Bourbon…brownest of the brown liquors…so tempting…

First a disclaimer: IANAL – I Am Not A Lawyer.

I mean, I’m freakin’ SURROUNDED by them around here in the DC area, folks like…my brother. My co-blogger. Friends. Coworkers. Cocktailians.

But that doesn’t mean I know anything.

However, I shall go on anyways, because that’s what we bloggers do. And hey, a little controversy never hurt anyone, did it? (It did? Oh.)

There were three events that caused me to want to write this post. First, a certain small start-up syrups company had to change their name. Second, a bar in New York was forced to change their name (and see if you can see the thematic similarity between the two!). Third, while visiting a local bar with a solid cocktail program, a short conversation between a tourist and the bartender forced me to rethink my opinions on this topic.

INCIDENT ONE: TRADER TIKI SYRUPS BECOMES B. G. REYNOLDS’ EXOTIC SYRUPS.

On June 8th, Blair “Trader Tiki” Reynolds announced that he was changing the name of his company to B. G. Reynolds’ Exotic Syrups – and he changed the URL of his site as well. There wasn’t a huge online uproar about this.

Google results for "tiki trader"

Quick disclaimer: I’ve known Blair for quite a while and consider him a friend.

He wouldn’t say who caused this to happen, though for some of us it was pretty to easy to figure out. Heck, start doing a Google Instant search for “tiki trader” and look at what you get – or look to the side here and see what I got.

If you know anything about these kind of things, you know that brands have to protect themselves. If they fail to go after people with similar names, they can lose the protection on their name. Therefore, when a company with a very similar name is also selling syrups, you know they’re going to want to protect themselves. From my understanding, there were discussions on it, but it’s just a question a lot of times of who has deeper pockets.

According to Rumdood, Blair was “neither bitter nor angry” at what happened. On the other hand, he points out that they haven’t (as far as one can tell) gone after Disney for having “Trader Sam’s Tiki Bar” and theorizes it’s because Disney has a bigger law budget.

I’m sure that doesn’t hurt, but there’s something else, too: as far as I can tell online, it’s not selling syrups online. Therefore, Trader Sam’s becomes advertising for Trader Vic’s and not competition.

Let me put this straight out there though: I own all of the B. G. Reynolds’ syrups, save one, and they’re all fantastic. Yes, Blair is a friend of mine, but I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend them to anyone. I’ve even bought a number of extra bottles for friends and relatives! Go out there and buy some!

TRUST THIS MAN

Besides, how can you not trust that smiling face?

GIVE HIM ?YOUR MONEYS!

Ahem, sorry about that. Let’s look at incident number the second.

INCIDENT TWO: DUE TO LAWSUIT, PAINKILLER BAR IN NYC BECOMES PKNY.

PKNY

Disclaimer: I don’t know anybody, really, from PKNY, except over Facebook, and haven’t been to their bar.

From what I understand and have read, this is what happened in a chronological order starting back in 1971. From Off The Presses, according to Beachbum Berry, the Painkiller was created in a bar in 1971 called the Soggy Dollar. Back then, it used Cruzan and Mount Gay rums.

In 1979, Pusser’s Rum was founded. From the founder’s statement, he got permission from the owner of the Soggy Dollar bar to trademark the Painkiller approximately 25 years ago. Approximately 8 years ago, they started work on a ready-to-drink Painkiller and have trademarks on both an alcoholic and non-alcoholic version.

Around a year ago, the bar then known as Painkiller opened in NYC. The owner of Pusser’s claim he contacted them “more than 10 times”. They didn’t respond, and so he sued, claiming they were causing irreparable harm to his brand. The court upheld that and PKNY lost their name and domain.

This caused a huge uproar amongst bartenders, cocktailians, tiki fanatics, and various other folks.

INCIDENT THREE: A TOURIST DESIRES A GIANT FROZEN DAIQUIRI.

Giant Daiquiri from Hard Rock Hotel

Recently I was up at Liberty Tavern in Clarendon (a neighborhood here in Arlington). Liberty has a good cocktail program – I wouldn’t say it’s the most innovative, but they have a good liquor variety and make solid versions of classic cocktails.

While chatting with my bartender (who is also a friend of mine) a tourist wandered up to the bar. He was curious if they sold giant frozen daiquiris, like you get in certain places – often infused with lots of cheap juice and/or high fructose corn syrup, rum (if you’re lucky) or even just grain alcohol (if you’re on Bourbon Street), these are usually fruity, extremely sweet concoctions that bear almost no relation to the classic daiquiri.

The bartender offered him a classic daiquiri so he inquired after a frozen margarita. After she politely pointed out that they don’t make any frozen drinks, he agreed to try a classic margarita – a drink that he couldn’t drink at all.

I had a realization: he thought he knew what he wanted. He wanted what he’d gotten in a number of places before. Meanwhile, the bartenders and I knew what those drinks SHOULD be. Sure, it was partly that he came into the wrong bar to order a drink like that, and the bartender did redirect him to one that would help him better (and didn’t charge him for the margarita); however, because anyone can make a drink and call it a “daiquiri”, a “margarita”, or a “martini” (to add that one in there) we’ve come to a point where people don’t know what they’re ordering.

ANALYZING WHAT THE DIFFERENCE IS.

You might not realize it, but analysis is a combination of various words that basically mean “pulling lies out of your ass”.

Well, maybe not, but remember: IANAL. These are my opinions.

A couple of months ago, a friend of mine commented on the “Classic Cocktails” menu at a restaurant I’d visited, most of which involved “martini” or “margarita” variants. I distractedly responded that “well, it’s more of a beer joint” and he pointed out: “It’s just that terming these ‘Classic Cocktails’ is what we are fighting against.”

At first, I thought, “Fighting against? What am I fighting against? I just want folks to enjoy good drinks!”

And then incident three happened.

And I started thinking.

So…MY THOUGHTS:

A tradermark, in and of itself, is not a bad thing, nor is defending it.

I can’t be mad at Trader Vic’s for forcing the name change. They had a trademark and they had to defend it. I’m not privy as to HOW they went about that, what was claimed, etc., so I can’t say, but from an outsider’s point of view, I feel bad for Blair, but life is going on.

However, that’s more of a brand name, and not a cocktail. Let’s look at cocktails.

The trademarking of a cocktail is intended to protect the consumer – to make sure that when they order the drink, it will taste the way they expect.

