Tag Archive: cocktail recipes

Boozy Woos: How To Romance an LA Woman Bartender

Lacey Murrillo by Caroline on Crack

Lacey

Women bartenders have heard every pick-up line and have seen every flirtatious move in their bars. So it’s no wonder it can be a little intimidating to try and romance them. But I asked some of our gorgeous lady bartenders in Los Angeles what’s the best way to woo them and consequently, every woman boozewise. Turns out that basically they (we) want a man with no pretensions. It’s as simple as that. Read on for their answers, including some cocktail recipes that you can make for your special someone this Valentine’s Day.

Danielle Crouch of Cana Rum Bar: I am smitten by a roaring fire, good whiskey, and a man who always toasts before the first sip.

Kiowa Bryan of The Eveleigh: While the movie wasn’t great, the scene in Crazy, Stupid, Love where Ryan Gosling busted out correctly made Old Fashioneds* from his home bar was the hottest thing I could possibly imagine…..if you’re not that crafty, busting out a bottle of Fernet would do the trick.

Kylee Van Dillen of Westside Tavern: The most romantic drink I can think of is a boy buying me a scotch old enough to drink itself.

Lacey Murillo of 1886 and Black Market Liquor Bar: A guy impresses me through his confidence and adaptability  — especially in this industry. If a guy can hold his own at an industry event like Boxing Day at the Spare Room and also hang with my hectic schedule and family. I’m a lot more than impressed. I’m a sucker for sipping on a nice scotch or rye too…I take it neat please.

Lindsay Nader of Harvard & Stone and Pour Vous: Boozewise there isn’t much a guy can do except not be a know-it-all douchebag when ordering a drink or drinking a drink. Otherwise, the element of surprise mixed with humor always gets me. Like little notes left on my car or around my house telling me how amazing my butt is, etc.

Naomi Schimek of Spare Room: I must say, to me, two Miller High Lifes and two good sized slugs of Rittenhouse Rye with Tom Waits playing on the jukebox is just about the most romantic damn thing I’ve ever seen.

Zahra Bates of Providence: I know we bar ladies tend to order spirits neat, not because we are hard-core but rather because we don’t care for pretension. I may flirt with a cocktail or two throughout the evening but the drink that takes me home is a shot of the straight stuff. I love to have a drink that is pure, unadulterated and unabashedly itself and that is what I want from my fella.

* The Varnish’s Eric Alperin actually taught Ryan Gosling how to make a couple of cocktails for the movie!

Hit the jump for boozy woos (cocktail recipes) with which to seduce your Valentine.

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Spare Room’s A Night of Tiki + Cocktail Recipes

Mai Tai by Caroline on Crack

Umbrellas make drinks taste better.

It’s October and you may be relishing the first chill in the air, the L.A. StormWatch of the season and pumpkin flavor popping up on menus everywhere but The Spare Room at Hollywood Roosevelt will be celebrating sultry tropical islands and their delicious tropical cocktails tonight at its special Night of Tiki event, brought to you by Kraken Rum.

At the Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Spare Room

This night also happens to be SR’s Director of Beverages Aidan Demarest’s last night before he kicks off things at his new Glendale bar, Neat and Naomi Schimek takes over. By the way, Naomi has lots of exciting things planned for the Spare Room.  Someone say, “cocktail lessons”?

But tonight’s Tiki event will also bring in Aidan’s Liquid Assets cocktail consultant partner Marcos Tello and John Lermayer of The Florida Room in Miami’s South Beach.

Check out what the guys are serving up tonight, including the recipes for you to try out at home if you want to hold on to summer a little bit longer.

