The Bon Vivant’s Companion

In search of my next post I went to Surfas (a restaurant supply store) for inspiration.  Their selection of mixers and syrups always gets me thinking, but I didn’t come away with a new cocktail idea, I came away with a bottle opener.  I couldn’t help it.  The thing stalked me.  Its big laughing face was everywhere I turned; by the mixers, by the bar gadgets, and finally by the register.  The last thing I need is another bottle opener. I own hundreds (literally), so I tried to fight my desire for this one.  But when I got up front and saw a basket of them sitting near the credit card machine, I was too weak to resist.  Damn impulse purchase marketing…

I’m now the proud owner of a brightly painted, slightly menacing Beijing Opera mask bottle opener, and I must admit, I love it.  It’s another “good object.”  The colors are glossy, the slightly tapered disk fits comfortably in the palm of my hand, and the angry opening makes quick work of bottle caps.  Not that I opened THAT many bottles last night…

And since it’s tough to have buyer’s remorse over something that costs $4.99, I’ve decided to make another trip to Surfas and wipe them out of their inventory.  There are multiple colors available, and each opener has a different, wildly painted image on either side (see pictures), making them two-faced, if you will.  I plan on giving them as gifts to friends who can prove to me they really love beer – or cool gadgets.  I’m also thinking these openers will score me points when given as hostess gifts.

To get one for yourself, or the discerning beer drinker in your life, you might be able to beat me to Surfas and get one while they’re still there.  If not, they are available online at Ebay (of all places), or this store (the only web store I could find – so you know these will be relatively hard to get and unique when you give them).  That is, if you can part with them….

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.

In the Midwest, ice the size of a golf ball is something you run from as it falls from the sky, in LA it’s something you swirl in a cocktail.

At Bar Centro, part of the newly opened SLS Hotel near Beverly Hills, ice is the centerpiece of their “Ultimate Gin and Tonic”.  Floating in edible flowers, herbs, and your choice of tonic, is a perfect, frosty sphere.  No clunky rocks, nothing from a 1,000-pound machine, just an elegant, crystal-clear ball of ice.  Thick and round it melts slowly, chilling the cocktail without diluting it.

Throw in cucumbers, spices, and greenery, and you have a garden in a glass; a deconstructed gin and tonic if you will.  Perfect for a party, and with the right tools, easy to recreate at home.  A trip to the produce department, and a spherical ice mold is all you need.

I recommend the mold from the MoMa store. Its thoughtful design is compact and doesn’t require an engineering degree, although filling it takes a little patience.  Running water slowly through a pour spout (the kind you put in a bottle of spirits) inverted over the mold’s tiny hole helps it fill faster.  The resulting little ice balls are fun and worth the time.

Having survived an icy Chicago Christmas, these cocktail spheres are the closest I’m getting to snowballs or ice for the rest of the winter.  Home in LA, I will gladly sip my perfectly chilled gin and tonic in 75-degree weather, and think fondly of friends and family stuck in subzero temperatures.  (Those suckers are going to need all the good thoughts they can get…)

If you are in the LA area, Bar Centro is worth a visit.  The bar is filled (almost exclusively) with Sex and the City-type women, and has been designed by uber hipster Philippe Stark.  The lounge buzzes and whirs with a modernity that will go out of style quickly, but be remembered fondly (like disco lights and Halston jumpsuits) so catch it while it’s hot. There are two restaurants and a sweet shop on the bar level as well.

Bar Centro @ SLS Hotel
465 S. La Cienega Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90048
Phone: (310) 247-0400
Monday-Wednesday, Sunday 6pm-12am; Thursday-Saturday 6pm-2am
Map

Looking for a cocktail to serve at your Inauguration party next week?  Try an Obamartini or Biden Beer Bomb. I created these cocktails during the presidential debate season last fall, and they were two of my most popular posts for ’08.  Interest in them seems to be spiking again, so I thought I’d present them together.  Besides having catchy names (if I do say so myself) these cocktails are easy, festive, and in the case of the Obamatini, downright patriotic.