This is Pusser’s argument. I think that is important in a cocktail, it should taste as you expect. However, I’m going to break this down a bit more.

If you did not create the cocktail, you should not trademark it.

Period. I don’t care that they have permission. Gosling’s gets away with it on the Dark & Stormy because supposedly it was created by them, but that not only points out the fact that Pusser’s recommended violating their trademark by using Pusser’s in a Dark & Stormy, but also my next point. Basically, in my opinion, there is no reason or excuse why Pusser’s should have that trademark.

A trademarked cocktail should not use specific brands. It should be trademarked by an individual.

This is a bit hazy, I will concede. Some specifics you can’t avoid – say, like Benedictine, or Chartreuse. However, when using rums, or whiskeys, or what have you, yes, there are slight differences, but the recipe should be generalized. It is not a religion. Recipes do not specify what brand of sugar or meat you should use.

If you’re serving a trademarked cocktail, you should give credit.

Honestly, in my opinion, if you know the origin of a cocktail, it should be credited. If you change it, it should be listed. “This is a variant of Mister Smith’s XYZ drink, but we use rum instead of poison.”

You should defend your trademark – when it is being abused.

Trader Vic’s probably does not sue Disney for Trader Sam’s because, in essence, they are advertising for them. Pusser’s should not have sued PKNY because, honestly, they were advertising the drink! If someone went home from PKNY and said “Man, I want a Painkiller now,” they’re going to look it up online or in a book. If you own the trademark on it, it should show up with your brand in it.

You should be clear and upfront with the public when defending ?your trademark.

You should be engaged in the social media game. At worst, you should just make sure your statement is public: “We do not want to have to pursue legal action, but we are defending our trademark because of X, Y, and Z reasons.” Being silent until it’s all over just makes you the bad guy automatically.

You should only trademark when you can prove no one did it before you. You should only get mad if you can prove no one came up with it independently.

It can be very easy or very hard to come up with a recipe based off watching someone make a drink. A single idea, especially if it’s to a mass audience, can cause a number of people to have the same thoughts on creating a new drink.

If you want to trademark your drink, and you’ve found that no one has made it before, that is the only time you should be able to do so – and it should be done PROMPTLY. In my opinion, that means in this day and age in VERY LITTLE TIME – like weeks, or less. And you should check with cocktail historians (at the BARE MINIMUM, check their books) and search the Internet for similar drinks.

If you DO trademark your drink (or even if you don’t, you’re just very proud of it) you should NOT get mad at someone for having a similar or even same drink unless you can without a doubt prove that they are purposely stealing it from you. It’s easy to come up with a drink that uses similar ingredients, even if you’re doing some infusing or making something custom – especially if you’re basing it off the same inspiration. Perhaps I’m being a bit naive, but I think it’s better to talk to the other folks involved and find out the genesis of their drink.

I kind of feel like I’m talking in circles by this point so I’m going to lay off. Basically, what I think is: you should only trademark if a drink is definitely yours, but at the same time, that trademark can protect the customers. The power that a trademark gives you should only be used sanely and carefully however.

What do you think?

For some reason the embedded video I had here was screwing up the formating, so instead here is the link for the video.

Tea-quila Highball
3 oz. In Pusuit of Tea brewed Lemon Verbena Tea
1.5 oz. Blanco Tequila
.25 oz. Agave Nectar (or simple syrup in a pinch)
.25 oz. St Germain Elderflower Liqueur

Build all of the ingredients in a highball glass filled with ice. Garnish with a twist of lime. Can serve hot or cold.

Cheers!

Last weekend I was in NYC.? Friday night we started with a trip to Stand, mostly known for its burgers and milkshakes.? I started with a Southampton Secret Ale on draft, a beer that I’ve always enjoyed in the bottle at Lost Dog Cafe here in Arlington but didn’t like as much that night.? Then I had a Negroni made with Hendricks – a very good change to it I felt.

My friends got some various drinks – a notable one was an orange milkshake type drink made with Campari.? I thought that was quite good.

We then went to Alta.? Two of us started with Spanish Manhattans: Maker’s Mark, Oloroso Seco, port infused with cinnamon, clove and dried cherries. Those were good, not spectacular, but good.? We chowed down on a number of tapas and I ordered the Ewa en Provence which was lavender infused aquavit, dry vermouth, Cointreau, lime juice, and a dash of cassis. That was actually not as good as it sounded like, but was still good.? I ended the dinner with a Bombardier beer, the favorite of my friend Roy.

The next day was a beer day, really, after mimosas at Ed’s; after a failed attempt to go to Park Ave Liquors we went to Zum Schneider and had liters of Weihenstephan Hefeweizen and then to McSorely’s for their traditional two-beers-at-a-time.? There was a loud group of USMC at one table near us and a group of “Black Irish New York” at another table – it was really all quite entertaining.

On Sunday we did a lot of walking around; the only notable drink of that day was a Baron’s Black Wattle Superior Ale, not bad, though I was amused and annoyed to see that the bottles in my $15 six pack were only 11.2 ounces.? That’s 5.6 ounces less than a normal six pack!

After I got home on Monday I went to have a cigar.? I was quite concerned with my cigars at first, afraid they might be screwed up, but it ended up that they had just dried out.? I’m not certain what happened with my hygrometer in my humidor, but I’ve got to be careful about it (they’re fine now).

Some apple wine and Brooklyn Pennant ’55 ales over the course of the week led to a trip to Oyamel after our volunteer shift at DC Central Kitchen with the DR.com peeps.? After a Dogfish Head beer (60 Minute IPA, I believe) I went for an Oyamel – a margarita made with Jose Cuervo Tradicional, Patron Citronage, lime juice, and topped with “Salt Air”.? One of the best margaritas I’ve had in a long time!

Next up was Pina y Salvia – muddled sage, pineapple juice, herradura tequila, and triple sec.? This was almost like a tiki drink to me, probably because of the pineapple juice, but it might’ve been made a bit sweet (the waitress asked if it was made too sweet, at least).? I followed it up with a Zanahoria Borracha made from 10 Cane rum, carrot and orange juice, and agave nectar.? The last drink, recommended by the waitress since I seemed to be “an adventurous drinker”, was a Hada Verde.? St. George absinthe, Sauza Blanca tequila, Chichicapa mezcal, and pineapple juice? – whoa.? That was a drink I had to share with others.