Tiki Cocktails and Recipes

Kraken Cobbler
By John Lermayer

  • 1.5 oz Kraken
  • 1 oz Lustau Los Arcos Sherry
  • 0.5 oz Lemon
  • 0.5 oz Agave
  • 2 Whole Strawberries, 1 Blackberry

Pellet Ice
Collins or Zombie glass

Flagler Fizz
By John Lermayer

  • 1 oz Kracken
  • 0.5 oz Bourbon ( Buillet, Jim Beam, Old Crow..something on the spicey side)
  • 0.25 oz Fair Cafe
  • 0.5 oz Rich Simple
  • 0.5 oz Lemon
  • egg white
  • Club Soda
  • Nutmeg

Collins Glass

Old Rum Sazerac #2
By John Lermayer

  • 2 oz Matusalem 18
  • barspoon Fernet Branca
  • 5 dashes Angostura
  • 1 sugar cube

Rocks or coupe
Glass rinsed in coconut rum or coconut water

Cradle Of Life (Painkiller NYC)
Large Format 2-4 People
By John Lermayer

  • 2 oz Light Rum
  • 2 oz Spice Rum
  • 1.5 oz OJ
  • 1 oz Orgeat
  • 1 oz Green Chartreuse
  • 1 oz lime
  • Angostura Bitters

Pellet Ice, Flaming lime shell (will need 151 and sugar cube)

Miami Vice ( for 2)
(Florida Room Version)
By John Lermayer

  • 1 oz Light Rum
  • 1 oz Dark Rum
  • 1 oz Spice Rum
  • 1 oz Campari
  • 4 Pineapple Cubes (1inx1in)
  • 4 Strawberries
  • 1 oz Lime Juice
  • 1  oz coconut creme

One for the Hammock
By John Lermayer

  • 1 oz Cruzan Coconut Rum
  • 1 oz Domain de Canton
  • 0.25 oz Absinthe
  • 2 oz Pineapple Juice
  • 2 Sage Leaves

Coconut Flakes for Garnish

Don your best Tiki garb and hula to island music at this sultry Tiki event.

Hit the jump for the cocktails that the fabulous Marcos will be serving up tonight.

TONIGHT at 10pm

Spare Room at Hollywood Roosevelt
7000 Hollywood Boulevard
Los Angeles, California 90028 (map)
(323) 769-7296
Facebook: Spare Room
Twitter: @SpareRoomHwood

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Tales of the Cocktail 2011 Bar Room Brawl People’s Champion: Roger Room + Cocktail Recipes

Damian Windsor by Caroline on Crack

Damian and his winning smile and cocktail-making skills.

So maybe LA missed out on a couple of awards at this year’s Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Awards (Best American Cocktail Bar and American Bartender of the Year) but the boys of Roger Room in West Hollywood brought back the People’s Champion award for Moet Hennessy USA’s 2011 Bar Room Brawl, one of the largest competitions at the annual cocktail industry event! RR bartenders Damian Windsor and Jason Bran and Eric “ET” Tecosky (from Jones) competed against bar teams from Little Branch (NY), The Burritt Room (San Francisco), Sable (Chicago), Eastern Standard (Boston) and Teardrop (Portland), and came up on top, as voted by the people.

Each team had to create four original cocktails using Grand Marnier, Hennessy, Belvedere Vodka and 10 Cane Rum. Here are the Roger Room’s winning cocktails for you to try out at home. Variations of the Spiced Mule and Four Aces are currently on the bar menu but since the other cocktails had appeared in various forms in previous seasonal menus, the guys can do it up for you on request.

Four Aces
By Roger Room, Los Angeles

  • 2 oz Belvedere pure
  • 0.5 oz lime juice
  • 0.5 oz Canton ginger
  • 6 white grapes
  • 2 basil leaves

Muddle, add liquid, ice, shake, strain, top with 2 oz club soda.
Serve double old fashioned.

Spiced Mule
By Roger Room, Los Angeles

  • 2 oz 10 Cane rum
  • 0.5 oz lime juice
  • 0.5 oz liquefied ginger
  • 1 oz spiced simple syrup (nutmeg, cinnamon, vanilla, all spice)

Add liquid, ice, shake, strain over crushed ice. Top with 2 oz club soda.
Serve in tall glass.

Montresor & Fortunato
By Roger Room, Los Angeles

  • 1.5 oz Lustau Amontillado sherry
  • 0.75 oz Grand Marnier Cordon Rouge
  • 0.5 oz Carpano Antica formula
  • Dash angostura bitter
  • Orange peel

Add liquid, ice, stir, strain, garnish with queen Spanish olives.
Serve up in a coupe.