Throw your own Inaugural Ball next Tuesday. Invite friends and family over, huddle around the big screen (while our fellow citizens freeze in DC), and raise a very full glass to the peaceful transfer of power, a new era, and a whole lot of hope.

Fun Party tips:

-Buy a life sized Obama cutout at a party supply store for photo ops.
-Burn a copy of the Inaugural address and loop it all night long.
-Treat your guests to a West Wing Marathon.  Even on mute this series (democratic porn, really) will raise hopes and elevate spirits.

The Obamartini

2 oz original Grey Goose Vodka
1 oz fresh pressed blueberry juice
½ oz simple syrup
¼ oz Chambord
¼ oz fresh squeezed lemon juice
Pour all ingredients over ice into a Boston Shaker
Shake until cold and strain into a martini glass
Skewer blueberry, marshmallow, and piece of strawberry (in that order) onto an olive pick and garnish away.

The Biden Beer Bomb

½ bottle of Sam Adams Cherry Wheat Beer (or beer of your choice.  Wheat beer or hefeweizen works best)
1½ oz Woodford Reserve Bourbon
½ oz Cherry Brandy
¼  oz simple syrup

Run water over beer mug and put in freezer while preparing cocktail.

Place bourbon, cherry brandy, and simple syrup in a Boston shaker with ice.  Shake until cold.
Pour mixture into the bottom of an ice-cold mug.  Add beer to taste.

After a month (or two) of holiday imbibing I take it easy during the first week of the year.  So instead of a cocktail recipe, I wanted to share a fun find — Absinthe lollipops.

Available online from Lollyphile, these pops are substantial but won’t leave you tipsy, or talking to green fairies (that’s what the liquid stuff is for).  They use real absinthe in these (excuse the pun) suckers, but during the cooking process the alcohol burns off.  Legal levels of thujone (the alleged hallucination causing chemical found in wormwood) and a subtle licorice-green flavor remains. Yes, I said licorice-green flavor.  (Turns out candied Absinthe is tough to describe.)

Made in San Francisco by Jason Lewis, a self-described candyphile, these lollipops are elegant conversation-starters.  Give Absinthe lollipops as gifts, add them to packages, or share them as party favors.

They’re tasty, so remember to keep a couple for yourself.

Check out the Lollyphile website for a chuckle and more info:

http://www.lollyphile.com/

Wasabi-ginger, and maple-bacon (yes, bacon) lollipops also available.

Thanksgiving dinner was a family affair this year.  My sister provided delicious experimental cheeses, my cousin threw down with me in the kitchen, and my boyfriend kept a stiff upper lip while my relations teased him about – well –everything.  It was a tough crowd, and we needed a cocktail that would pair well with food, football, and anger management.

I settled on Cornucopia Sangria, a cocktail recently published in the San Francisco Chronicle.  Written by Stacy Finz, this great article suggests holiday cocktails for every imaginable occasion. (Except maybe hating the holidays, which, I guess, is what whiskey and a dark room are for.)

Adapted from “Peterson’s Holiday Helper,” by Valerie Peterson, the Cornucopia calls for chopped whole cranberries, oranges, apples, and red Rioja (a deeply colored, medium bodied Spanish wine with hints of berry).   Macerate (which is a fancy way of saying marinate) the chopped fruit in triple sec for a bit, and then stir the Rioja and sparkling cider into the mix.

Cocktail notes:
*Add the sparkling cider slowly, and to taste.  Depending on the quality and flavor of the Rioja you are using, too much sparkling cider can dilute the flavors of the wine.

*Let the mixture sit for a while, the flavor becomes richer over time.

*Although, not traditionally part of a sangria recipe, for a cocktail with a little more body (and a lot more kick) try mixing in a touch of vodka — we added a little Grey Goose.  By the time dinner rolled around the turkey was a little on the dry side, but we weren’t.

This sangria is great for groups, daytime sipping, and helping you through holiday duties like present wrapping, cookie baking, and the hauling out of ornaments (or fighting about the hauling out of ornaments). Whatever happens in your house.