Finally, last night I went over to Marshall’s.? After a couple of Rocktoberfests at Rock Bottom Brewery we went back for cigars and drinks.? I had a Negroni, made MUCH better by Marshall’s recommendation of adding two dashes of orange Angostura bitters and two dashes of Fee’s rhubarb bitters (damn, I need some rhubarb bitters!).? For watching Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas we made up a batch of Pisco sours, using the recipe from Drinkboy which uses lime juice instead of lemon juice.

The final drink of the night (other than Magic Hat’s fall seasonal) was a drink I was experimenting with, an attempt at a variation of a Negroni using Veev (2 ounces), 1 ounce Aperol, 1/2 ounce Cointreau, 1/2 ounce Plymouth Sloe Gin, and some Fee’s orange bitters.? Marshall declared it too sweet; I’m notorious for my sweet tooth especially after I’ve been drinking but I think that this drink might have some potential down the road.? So I will experiment with it later – maybe even later today – and see what I can do.? I’ll probably swap the Aperol for Campari, reduce the amount of Veev, and up the amount of bitters added, maybe using a combination of a spicier orange bitters and lemon bitters (or grapefruit?).

Okay – that’s all for now.? I need to find caffeine!

It ends up some friends of mine from various parts of the country will all be up there at the same time, so it’s a good chance to meet up with a lot of people whom I profess to like (and vice versa).

Given that this isn’t like last time – i.e. a specific mission of cocktails – I’m having a few tonight, one last night, and I’m hoping against hope we can make it to Pegu Club and/or Death & Company. I think Pegu would be a big hit with a number in our group, and I’d love to say hi to Audrey again.

Last night, while over at Marshall’s, and having my first chance to try Fee’s Rhubarb Bitters (yummy), I had a Revival, from Food & Wine’s 2008 Cocktail book, and thankfully one that didn’t require specialty ingredients:

Revival
2 ounces rye (Rittenhouse 80 proof)
1/2 ounce Benedictine (the one, the only)
1/2 ounce maraschino liqueur (Luxardo)
2 dashes absinthe or Pernod (I used Pernod)
3/4 ounce fresh lemon juice
Shake and strain, garnish with lemon twist

I actually liked this a lot; it was kind of dry but it was honestly probably the best drink I’ve had with maraschino in it so far.

Tonight, a coworker came by, and I made him a drink passed on to me by a friend I’ll just call “Martini Con Queso” – yes, the liquors ARE specific:

Sacre Blue
1 1/2 ounces Bombay Sapphire
3/4 ounce Lillet blonde
stir and strain; traditionally it should be garnished with a cube of blue cheese on a toothpick but I use a blue cheese-stuffed olive

As we sat and gossiped about work I made myself the traditional (for me) Sazerac from Gary Regan’s _Joy of Mixology_.

Sazerac
3 ounces rye (Rittenhouse 100 proof)
3/4 ounce simple syrup
2-3 dashes Peychaud’s
Fill a rocks glass with ice and absinthe (Lucid). Stir drink, toss out ice and Lucid, and strain; garnish with lemon twist

Mmmmm.

So now I’m on the chat room. And I don’t understand what’s going on, but I come up with a drink that needs a name:
2 ounces cognac (Hennessy)
1 ounce sweet vermouth (Carpano Antica)
1/3 ounce Benedictine
2 dashes celery bitters (Bitter Truth)

Stir and strain.

Later, it was a cocktail that I came up with just, well, to be annoying:

2 ounces Veev
1/2 ounce green Chartreuse
1/2 ounce simple syrup

Hmmm, we need to work on that one.

Later came a rye one that was well-received:
1 1/2 ounce rye
3/4 ounce Benedictine
1/4 oz absinthe
1/4 oz Fernet Branca

Finally, I’m ending with some kind of tiki drink:

1 1/2 oz dark rum (Gosling’s)
1 oz coconut water
1/2 oz pineapple juice

Oof. I’m going to say that’s the one that got me.

With that, I am off – check my Twitter feed (I’m HighwayStar on there) for anything interesting (or not) on that trip!

Ah, yes, Saturday.? After waking up and getting ready, we headed out with a buddy Ed for some more drinking and a few places Ed wanted to take us.? Our first stop, Aquavit where Ed plies his humble trade.? After navigating our way to the restaurant, dealing with the road closures and the throngs of people there for the Pope’s visit, we made our way to the bar.

We started off with some flights of Aquavits.? I can’t remember what everyone else had, but I tried the Blueberry, the Fig-Cardamom and the NYC blend (which is white cranberry.)? All of the aquavits had a wonderful nose of them.? The smelled exactly as the flavor imparted.? The taste was much lighter than the nose would have to believe.? Each one I tasted was very good.? My favorite flavor though would come later in the sitting.

As Sean mentioned, we were treated to a varitable smorgsbord (hehehehe, I really wanted to use that word while writing about Aquavit!) of food to taste.? We started with three types of herring – curried, pickled and something called “gentleman’s delight” – all of which were very good.? We then had a hot smoked salmon with squid-ink mustard and some white creamy/cheesy sauce.? Another fantastic plate.? Then the waiter brings out a tasting of lobster rolls.? These were fantastic (probably my favorite thing I ate) – lobster meat inside thinnly sliced pickled apples with salmon roe and small squares of smoked bacon on top with a little sauce on the side.? Delicious!!!? Just when we were thanking everybody for the great food, another plate comes out with a meatball tasting.? Each plate had a mountain of mashed potatoes, four meatballs and gravy, pickles and lingonberries.? Our bartender for the afternoon Alex (a wonderful hostess – friendly, incredibly attractive and fun to talk to!) poured us each a small glass of lingonberry aquavit.? This was my favorite of all the aquavits we tried.

This is the lingonberry aquavit.? Ummmmm . . .

We bid our farewells to the nice folks at Aquavit and decided to head over to the Museum of Modern Art where Ed used to work in the Cafe.? The Cafe at MoMA is part of the Danny Meyer umbrella of restaurants.? Probably the best cafe/museum food in the US.? There we had a charcuterie plate and some coffee.? Then we walked around a bit, had the Meryl Streep siting, saw some weird stuff (guess I’m not into the whole modern art thing) and headed over to The Modern.