King of the Road
By Roger Room, Los Angeles

  • 1 oz Hennessy VS
  • 0.75 oz Beefeater Gin
  • 0.75 oz Dolin Vermouth Blanc
  • 1 bar spoon Creme Yvette

Add liquid, ice, stir, strain serve on the rocks. Garnish with blackberry on a pick.

The Roger Room
370 N La Cienega Boulevard
West Hollywood, California 90048 (map)
(310) 854-1300
Hours: 6pm-2am daily

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Hangover Cure: 3 Beer Cocktail Recipes From LA Bartenders

Aidan Demarest by Caroline on Crack

Aidan Demarest topping off his own Enlightenment beer cocktail.

Every pro drinker has a hangover remedy in their back pocket, be it Advil and lots of Gatorade, a pile of greasy bacon or, for the masochist, a morning jog. I’m a fan of the hair-of-the-dog remedy. Granted, I only employ this method when I have nothing to do for the rest of my day but it is more fun than all of the above.

Now, one has to be careful with their hangover-curing cocktail of choice. You don’t want one too strong that will just knock you into your next hangover, or one too light with all the personality of a glass of water. Fortunately author Kinglsey Amis documented Evelyn Waugh’s aptly named Noonday Reviver in his book, Everyday Drinking. It combines the curative effects of gin (thanks to the herbs) and ginger beer and the burp-inducing effervescence and hardiness of the stout beer in one restorative cocktail.

The cocktail is currently served at the Spare Room in Hollywood but thanks to mixologist Aidan Demarest, who shared his version of the recipe with me, you can make it in the low-light quietness of your own home.

For other beer cocktails available around the city, check out my list in LA Weekly‘s Squid Ink. By the way, last night I had dinner at Library Alehouse in Santa Monica, and they, too, have a beer cocktail menu featuring classic ones like Snakebite, Black and Tan and Shandie.

Evelyn Waugh’s Noonday Reviver
By Aidan Demarest of The Spare Room

  • 2 ounces Plymouth Gin
  • Half pint Guinness
  • Ginger Beer

Combine gin and beer and fill to top with ginger beer.

Chocolate Stout
By Alex Straus of Bon Vivants and Hemingway’s Lounge

  • 3 ounces Old Rasputin Stout
  • 1 ounce Chivas 18
  • 2 dashes mole bitters
  • 1 dash Angostura bitters

Combine all ingredients in a cocktail tin, stir and served up in a chilled cocktail glass.

The Peche Mel Bellini
By Brooke Williamson of The Tripel

  • 2/3 parts Scaldis Peche Mel Belgian peach beer
  • 1/3 parts cava sparkling wine
  • Fresh peach puree

Combine the peach beer and cava and top with the peach puree.

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Winning Tastes: Charlie Sheen Cocktails by LA Bartenders

The Bitter End by Liza Gershman

The Bitter End cocktail. Photo by Liza Gershman.

Charlie Sheen meme. I was over it before it even started and I definitely didn’t want to jump on the Twitter bandwagon by hashtagging everything with “winning” (ugh, kill me) or follow his Twitter. But when I saw this story about how New York bartenders like Christy Pope and Chad Solomon of Cuff and Buttons created a Charlie Sheen cocktail recipe for their bars, I wondered where our Tiger’s Blood cocktails were. We’re L.A. after all. Sheen is our resident crazy!

So I started tapping into my bartender contacts on Facebook. Interestingly enough, no one responded right away. Even my fave Matt Biancaniello of Library Bar said that he wasn’t interested. Bah! Apparently no one wanted to touch this one with a 10-foot bar spoon.

But then the recipes started trickling in and these folks had a lot of fun with it. Joseph Brooke of the Edison gave me two recipes, one of which involves anything “ending in -caine” depending on availability. The Tasting Kitchen‘s Devon Espinosa figured his “Malibu Messiah” would give “anyone a nice break from reality.” And The Spare Room‘s Naomi Schimek, whom I accosted last night while she was pulling a shift at the Library Bar, came up with a cocktail recipe on the spot, inspired by Sheen’s stint as the sexy con at the police station in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. He was hot and had such promise. Ah well.

You can check out all eight Charlie Sheen-inspired cocktails on my LA Weekly Squid Ink post.

