Tag: cocktail

Aperol

It has slowly seeped into my consciousness, by means of various restaurant cocktails and general reading, that Aperol is delicious. I will have to try and acquire some. To that end, two recipes for later reference:

Aperol Spritz
1 1/2 ounces Aperol
3 ounces Prosecco or sparkling wine, chilled
Sparkling mineral water or club soda, chilled
1 lemon or orange slice

Pamplemousse (from Orangette)
½ oz. Aperol
2 oz. freshly squeezed grapefruit juice, pulp strained out and discarded
2 oz. dry white wine

Fill a tall glass about halfway with ice cubes. Add the Aperol, juice, and wine, and stir to blend. Strain into glass.

Eastern Standard has definitely improved

I mean, we always liked it. The steak tartare was tops and the cocktails were always well made, and you can’t beat the busy comfortable vintage atmosphere. But most things were drastically oversalted, and the cocktail attitude needed to be adjusted — when I read your cocktail menu, I’d at least like to know the general flavor and format of the drinks.

Notwithstanding, we’ve been going there a few times a year now for several years, and this last visit, we realized: all those problems have gone. There’s a new cocktail menu, still a little oblique but at least you know whether you’ll get gin or whisky or fruit or bitters. Nothing that arrived was oversalted, and the scallops in spicy roast corn was truly one of the best things I’ve ever eaten there, perfectly balanced, creamy, spicy, savory and light.

So yay — a place we liked a lot before has a lot more to like now.

Frontera Grill – sparkling passion and chicken soup

We had the usual array of delightful things at Frontera Grill last night, but two things stood out clearly. One was a chicken soup appetizer that arrived glowing verdantly with bits of avocado and some leafy item. It tasted of rich, strong chicken broth and had bits of crisped chicken skin floating in there along with the vegetables. Spectacularly good.

The other was a cocktail made of Harpoon IPA, passionfruit juice, fresh lime, and hibiscus tea to tint it pink. Luscious, with a hint of bitter hops and bubbles cutting through the sweet passionfruit. Perfect for summertime.