Ed had been talking about a cocktail at the Modern for quite some time and I felt that I had to give it a shot.? The drink was called “Coming Up Roses” and contained muddled rose petals, rose water, simple syrup, lemon juice, gin (I think) and topped off with champagne.? After I took my first sip, I noticed two things.? First, it did indeed have a wonderful rose taste and smell.? Second, it was way too sweet for me.? Luckily after about three sips a bartender came by and added more champagne to the drink.? This happened twice and by that time the drink was indeed great.? The smell and taste of rose, the bubbles from the champagne and just enough sweetness to really feel like you were drinking a rose cocktail.? We had a great time talking with the bartenders there too.? They gave us suggestions on places to try for cocktails and Ed talked about several restaurants he worked at.? We were trying decide if we wanted another round and asked if we could split a cocktail called Twlights Clearing which contained boubon, pear puree, basil and lime juice.? It was another fantastic cocktial and better yet when informed it was on the house.? Score!? So far we had had free aquavit, a smorgsbord of scandanavian food and a cocktail at the Modern.? This is the way to see NYC!

After leaving the Modern I wanted to walk over to the new location of Nat Sherman.? I think I’ve been to Nat Sherman every time I’ve visited NYC and certainly wanted to see their new location.? Their new shop is across the street and less than a block over from their old location but all of the charm is still there.? Sean purchased a boxed set of cigars and was dying to have a smoke.? He asked if there was a place there to smoke and George the Greek (yes, that’s how he introduced himself) offered to take us down to the new lounge.? I decided I would buy a cigar to smoke downstairs, but before I could make a purchase, George the Greek grabbed a cigar out of the humidor, handed it to me and bid me to follow.? Wow, free cigar!? Talk about a great day!

In the lounge, the three of us smoked our cigars; Sean and Ed had Manhattans from the bar and I had a sparkling water.? We talked with a nice couple from Boston who was in town visiting and prior to leaving had a nice conversation with the manager.? We all exchanged cards and he welcomed us back whenever we’re in town again.? We certainly will be back!

We left Nat Sherman’s to head over to the next big stop on our cocktail tour, The Pegu Club.

The Pegu Club is named after a British Colonial Officer’s Club located up the Rangoon River in Burma in the late 1800′s.? It is run by the esteemed Audrey Saunders (herself a Goddess of the Libations).? Pegu is on the second floor of a building and you enter much like PX.? After you go through the front door, you ascend some dim stairs until you turn the corner into very welcoming place.

The hostesses are dressed in kimono-esque garb and the bartenders are sharply dressed as well.? We took our seats at the bar and started to look over the menu.? Being at the Pegu Club, I had to order a Pegu Cocktail to begin.? It was delicious as I expected it would be – a sweet and tart mixture of gin, curacao, lime juice and bitters.? We all tried various drinks, I also had a pisco punch using pineapple infused pisco which was fan-fugu-tastic and a Cocktail de la Louisiane.? When I ordered the Cocktail de la Louisiane, the bartender didn’t know the recipe and said he would have to look it up.? I was a bit surprised by this, but no more surprised than he was when I rattled off the recipe.? I think he was a little wary of the ingredients, but before handing it to me, he tasted it and seemed to be happy with the results.? When he handed me the drink, he said that he hoped it met my standards.? I sipped.? It did.? Delicious.? Every time I have this cocktail, I am always taken to a happy place.? But I’ll tell you, that pineapple pisco drink came pretty close to heaven!

We also decided to eat a little food while at Pegu.? I had the chicken satay and Ed and Sean had the salmon deviled eggs.? The three of us split the mushroom raviolis which were very good.

We finished eating and were getting ready to get the check.? I couldn’t leave without at least asking if Audrey was around to say hello.? The bartender went to check and a few minutes later, Audrey came behind the bar to say hello.? We introduced ourselves and gave her a Scofflaw’s Den card and told her of our drinking tour of NYC.? She was a gracious host, asking if we liked the Pegu Club, how the food was and even talked to us of the importance of quality.? To make her point she said that the mushroom raviolis we had enjoyed were probably going to be dropped from the menu because they don’t come out perfectly 100% of the time.? We discussed the bars we had already hit, where we wanted to go next and even Ed got into the act telling her about the milkshakes at Stand (See Below).? We talked about Tales of the Cocktail a bit and she urged us to go.? Damn this job . . . and money . . . and no time . . . Grrrrr.

I loved Pegu!? Everything about it is the kind of place where I like to spend time.? Audrey was awesome and I really can’t wait to go back.

We left Pegu and decided to hit another place Ed wanted to take us to for dinner – Stand Burger.? Stand is a neighborhood burger joint that really specializes in milkshakes.? Ed had been telling us about the toasted marshmallow milkshake and I knew I had to get one.? So I ordered a house buger and a toasted marshmallow milkshake.? The burger was okay, I’ve had better, and honestly, 5 Guys would have put the burger to shame.? But the milkshake.? Good God this is what a milkshake should be.? It came with two toasted marshmallows on top and tasted just what you would think a toasted marshmallow milkshake would taste like.? Note to self: Try and make a toasted marshmallow milkshake at home . . .

After Stand we headed to our next stop, Sam Tailor’s new restuarant Tailor.? Tailor is known for his moleculor gastronomy which he learned from Wylie Dufresne at wd-50.? With Tailor and Dufresne at wd-50 was a mad-scientist bartender/mixologist who used the same techniques used on the food on his cocktails.? That bartender is Eben Freeman.? Eben’s cocktails are certainly avant garde and really pushes the evelope on flavor profiles, textures and delivery systems.? Having read about what was going on at Tailor, I knew I wanted to give it a try.

We walked through the front door and the first thing I saw was Eben, in his crows-nest type roost above the main dining room mixing drinks for the diners.? We told the host we were just there for drinks and followed him down a set of stairs to the bar.? After a few minutes of hovering over one barstool, the three of us could all sit at the bar.? Troy was our bartender and the first “drink” I got was called the “Solids.”? It was three small tastings on a plate that consisted of a Cuba Libre in Jello form, a Ramos Gin Fizz marshmallow and a White Russian bowl of rice krispies.? It was really neat to try cocktails in solid form.? Each piece tasted like the liquid form of the cocktail, with the slight caveat that the Ramos Fizz marshmallow seemed less tart than I expected.? Ed drank the mushroom margarita and Sean had the Violet Fizz.? (Note: for ingredients in these drinks, check Sean’s recap as he twittered each drink we all had with ingredients.)