For the full SF Gate article on holiday cocktails, including the Cornucopia Sangria recipe, click here.

Today is the 75th anniversary of the death of the 18th Amendment, otherwise known as Prohibition, and celebrations are ringing out across the land.

But first some history:

Prohibition began on January 16, 1920, when at the stroke of midnight, all of America became a dry county.  The government’s intention was to end crime and drunkenness, but instead the 18th amendment crushed the country’s spirits industry, uprooted vineyards, and put the “organized” in organized crime.  To enjoy a sip of alcohol, formerly law abiding citizens turned to gangsters, smuggled it in from Canada, or made their own (with ingredients like turpentine no less).

Prohibition ushered in the birth of the dive bar and the death of mixology.  (Actually, mixology didn’t die — it’s like it pricked its finger on an enchanted FBI agent and fell into a deep dark sleep for decades.)  Bartenders like Harry Craddock (of Savoy Cocktail Book fame) and Fernand “Pete” Petiot (an architect of the Blood Mary), who had been lauded as artisans, became drug dealers overnight.  Suddenly making a gin and tonic didn’t just break the law, it violated the Constitution.  Drinking was forced into back rooms and basements as the country’s watering holes were shut down — and shut down hard.  To make a living top bartenders fled to Cuba or Europe (creating a pretty nifty cocktail culture in their wake).  The next time you have a Harvey Wallbanger in Paris, thank Prohibition.

Prohibition turned ordinary citizens into criminals for 13 years, and echos of that ill-fated amendment exist today in the form of “blue laws”.   Laws (usually socially or religiously motivated) that restrict the sale and consumption of alcohol.  Try to purchase beer before noon on Sunday (or any day in most of Utah) and you’ll see what I mean.  Seems that Americans still love righteousness and liquor in equal parts.  One can only hope that we’ve learned our lesson about making changes to the Constitution based on religious outrage….

Sorry — I just cracked myself up….

To celebrate Repeal Day:

At Home:

-Wine from California, Oregon, or Washington.
-Leopold’s Gin, small batches and American made
-Hudson Whiskey, New York’s first Post Prohibition Whiskey.

On the town:

New York
This city is chock full of bars infamous, famous, and old.  To me, this is the center of all things Prohibition. Click here for a list of the oldest bars in New York.

Chicago:
You can’t throw a bottle cap without finding a speakeasy in this city, but I recommend you head straight to The Green Mill.  One of Capone’s guys owned a stake in this place so it was open for business during most of the 20’s.  I used to live around the corner from this bar, and miss it more than you can say.  They can fit an entire jazz band on a stage that is the size of a small living room, and somehow there is still room for dancing.  If you go (and you must)sit at Capone’s table (the booth with its back to the wall, and a view of all the doors) and have a gimlet for me.

Los Angeles
The Golden Gopher has had an active liquor license since 1905.  It seems the Feds overlooked the liquor license for serving spirits to go when the confiscated the one in the bar…. Today they are celebrating Repeal day with 75-cent Dewar’s cocktails.

The Edison Downtown has a lovely celebration planned for this evening. It will include a batch of their own special Woodford Reserve Bourbon Mixture and a midnight toast to the Women’s Temperance League. Nice Touch.  Click here for my review of their cocktail hour.

New Orleans:
Well—as you can imagine—there are multiple bars celebrating this day.  Click here for an informative article, as well as a list of Nola watering holes.
Cheers.

Michigan Ave

Did you spend election night dancing in the streets?    Does your head hurt from all of the excitement?

Well, whether you’ve been screaming in celebration or smashing things in anguish, I have a morning after cocktail “experience” for you – how about a bloody Mary the size of your car?  That’ll fix what ails you….

Stanley’s Kitchen and Tap, has been dishing out soul food in Chicago’s Lincoln Park since 1993.  The place is kitschy watering hole designed to feel like a ramshackle Louisiana shack (the pre-Katrina, Disneyesque version), complete with gingham curtains and Christmas tree  Stanley’s has a full menu, a weekend brunch buffet, and plenty of high tops and big screens for sports watching.  So go ahead and torture yourself with (insert name of Chicago sports team here)  while sipping bourbon, and munching ribs.  If you feel like a little heavy lifting, belly up to their “build your own” Bloody Mary bar for a Bloody Mary experience (yes, I am going to keep calling it that).

