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October 28, 2010

Villains Tavern’s Fall Drink Menu: He Said, She Said Cocktail Review

Dave Whitton making a cocktail by Caroline on Crack

Villains Tavern's Dave Whitton making a cocktail.

Last week, Downtown’s Villains Tavern debuted its new fall cocktail menu to some media types. And since I couldn’t go I asked my friend John of Social Domain if he could check it out for me. As I told the PR peeps for Villains, I trust John’s tastebuds. But turned out they said I could still swing by the next day to try the cocktails. A good thing since John didn’t really take any good pictures as “they are jar drinks and they didn’t show well.”

So below are mine and John’s “He Said, She Said” tasting notes on the cocktails which were created by general manager/mixmaster Dave Whitton and will be available at Villains Tavern’s Dark Carnival Halloween event tomorrow and Saturday nights!

Blackheart ($11): Goslings dark rum, Blackheart spiced rum, rum batter, hot water, heavy whipping cream

Blackheart cocktail

John: This didn’t strike me well at first. Tasted like dishwater. Then I figured out I was drinking it wrong. It was the hot water that was throwing me off. The idea is to let it sit for a bit and settle. Then drink it like an Irish coffee, carefully getting some cream off the top with the boozy bottom such that it blends in your mouth. And I mean boozy.
Me: Blackheart is basically hot buttered rum, which I lurve. So potent, buttery, sinful and rich. When I had this, it was really cold outside so this worked well to warm up my bones.

Day of the Dead ($11): Mulled spice cider, vodka, Apple Jack, bitters

Day of the Dead cocktail

John: Didn’t take to this one, thought it was flat, no depth of flavor that holiday drinks should have. Why the vodka? That seemed to be the problem. Dave explains that it is for people who normally like the narrow flavor profile of vodka soda. Ok.�So he reworks it with bourbon and is what it is supposed to be. Now the spiced cider, apple jack and bitters have a leg to stand on.
Me: Apparently this is the only drink Dave created that he didn’t add sugar to and yet he didn’t have to. I liked that subtle tartness and sweetness of the apple. This spiked cider would be so comforting on a cold, rainy night. I’m usually not a fan of vodka but you really don’t taste its jagged edge in this drink, a good thing. For the recipe of this autumn drink, hit the jump.

Edgar Allan Poe ($12): Fighting Cock Bourbon, green apple juice, organic egg, sugar, grated nutmeg

Edgar Allan Poe cocktail

John: Green apple is the magic here. Balancing out what might appear at first to be a heavy cocktail. Usually heavy and sticky at the family Christmas party, this has nothing in common with that except the heavy spiking that is obviously present.
Me: Tastes like artificial sweetener on the finish even though it’s made with real sugar. It was OK. Strong whiff of nutmeg. Not sure if I’d pay $12 for it. Not my fave.

Sleepy Hollow ($9): Gin, pumpkin, citrus, organic egg whites, sugar, heavy whipping cream, chocolate chili bitters

Sleepy Hollow cocktail

John: Here’s something that doesn’t seem right. Gin and pumpkin. I admit to not getting that much of the pumpkin, but did get a nose of sewing machine oil. This is promising. Into the drink again with great balance of citrus with the cream. The chocolate chili bitters are more apparent toward the end as you work through the cream.
Me: This Halloween take on the Ramos Gin Fizz wasn’t listed on the menu (they say it’s a Bartender’s Choice) but they’re serving it through November. Unlike John, I liked it just fine. It’s creamy but surprisingly light. And I like the fact that here’s this pumpkin cocktail that’s not disgustingly sweet, thick or milky.

By the way, I was skeptical about the food at this bar but was pleasantly surprised. I can’t speak to the burger or the grilled cheese sandwich but the Pharoah salad with farro is fricken tasty and so fresh, as well as satisfying. Of course we had to supplement these with the Indian peas, which are so addictively salty and crisp but not crunchy. I wish they sold these in bags so that I could enjoy them at home with a beer.

Villains Tavern
1356 Palmetto Street
Los Angeles, California 91003 (map)
(213) 613-0766
Facebook: Villains Tavern
Twitter: @VillainsTavern

Categories: Cocktails, Featured, Los Angeles, Recipes

6 Comments

August 9, 2010

My 5th Blogiversary Party at First & Hope + Cocktail Punch Recipe

Beth, Lara, me, Aidan and Marcos on Caroline on Crack

Beth, Lara, me, Aidan and Marcos at First & Hope for my 5th blogiversary.

If you were a reader of my blog two years ago, no doubt you attended my 3rd blogiversary party at Bar Lubitsch. That was a big ‘un with liquor sponsors and a raffle-like giveaway. Since this year was my 5th, my friends and crackheads were asking if I had planned to do anything that big or bigger. But since I’m focusing my resources and time on blogger prom (which is September 22), no such luck for a huge shindig of my own. Perhaps next year, though.