Our next round of drinks was much more interesting.? I had a Blood and Sand that, instead of the orange juice found within the cocktail, the drink was topped with a thick orange foam.? As you drank the scotch/vermouth/cherry ale mixture below, it mixed with the orange foam on top to make a Blood and Sand.? It was a very good drink, but I think I prefer the more traditional Blood and Sand.? Ed got the Waylon, which was bourbon and smoked coke.? It was very good.? It even elicited a debate on the cab ride back to Ed’s on how the Coke was smoked.? Sean on the other hand was not so lucky.

Now Sean loves spicy stuff and has never been one to shy away from anything that is spicy.? His drink, the Aqua Verde, contained tequila, tomatillo, cilantro and habenero.? All things that we knew he liked.? He took one sip and almost fell off his stool.? Ed took a drink with the same reaction.? Me . . . I’m smarter than that and just enjoyed my Blood and Sand.? For the first time in his life, Sean returned a drink.? The bartender told us that the drink should be spicy, but graciously took the drink and replaced it with one of Seans’ choosing.

At this point, dear readers, I want to step aside from my recap.? I want to point out that everyone we met on our cocktail jaunt was kind, gracious and enthusiastic.? Troy was a little defensive about Sean returning his drink, but all evening he was nice, helpful and really fun to talk to.? After returning to DC, Sean beat me with his recap.? As I sit at work yesterday I get a text message with “I’m such a girl.? Eben responded.? “? So I check the comments of his recap and sure enough, Mr. Freeman himself had responded to the post.? You can Eben’s post here.? Seriously, he did not have to take time out of his day to respond, much less read, our little blog.? This just underscores the attitude of us cocktail geeks.?

Alright, where was I, oh yeah . . . So for Sean’s backup he chose the Bazooka.? A bright pick cocktail made with bubble gum cordial, vodka and lemon juice.? Troy laughed when Sean asked for this and said, “That was NOT what I expected your back-up drink to be!”? We all got a good laugh out of that.? I tasted the Bazooka (the bubble gum cordial is apparently made by mascerating double-bouble chewing gum in vodka . . . two pounds of gum!) and it really tasted like Bazooka gum.? We joked that you wanted to chew the cocktail!? My final drink at Tailor was a Mate Sour, which was a pisco sour made with yerba mate.? It was earth and sour, a real nice finish to our cocktails at Tailor.? So we thanked Troy, settled up and hit the road to our final stop.

That final stop was PDT.? PDT, short for Please Don’t Tell, is a modern day speakeasy attached to Crif Dogs (a hot dog place) fairly close to Death and Company.? You walk down the steps into Crif Dogs and enter into an old wooden phonebooth.? You pick up the phone, push the talk button and the back wall slides open where the hostess greets you.? The place is very small, probably less that 30 max occupancy, but I’m guessing here.? The hostess asked if we had reservations – D’oh!? We were told that there was only 13 spots at the bar and the place was full.? But she took my cell phone number and said she would call if space opens up.? We turned around and went topside, slightly defeated that the last place on our list for this weekend would be denied.

At this point it was fairly late and we were stuffed with food and drink.? We thought about going back to Death & Co. or hitting another place like the Flatiron Lounge.? In the end, we decided to make it a night and head back to Ed’s for some drinks and hanging out around the house.

Sunday, after breakfast, we bid our farewell’s to Ed, hung around his place a bit and then headed down to Penn Station.? Our train was late from DC, but luckily we got on an earlier train and got back to DC without much hassle.

Endnotes

The trip was simply fantastic.? Everyone we met, talked to and had the privilege of drinking their wonderful potions were friendly, professional and gracious.? I can see spending long hours at Death & Co. and Pegu Club.? I’m looking forward to going back to Tailor and saying hello to Eben and trying more of his cocktails.? The food and drink at Ellataria were both fantastic and Lynnette was awesome behind the stick.

PDT, Flatiron Lounge, Little Branch, (maybe trying for Milk & Honey) you three are on notice!? The Scofflaw’s will be back and we will be on your doorsteps.

I can’t wait.

Cheers!

Wow.? That pretty much sums up our trip to the Big Apple.? Before I get to my recap for you folks, I would like to send a hearty THANK YOU to our friend Ed and his gorgeous fiance Francois.? Thanks to their hospitality, the Scofflaw’s trip was much more financially feasible.? Now if we can just get them some drinking glasses . . .

Anyway, our trip started on Friday.? We had an early morning Amtrak train from DC to Penn Station.? As Sean has mentioned, we splurged for business class . . . definitely the way to travel!? I had to have a cocktail for the trip and deciding on what was a bit difficult.? I really didn’t want to do the Irish coffee route nor did I want to simple take a bottle of booze.? What I decided on was a bottled cocktail.? I found the instructions here.? It is a really interesting read because it shows the importance of ice.? In short, if you are making bottled cocktails, you need to figure in a certain amount of water because the water from the melted ice when you shake or stir will not be present in the bottled cocktail.? Anyway, I realized that I had way too much applejack and quite honestly, it was taking up valuable liquor cabinet space.? After searching for an appropriate drink, I settled on one found from CocktailDB – an A.J. Cocktail.? The drink is comprised of 1.5 oz each of applejack and grapefruit juice and .50 oz of grenadine.? Using the formula Bar Mix Master’s site, I had a great bottled cocktail.

Sean has already wrote about Brother Jimmy’s and my chopped brisket sandwich was very good (basically the burnt tips of the brisket!)? After lunch, we headed to the West side and dropped our stuff off at Ed’s.? We rested a bit and then decided hit our first stop.? DEATH & COMPANY!!!!

Now I’ve read a lot about this bar and was chomping at the bit to have a drink – or three – there.? I knew they opened at 6pm so we left Ed’s with plenty of time to find the place.? One of the interesting aspects of D&C is that they are very low key.? The bar is in a residential neighborhood and they don’t have a ton of signage advertising they are there.? The plaque on the door and the front mat is all they need.

We walked in to the dark interior and took our seats at the bar.? Philip Ward, the head bartender, was our bartender for the evening.? I ordered a Cocktail de la Louisiane first which was fantastic.? Now here is where Sean’s and my recap will differ.? He was smart enough to at least twitter what drinks we had when we had them.? When it came to my next drink, I told Phil that it was bartenders choice, but that I would like to try the Cynar – an herbal liqueur with a base of artichoke.? He asked some guiding questions, such as whether I wanted sweet or sour and what spirit was my favorite (bourbon or rye).? He exclaimed that it was an easy choice and handed me a Cynartown.? Quite frankly it was delicious, sweet and herby with a bit of a licorice-y undertone.? I then ordered a China Fizz and a Buffalo Soldier.? The Buffalo Soldier used a candied pecan Buffalo Trace bourbon and came with a side of candied pecans.? WOW!