The sad thing is that their cocktails are only available if you make them yourself since their bars won’t be serving them any time soon. Unless you ask for the Extremely Highball or One-Shift F-18 from Joseph at the Edison directly. “Oh, I’ll absolutely make one (sans -caine) if somebody requests it from me, but it’s not going on the list anytime soon. Maybe if the Edison opens up on Mars…”

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La Descarga’s New Cocktail Menu Debuts Tonight + Recipes

Pablo Moix making a cocktail by Caroline on Crack

Mixologist Pablo Moix will take it to the next level tonight.

So tonight is the launch of La Descarga‘s much talked-about cocktail, The Next Level. Mixologist Pablo Moix had hinted at its arrival when the East Hollywood bar first opened back in February. But since Josh Lurie of NBC LA’s Feast already did such a great job of covering this cocktail made of hollowed-out ice spheres, I’ll just list the brand-new cocktails’ recipes which also debut tonight. Thanks to Steve Livigni, general manager and mixologist, for sending them over.

Bonus is that one of the cocktails, the Brisa de Oaxaca, is actually named after Bricia Lopez of Oaxacan restaurants, Pal Cabron and La Guelaguetza. Funny thing is that I just met her for the first time this week and she IS adorable and worthy of being commemorated in cocktail. And some of you may remember the tasty Bad Spaniard that was mentioned on LA Times‘ Daily Dish blog when the bar first opened but never made it on the menu. Well, it’s there now so yay!

Anyway, here are the recipes if you’d like to try them at home…should you have pineapple gum syrup or tres leches liqueur lying around:

Bad Spaniard:

  • 1 oz Cruzan Blackstrap Rum
  • 1 oz Averna Amaro
  • 1 oz Tres Leches liqueur
  • 1 egg yolk

Shake and strain into a coupe glass.

Barbados Buck:

  • 2 oz Cockspur fine rum
  • .75 oz lime juice
  • .25 oz simple syrup
  • Dash of old fashioned bitters

1) Shake and strain into a Collins glass filled with cubed ice.

2) Fill with ginger beer.

3) Garnish with a lime wedge.

Brisa de Oaxaca:

  • 1 oz La Vida Mezcal
  • 1 oz Yellow Chartreuse
  • .75 oz lime juice
  • .25 orange juice
  • 1 barspoon of sugar

1) Shake and strain into a coupe glass.

2) Garnish with a lime wheel.

La Aurora:

  • 2 oz Herradura Tequila
  • .75 oz Port
  • 1 oz Lime Juice
  • .5 oz Cane Syrup

Top with Soda Water

Poco de Pina:

  • 1 oz Gran Sierpe Pisco
  • 1 oz Benedictine
  • 1 oz pineapple gum syrup
  • .75 oz lemon juice

1) Shake and strain into a coupe glass.

2) Garnish with a lemon wheel.

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A Q&A With Joseph Brooke of The Edison

Joseph Brooke, The Edison's new director of spirits

Joseph Brooke, The Edison's new director of spirits

I was bummed that I couldn’t get anywhere near the dreamy and very much in demand Joseph Brooke, the Edison’s new director of spirits, when he was mixing cocktails at the packed Radio Room last week. But was thrilled when I got the chance to interview him for LA Weekly‘s Squid Ink. For that, Joe gave me 40 minutes of great stories, insights and even cocktail recipes.

I thought for sure my editor wouldn’t want to use the whole Q&A. Although damn interesting, it was pretty long for a Squid Ink blog post. But I figured I’d just take whatever questions she didn’t want to use and post them on my blog. Turns out she liked ‘em all. Yay!

It’s long but if you’re so inclined and have any interest about where the Edison is heading under Joe’s command, what’s going to be the next It cocktail and who’s his bartender idol, you might want to give it a look-see. He’s a pretty funny and interesting guy so you won’t get bored.

And I’m happy to say that Joe was also good enough to give me a couple of cocktail recipes that he’s going to add to the Edison’s menu. His Porco Rosso debuted at the Radio Room last week and his tentatively named Jack Doe is an aromatic that he created for a quick shake and dump. But I’m especially excited that he gave me a mocktail recipe, too, since I’m on my booze fast til April. Anyway, enjoy.

Although it’s pretty dark, here’s a video of Joe shaking up a cocktail.

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