The Bon Vivant’s Companion

Wanted to take a minute to brag a little about my guys, the Bon Vivant Bartenders.

Over the last two years I’ve developed a team of bartenders for catering events, private parties, and corporate clients. They are smart, funny, creative mixologists, and a hell of a lot of fun to work with. (Unfortunately, not all of them are pictured.)

I was filing away event pictures yesterday and (besides being struck by how cool my guys look) was amazed by the number of events we’ve executed in the last twelve months.  We’ve been in Prince’s living room, at the Kentucky Derby, the SAG Awards, the Golden Globes, and behind every bar at every party thrown by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.  (We spend so much time at the Academy, they’re thinking about getting us an office.  Actually, we could use a statue….)

We’ve been to San Francisco for the Black and White Ball, to Vegas for the Tiger Woods Foundation, and Phoenix for the NBA All Star Game, and that’s just a random sampling.  Last year, as a team, we knocked out more than 200 events.

Recently, we’ve taken our our act global (or at least international), with one guy representing me at a Michael Jordan event in the Bahamas, and another in Cabo with Chelsea Handler & Friends overseeing her birthday cocktails on the beach.  Tough job, but as the saying goes…

The BV Bartenders are a group of really great guys.  I’m thankful for their hard work, impressed by their talent, and moved by their sense of teamwork and loyalty.  (Occasionally, I want to hold one of them down in a tub of ice until they’re unconscious, but overall, I’m a very lucky girl.)  Their professionalism and talent is the reason for my company’s growth and success.  I, quite literally, couldn’t do it without them.

Thanks guys,
Jen

To learn more about these highly-trained cocktail professionals,

check us out at:
www.bonvivantevents.com

Below is a recipe based on the one created for Chelsea Handler’s Birthday extravaganza.

(Ms. Chandler pictured above)

Grey Goose “Margarita”

The “We know it can’t really be a Margarita without tequila, but this is pretty damn close, cocktail”
Based on a Recipe by Randy Evans

2 oz Grey Goose Le Citron
Homemade sour mix to taste (recipe below)
½ oz Cointreau
Salt for Rim
Lime wedge

Pour vodka, Cointreau, sour mix, and ice into a shaker.  Shake gently.
Pour entire contents into a glass rimmed with salt.  Garnish with a lime.

Homemade Sour Mix:
(Randy’s recipe is top secret.  This one is mine)
1 cup lemon juice
¾ cup lime juice
1 cup simple syrup
2 egg whites (the egg whites are optional).  They add a really great texture and mouth feel to the finished cocktail.

If you are worried about the raw egg, I recoment using pasturized Eggology Egg Whites.

The Gimlet was my first foray into big girl cocktails.  It taught me that alcohol wasn’t (entirely) meant to be consumed from plastic cups in someone’s dorm room…

After college, I lived down the block from Chicago’s iconic Green Mill, an old Capone hangout, and a really great jazz bar.  A serious establishment that, I felt, demanded a serious cocktail.  My novice attempt at “serious” was to order a martini — straight up.  It almost killed me.  I was 22 and had heard about martinis, had seen martinis (mainly in the Thin Man movies), but did not realize martinis were solid vodka, and an acquired taste.

Luckily, the Green Mill’s no-nonsense bartender was a highly trained professional.  He watched my seizure-inducing fist sip, laughed, and rescued me with a vodka gimlet.  (A drink that, to my untrained eye, seemed remarkably similar to the one I had just choked on.)  Using almost the same ingredients, the bartender tweaked the flavor profile by adding the Gimlet’s signature ingredient, Roses’ Lime.   I was amazed that such a small adjustment could transform a drink so completely.  The cocktail, still elegant in its up glass, now had a subtly, tart sweetness that cut through the chilled vodka making it far more palatable.   In an instant I went from being overwhelmed by bold alcohol, to having a new “go to drink” that was sophisticated, but simple enough to order at any bar.

These days I live in LA, appreciate a well-made martini, and prefer my gimlets with gin, fresh lime, and homemade simple syrup.  But I recognize that the Green Mill Gimlet was my gateway cocktail, and my introduction to mixology as conversation.

Gimlet

2 oz. Vodka or Gin
1/2 oz. Simple Syrup*
1/2 oz. Fresh Lime Juice*
(*Or substitute 1 oz. Roses’ Lime juice for Syrup and Lime Juice)

Pour ingredients into a Boston Shaker over ice
Shake until chilled
Strain into a martini glass
Garnish with a lime