Our conversations with Phil were great.? He seemed generally interested in our little website and what we are writing about.? We talked about various cocktail related minutia and he even poured me a gratis hefty ounce the Anchor Distilling Genever Gin.? Very nice of him and completely unwarranted, but that’s the way these guys do business.? Sean mentioned how we missed our opportunity to get on the list of Milk and Honey but we just didn’t know who the guy was at the time.? Maybe before one of our next trips we can try and reach out to some of the cocktail folks work out an invitation.? Who knows until you try, right?!?!? I could have stayed at Death and Company all night.? I really wanted to.? But alas, food and another stop had to be made.? As Sean said earlier, on the next trip, I can see myself planted at the bar at Death & Co. for an entire evening.

We bid our farewells and headed to Elattaria for some grub and some good cocktails.? Phil had suggested Elattaria and I had read about them, and they had been suggested by folks on eGullet, and had them on the preliminary list of places to go.? It was a great surprise to be able to hit one of the spots that were not in the top four and for reasons that became evident on Saturday night, it turned out fortune was truly shining on us.

We sat at the bar in Elattaria and our server was Lynnette.? The bar was a pretty busy place Friday night, but Lynnette was kind, attentive and during her slower periods would come over and chat us up.

One of the hallmarks of the Elattaria bar is their focus on fresh tiki drinks.? And you know how I love me some tiki!? We’ll Lynnette and I had some really good discussions on tiki drinks.? It was awesome.? While there I drank a Mai Tai, an 8th Wonder and an Aviation.? We needed to eat and Philip suggested the lamb sausage.? So of course we ordered some lamb sausage.? We also ate stuffed pigs feet and the fried veal sweet breads.? Now if you don’t know what sweet breads are – go google it.? I’ll wait.? Are you back?? Yes, we had fried veal sweet breads.

Not only was Lynnette very personable, so was many of the drinkers.? We talked to a nice gentleman who was planning an elaborate dinner/bounty hunt for his girlfriend/fiance and some very attractive Asian women.? All seemed really interested in our website and the fact that we wrote about cocktails.? Maybe it was the booze talking, but I really felt like this little site of ours was of interest to a lot of these strangers.? Seriously, if we met you during our trip to NYC, leave us a comment and an email, we would love to buy you a drink if you’re ever in DC!!!

Anyway, back to Elattaria.? I felt like the evening was coming to a close so I excused myself to hit the head.? When I arrived back at my bar stool, I had this huge glass sitting there.? Turns out, Lynnette had poured me a Navy Grog (using the 1941 recipe) on the house.? WOW!? It was delicious and just the right tone for me to end the night.? And after that, we paid our tab and decided to head back to Ed’s.

We tried to get a cab, which turns out to be impossibly in that part of Manhattan, so we ended up taking the subway back to Ed’s.? We stayed up talking to Ed and Franny for a bit, then I had had enough.? Time to pass out and dream about the next day . . . .

(Tomorrow’s episode – Aquavit, Modern, MoMA, Pegu Club, Tailor and attempting PDT)

officialgaiman

).

Me and myself, I kept track of most of what was going on via constant use of Twitter texts.  Thus, I put things back together before time renders what is already a bit fuzzy even fuzzier, and try to say hi to some of the really cool people we met.

Friday: Amtrak, Brother Jimmy’s, Death & Company, Elettaria

The day started too damn early on Friday.  I didn’t get to bed until after midnight, and that alarm went off at 7 AM.  I packed up my stuff – leaving my cigars on the counter, darn it all – and hit the Metro to get down to Union Station.

Once there I met up with

tmfiii

and tried to get right, as I’m often wont to say in the morning.  I’d had a Coke Zero on the way to the station, and so while there I grabbed some McDonald’s.  It was tasty, but I’d forgotten how greasy it is.  The large coffee wasn’t bad, though, and I had a couple of miniatures of Michael Collins Irish whisky and Bailey’s Irish Cream in my bag (one regular, one caramel).

We boarded the train where we quickly discovered that business class was indeed the way to go.  Marshall had his bottle of pre-made cocktail (a combination of applejack, grapefruit juice, and grenadine if I remember correctly) and as my coffee cooled off – and later when I got my free coffee for being an elitist business class bastard – I made a couple of Irish whiskies.

Those down the drain, it was time to break out my flask of Jameson’s, which has languished for a while in there and needed to be refilled with Creole Shrubb for a NEFARIOUS PURPOSE later this week.  I made up what I called an Amtrak drink, with equal parts apple juice and Irish whisky topped with ginger ale.  It needed bitters.

It’s cool though that Amtrak really doesn’t care about you making up drinks on their trains.  Coupled that with the fact that Marshall and I had a table, and power plugs, it was a very pleasant train ride.

Our first stop in Manhattan, obviously other than Penn Station, was at Brother Jimmy’s Barbecue.  Marshall had the burnt ends brisket sandwich – a very good choice, though my sliced brisket sandwich wasn’t bad.  My sweet tea did quite suck, though, and I was rather disappointed with the baked beans and the fried pickles (the frickles were only really saved by the horseradish sauce that came with them).

What’s a bit funny to me, still, about Brother Jimmy’s is the amount of ACC related memorabilia on the walls – including UVA, though they do have way too much (in our opinion) UNC stuff.

Leaving from there, it was cab time to head over to the west side, where our friend

chef_ed

lives with his beautiful fiancee Francoise.  They’re up on the 7th floor, which gave us a nice view of the Hudson River and New Jersey.  It also gave us a chance to drop off our bags, change clothes, and leave out the bottle of Creole Shrubb we’d brought as a gift for them.

A bit of a nap later, and some other recuperation time, it was time to brave New York’s famous subway system as we headed out to Death & Company.

It took a bit of searching – we had to figure out the subway, obviously, and we got turned around a couple of times.  I regretted not having brought my GPS system.  However, when we got there, it was definitely worth it.