You begins with a Big Gulp sized paper cup filled with ice, 3 ½ shots of vodka, and a straw for your sipping convenience.  Next, take the cup to the main bar where you’ll find every Bloody Mary ingredient known to man.  Want Tomato juice?  Clamato?  Both?  There’s plenty of room in that cup, so knock yourself out.  I lumped horseradish, worcestershire sauce, and Tabasco into my cocktail, and finished it off with pickles, and a shake of black pepper.

On the way back to the table I grabbed a heaping plate of fried chicken and waffles, and settled in for one of the most pleasant (if not calorically shameful) breakfasts of my life.

I plan on stealing the “build your own” idea for my next brunch.  Lining up condiments in a thoughtful way is very easy to replicate at home. It’ll get my guests moving, and keep me from playing bartender all day.

Now, how to replicate the fried chicken experience….

Candy Dominoes, delicious treats that won’t threaten your relationship with blue jeans.

I discovered these little guys in the toy section of Jonathan Wright and Company (my favorite stationery shop), and used them as decorations at an adult birthday party.  The nostalgic images are retro in a way that makes grown-ups want to play with them (and play with them), but sturdy enough for a two year old to smash (and smash).

As a game, match the bright, candy tiles end to end until a player wins.  As party decorations, sprinkle them all over the table to whimsical effect.

Can’t get to Jonathan Wright’s in LA?  You can find Eeboo Candy Dominoes at Amazon.com.

To keep the game interesting, play while sipping on a grown-up Root Beer Float.  This cocktail was inspired by the soda fountain feel of the dominoes, and is a great example of how a small design choice can influence the overall theme of an event.

Root Beer Float Cocktail
1 ½ oz Original Grey Goose Vodka
1 oz Root Beer Schnapps
¼ oz Bailey’s Irish Cream
¼ Crème de Cacao
Vanilla Ice Cream
Splash of Cream Soda

Put Vodka, Schnapps, and Root Beer Schnapps in a Boston Shaker over ice.  Shake until chilled. Pour entire contents into a tall glass.  Finish with a splash of cream soda, and a small scoop of vanilla ice cream.  (A cookie dough scoop, or melon baller creates the perfect sized scoop for this cocktail.) Add a straw and enjoy!

As a displaced Chicagoan I take my hot dogs very seriously. They have to be Vienna Beef with neon green relish. Sport peppers, celery salt, and poppy seed buns, need to be involved too. I’ve had zero luck replicating this experience in Los Angeles.

Don’t even talk to me about Pinks – it’s a lovely place – but I’m always the yahoo holding up the line while acting out what a sport pepper is. I’ve given up. Now I order take-out from Chicago — yes — the City of.

I get my fix from Lou Manati’s Tastes of Chicago, a nation wide delivery service wittily named for the city’s renowned food festival. Lou Malnati’s Pizzeria is famous for deep-dish and they’ve partnered with legends like Portillo’s Hot Dogs, Carson’s Ribs, and Eli’s Cheesecake to deliver Chicago delicacies anywhere — overnight. Think about that. You could be eating authentic Chicago deep-dish tomorrow.

I’ve ordered from Lou’s for birthdays, holidays, Valentine’s Day, and recently had them cater my Presidential Debate party. (We gorged ourselves on the food pictured above while throwing back Biden Beer Bombs.)

Tastes of Chicago is an amazing party resource. They employ the most helpful service people to ever work an 800 number, have packages to feed 2 or 20, and their food will flip your guests out — especially the Chicagoans.

Lou Malnati’s packages ship quickly with the contents safely nestled in dry ice to keep them cold, and printed on the outside of their red white and blue boxes is the sentiment “Someone must love you.”

Lou — right back at you.

Order online at:

http://www.tastesofchicago.com/

Pizza by the month, and Holiday Specials are available.