Fortunately, First & Hope and my ol’ friend Aidan Demarest were kind enough to offer up the supper club’s swank and intimate Fedora Lounge as the venue for my 5th blogiversary party. Very nice considering it was pretty last minute; on Friday, I put on my Facebook that I wondered if I should celebrate my blog’s anniversary and later that afternoon Aidan offered up First & Hope. He promised punch, Edison beer and appetizers. OK!

But when I arrived at the downtown supper club that Tuesday night, I saw that the folks there went above and beyond. We had our own bartender, the whole room to ourselves, wonderful apps, a delicious punch created by bartender Brent Falco (for the recipe, hit the jump) and even a “5 Years! Caroline on Crack” slide on the big screen over the stage.

And, sure, I didn’t have nearly the same huge turnout that I did for my 3rd but all my blogger pals showed up to give me a high-five and to partake of the tasty beverages of course. So great hanging out with HC of LA/OC Foodventures; Andy, Elise, Julie and Lindsay of LAist; Matt of Mattatouille; John of Social Domain; Daniel of Thirsty in LA; Nancy of The Wanderkind; Julian of Jewelz; Christine of Folie a Choisauce; Fiona of Gourmet Pigs; and Connie of Hey, Hey Scenesters.

Marcos Tello and Aidan (the mixologist duo behind First & Hope’s bar program) joked that they did a collection to finally get me a crack rock and then proceeded to give a very sweet speech that brought a tear to my eye. Can’t believe I’ve known those guys since that downtown whiskey bar that shall be unnamed first opened! For sweets, old friends Beth of Busy Beth’s Blog and her sister Lara brought me a tasty strawberry cake from Phoenix Bakery in Chinatown.

We all ate, drank, laughed and drank some more. I couldn’t ask for a better celebration. Thanks, First & Hope and all my friends. And if you weren’t there due to whatever illness, you were missed!

Categories: Cocktails, Los Angeles, Nightlife, Recipes

1 Comment

July 20, 2010

Arriba Ice Cream: Rosa Mexicano’s Festival de Helados

Rosa Mexicano's ice cream

As a fan of ice cream and a huuuge fan of Scoops, there’s not much more you can surprise me with in terms of how my favorite frozen treat is served or the flavors it’s offered in. I’ve had it in beer, fried, nitrogenated and foie gras flavored. So, yes, when I was invited to the beer and ice cream social at Rosa Mexicano in Downtown to check out the restaurant’s annual ice cream festival, “Festival de Helados,” I admit it, I shrugged. But once I actually read the flavors being offered at this little media party I rsvp’d asap.

The festival, which celebrates the flavors of Mexico, runs through August 1 and til then you can choose from 7 ice creams and 3 sorbets (farmed out from Milk Ice Cream Shop on Beverly Boulevard), 6 house-made toppings and 3 ice cream desserts. Think of all the flavor combination possibilities! But at this social they were making some special off-the-menu beer floats (about $8 each) which paired whatever ice cream flavor we wanted with either the Modelo Especiale (light) or the Negro Modelo (dark) beers.

FYI, there are other beers available — Corona, Dos Equis, Pacifico, Tecate — but Chef John England felt that the Modelo brews would pair with the ice cream the best. And he was right. The Especiale was perfect with the pucker-inducing tomatillo-lime sorbet, soothing away that tartiness as it would with a lime wedge. The richer Negro paired awesomely with the Mexican chocolate as well as the cinnamon chocolate cookies and cream.

Naturally, there were some flavors on the menu that I wasn’t exactly over the moon about, like the astringent hibiscus pomegranate sorbet and the Mexican chocolate and the blueberry crema which were just OK, not really standing out for me. But I did find the creamy and caramelly sea salted cajeta and the unusual sweet corn and caramel popcorn intriguing. However, my ultimate favorite had to be the pomegranate mint fudge swirl which offered an unusual flavor combination that actually worked here. I thought that the pomegranate and mint would meld together in a cough syrupy taste sensation but it was actually pretty mellow enough where I could still enjoy the chocolate chips. Yummy! I don’t think I’d douse beer on this one though.

If you’d like to try these unusual, festive flavors, you better get thee to Rosa Mexicano right quick before the festival ends in a couple weeks as none of these ice creams and sorbets will be carried over onto the regular menu. Not that the regular menu isn’t worth looking at, after all it has flavors like Mexican chocolate mole sorbet, prickly pear and blueberry sorbet and coffee-Kahlua. Mmm!

UPDATE: Rosa Mexicano decided to keep the pomegranate mint fudge swirl on the regular menu post-festival! Nope, I didn’t have anything to do with that. Apparently every year there is usually one flavor that stays on as it’s the most popular, and this time it was the pom-mint so after this past Saturday’s cooking demo the chefs decided to keep it. Yay!

Hit the jump for the festival menu…

Categories: Dining, Featured, Los Angeles, Sweets