Marshall started off with a traditional cocktail de la louisiane.  I hit a couple of apple brandy related cocktails to begin with, such as the Little Sparrow and a Don’t Sit Under the Apple Tree.  He moved on to a Cynartown, since he’s wanted to try out the artichoke based liqueur for a while, and I had a Schruff’s End, which used the Compass Box Peat Monster scotch as well as applejack, benedictine, and Peychaud’s bitters.  Marshall moved on to a China Fizz while I had a Buffalo Soldier (or did he have both of those?) before we got ready to depart.  Actually – I do believe he had both of those – I went with a drink called “The Conference” which featured a good number of different liquors and chocolate bitters.

One of the bartenders (I believe) from Milk & Honey came in while we were there, though we didn’t realize it until after he’d left.  So we missed a chance to get on the list for Milk & Honey, but that hadn’t been on our list to begin with (probably because we didn’t think we could get in) and there’s no use in crying over, uh, spilled Milk (& Honey).  But maybe next time, if he needs an ice pick again and we’re at the bar again.  I’ll hold my breath.

Physically, Death & Company was a quiet, well furnished bar which I immediately fell in love with in terms of decor and atmosphere.  Our bartender – I call him that since we sat at the bar and talked a good bit with him – was named Phillip, and he did a great job answering our questions, talking about cocktails, making of the cocktails, and in general helped us have a great time.  It was ultimately an incredibly relaxing and fun experience, and right there the whole trip was worth it.

But, really, we needed to move on.  Next time – next time – I’m willing to spend a whole night just there.  But that’s just me.  I can get quite sedentary when there are great drinks to be had right where I am.

As per some suggestions from Phillip we ended up going to Elettaria.  Originally our plan was to go there and then to Pegu Club, but we needed some food and we were talking with Lynnette (whose name I’m betting I’m misspelling) there, and ended up wrapped up into another great conversation.  I started with a Quimby Fizz, which I got for two reasons – the name (I kept quoting Diamond Joe Quimby from The Simpsons) and the fact that it had Aviation Gin in it.  Marshall got a mai tai and I switched to an 8th Wonder, which was an amazing drink featuring cardamom and chai infused Buffalo Trace bourbon.

I mean – seriously – it was fan-fugu-tastic.

We needed to eat, and as per Phillip’s suggestion we went with the lamb sausages.  Those were quite good, but we really liked the stuffed pig’s feet, and we even gave the veal sweetbreads a chance.  The night continued on – I had a Jane Russell (which used mole bitters of the same brand as the chocolate bitters) and Marshall got an Aviation gin Aviation.

The restaurant itself was kind of a trendy looking place, with awkwardly placed restrooms (you’re almost in the kitchen as you walk down to them).  Still, the bar was a very comfortable place for a couple of guys to hang out and have a few drinks – definitely helped too by the friendliness of the bartenders and some of the other patrons.

We had another drink or two – I had another 8th Wonder, that really was a rockin’ drink – and decided to take off for the night.  It’d been a long day for both of us, and really, we should’ve eaten more for dinner.  We thought about hitting Gray’s Papaya, as there was one right on the corner and Marshall had really wanted to try it, but we decided not to do so.  Ed was getting ready to head back to his place, and we tried to grab a cab back there.

Unfortunately for us, no cab would pick us up, and we weren’t the only ones having that issue in that area.  It was very frustrating, and the first time I’d had that issue on a trip to NYC.  We eventually ended up going to the subway, went down the wrong side of the station (and thus had to pay for a second trip to get to the right place after a subway employee hemmed and hawed about different ways to do it), and found our way through the combination of trains to get back to the west side (the 4-5-6 to the 7 to the 1).

There we finally caught up with Ed and I, at least, ended up staying up until about 4 AM chatting away.

Saturday: Aquavit, Museum of Modern Art, The Modern, Nat Sherman’s, Pegu Club, Stand, Tailor, PDT

Ed works at Aquavit, so we dodged the roped off portions of Manhattan thanks to the Pope and made our way to Aquavit.  It’s a fascinating Swedish restaurant, and we would’ve had a hard time finding it if we weren’t with a cook there.  Still, it took us a cab ride and a subway trip to get there after a couple of morning mimosas.  It’s a nice place, the bar area kind of stark but it felt kind of Scandinavian, at least, to someone whose closest tie to Sweden is knowing a guy whose family is Swedish (I haven’t even been to an Ikea!).

The big thing we wanted to try was, obviously enough, the infused aquavits.  Marshall was excited to try the white cranberry, while I had to try the horseradish and Ed was determined to get the Thai basil.  We each got a flight of three and tried each others’ flavors.  The white cranberry ended up actually being a bit disappointing, but I enjoyed pretty much all of them – I just forgot to write down all the ones we got!

(I’ve been trying to dig these up off the Aquavit website, but unfortunately, it’s being rather unresponsive.  Maybe Ed will read this and follow up with the list or something.)

We also tried out the food there.  The various herrings and gravelax were good.  The meatballs were really good, and so was the salmon roll.  Our bartender, Alex, was very cool, and we had fun chatting with her – and laughing when Ed got a bowl of potato leek soup (which he makes tons of, it seems).

We were seriously lacking in the caffeine department, though, so we went over to the Museum of Modern Art.  Grabbing our guest passes, we explored the area, and went over to the cafe for a charcuterie plate (I think that’s how you spell it) and a cup of coffee.  That also led to my own celebrity sighting for the weekend – Meryl Streep was walking around in there, with a couple of Asian girls giggling and talking about her nearby.

It was pretty cool to see some of the exhibits there, but we wanted to try drinks, and so we headed over to The Modern, which is a (very modern looking) bar and restaurant next door to the museum.  I got a Route 5 Cooler, which was a nice refreshing drink.  Ed got his usual cucumber caipiroska, and Marshall got a “Coming Up Roses”, which was a bit sweet at first but as the bartender added champagne to it Marshall thought it got better and better.

We had fun talking to the bartenders here, too, and we split a Twilight’s Clearing three ways as a final drink.  That’s Buffalo Trace bourbon – a bourbon I was surprised, honestly, to see as much in use as it was this weekend but it’s well worth it as a mixing bourbon – plus pear, basil, and lime juice.  Tasted like a nice summer drink for me.

