of sleep interrupted and sleepless nights, I suspect you're both long overdue for a fine cocktail!

[Libationgoddess]

Chris, you just let me know when you and your wife would like to come by, and the three of us will drink champagne together(!) My experience will not even come close to your lovely, little bundle of divinity. I admit, mine is an earthly pleasure. But nevertheless, this will be the closest I get to having my own child in this lifetime (and it really feels like I'm having a baby!)

Nor am I sleeping a wink, and generally just worrying about the world right now. I have been through a few openings and relaunches. But NEVER like this. You guys can't even begin to imagine what goes into this whole opening process from scratch---Holy Shit!!! Especially when it's your own, and not a multi-million dollar "production"! ! I feel like I'm about to go into labor at any minute now, and I'm just about ready for that epidural.....Ohhh! (My version is a nightly lavender bath).

But you know what? I really like the idea of having my own saloon! Granted, it won't be perfect when it opens, but it will be a beginning, nevertheless. And I say, "Tom and Jerry's at Christmas time!!" Lets do chicken right!

Maybe we can pick a special Saturday afternoon around Christmas for all the new parents...Noon to 5pm just for you, and bring the kids!

Audrey

Is it open yet?  Is it?   Is it? 

(BTW, how old must an infant be for it to be socially acceptible for new parents to plan a babysitter for a trip to a new bar?  Please say 3 mos. is old enough...  )

Christopher

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[plattetude]

Maybe we can pick a special Saturday afternoon around Christmas for all the new parents...Noon to 5pm just for you, and bring the kids! 

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Sounds great to me! I'm sure there's a vast audience of parent-types in and around Manhattan who'd love the chance to have a grown-up time and not feel self-conscious bringing baby along (or feel guilty leaving baby at home). Heck, you could make it a monthly event -- call it "Pegu Club Jr."

And by the bye, there's certainly no need to disparage the earthly pleasures of cocktails, particularly when they're done with the skill, creativity, and love that you bring to bear on them. I will indeed drink to that!

Good luck on getting through your final trimester!

Christopher

[ned]

So I've been trying to be patient. . . but lately when I look westish on Houston I get a little wistful. It's anticipation but it also has something to do with desire and appetite.

Any updates on the when all those gins will be unveiled?

[Ed Hamilton]

"Patience will be rewarded," and "This too will pass," are the two phrases that keep coming to mind while I try to wait until the Pegu Club opens. None of us wants to put more pressure on the Libation Goddess so we patiently wait while our thirst grows.

[plattetude]

<salivating>

So... About that Pegu Club opening... Do we know anything more than "August"?

</salivating>

Christopher

[slkinsey]

Soon, soon. . . I'll try to make sure to do some kind of writeup here when the opening comes. Im given to understand that it's in the "no one ever sleeps" end stage these days.