It was enough at that point so we wanted to go over and hit Nat Sherman’s.  At the minimum, I wanted to pick up a couple of cigars, and as I browsed I saw that they had a “legendary cigar collection” of 8 cigars, with a built-in humidification system in the box (nice touch) for $67.  I picked that up, and it even came with a clipper and some matches, though I didn’t get the very long matches that I wanted.

The four different cigars were a Metropolitan selection – Dominican filler, Cuban seed binder, and Connecticut Shade wrapper, a Metropolitan Maduro, a Host – Honduran and “Cubano” blend fillers, Connecticut Shade wrapper – and a Fifth Avenue, which was a Dominican filler and Cameroon wrapper.

We noticed that their new location has a lounge downstairs.  One of the guys took us down there after pulling out a free cigar for Marshall.  When we got down there they had a small bar as well and a number of people hanging out, just relaxing.  I gave Ed one of the Host selection cigars and took one of the Fifth Avenue for myself, while Marshall smoked his, and Ed and I both got Manhattans from the bar because, hey, you know, we’re in Manhattan and we’re smoking cigars in a quiet nice lounge so it just seemed appropriate.  I felt like we were back in the old days.  (Don’t ask me WHICH old days…)

On our way out they gave Ed a free cigar, too!  That was very cool.  The smoke had a nice come down from the food, and got us ready for the next place – the famous Pegu Club!

When we got there it wasn’t very crowded.  Marshall went traditional, as he likes to do, and got the Pegu Club cocktail.  I immediately homed in on the whiskey smash, and Ed went with a Gin-Gin Mule, a drink that I’d had over at PX in Alexandria and enjoyed the heck out of there.  We had a great bartender here, too, though I’m completely blanking on his name.  We went through a variety of drinks – a Jamaican Firefly, tantris sidecar, and a pisco punch, to start with, and later a cocktail de la louisiane, champagne apricato, and an amaro julep.  We also tried some of their food.  Ed and I split salmon deviled eggs, he and Marshall split some chicken satay, and the three of us split mushroom raviolis.

After we ate we got a chance to meet Audrey there and she was great, very nice and gracious and fun to talk with.  She told us about the raviolis (and how they’re going off the menu), Ed told her about a restaurant called Stand that had a toasted marshmallow milkshake.

I loved the decor and the feel of Pegu Club – it was a great place.  And the waitresses were really rocking those kimonos or whatever they were wearing.

And thus, after Pegu Club, we ended up at Stand, a burger-and-shake joint.  I had a Blue Point Toasted Lager while there with my burger, which wasn’t a bad burger but not super great, either.  Give me an Elevation Burger over one of those any day.  The milkshakes there, however, were stupendously good, though I’d also like to have a taste test between them and Elevation Burger – but I’m betting if you’re a marshmallow fan, the toasted marshmallow one at Stand would deliver (must not make “stand and deliver” joke) in the clutch.  My chocolate milkshake was quite tasty – I thought of trying the peanut one, but decided to stick with the basics.  I did get a bit annoyed when they closed the window next to me, though, and I kept almost burning my leg on something in the wall.

If any of you would like to stand around and sing that milkshake song right now feel free.  Just don’t let me hear you.

Finishing up there, we went to Tailor.  Marshall went straight for the solids – a jello like cuba libre, a marshmallow-y Ramos Gin Fizz, and a White Russian that was like cereal in a bowl.  Ed and I later split the same thing, and they were good, but the White Russian was by far the big stand out to us in that trio.

I wanted to try something different and Ed had asked me to order him something, so I got him a mushroom margarita (Huitalacoche mezcal, triple sec, lime juice, lava salt) since he’d talked so much about mushrooms at Pegu Club while I got the violet fizz (gin, lemon, lime, creme, egg white, creme de violette).  Despite the fact that we’d been drinking cocktails averaging about $11-13 a pop, the $15 for each of the ones Ed and I got gave us a bit of sticker shock.

Probably the reason was that we weren’t getting more traditional cocktails but newer ones, and at that, ones we were a bit iffy on to begin.  I knew, for instance, not to order the beet sangria for Ed, and I was curious about the kumquat caipirinha, but not curious enough to actually order it.  We were a bit safer with our third round with one exception.

Marshall got a Blood & Sand, a drink he’d made recently at his place and we surprisingly liked.  Here it was scotch, sweet vermouth, cherry ale, and orange head (whatever that is) and it wasn’t bad, but I think I preferred Marshall’s version.  Ed got the Waylon – bourbon and smoked Coke – and that was surprisingly good.  I really liked it.

I got the Agua Verde and that was the mistake.

The Agua Verde is listed as tequila, tomatillo, cilantro, and habenero.  I like all of those things.  It sounded like a good “cleanse the palette” combination.  However, the habenero was blazingly painfully hot.  So much so that neither Ed nor I could stand it at all.

I brought this up to the bartender and the first thing he said was that I probably missed the fact that it had habenero in it because it was at the end of the list.  That’s not so, I replied, as I’d specifically picked it because of the habenero – I just wanted to know if it was just, maybe, a float of really hot on top and more mild further in.

No, he told me, though it might water down a bit as the ice melts.

(Bang head on bar)

I am not afraid of heat but this was patently undrinkable.  The bartender then responded it might’ve been because the barbacks make it, and they’re Mexican, and thus often make things hotter than a lot of people like.

Seriously.  The excuses that came kind of annoyed me.  I am not a wussy consumer of beverages or foods.  And I especially don’t like excuses like that.

I replaced it with a Bazooka – that’s vodka, bubble gum cordial, and house sours mix.  That was actually a really fun drink – it tastes just like bubble gum, to the point where you want to chew as you drink it, and it was light and fun.  I’d make that in a heartbeat for almost anybody.  It washed through my brain on a blast of nostalgia for the old days of chewing gum at little league games.

We left after those drinks, spying Eben Freeman at his crow’s nest of a bartending station.  It was too bad we couldn’t get a chance to talk to him like we had other people, but we were on a mission to try to get to PDT despite how comfortable Tailor was.

PDT, like PX, is a speakeasy type of joint.  You have to know the trick of where it is and how to get into it.  We didn’t have reservations, however, and so when we got there they were full – and groups of three are hard to seat in a bar with 13 seats.

Damn.

After that we decided to cab it on back to Ed’s.  We tasted some of his French absinthe while at home – an absinthe that turns blue over time – and laughed at Ed when he spilled some of it in his lap.  Then I spilled red wine in my lap and it wasn’t as funny.

We stayed up for a while longer, drinking Glenlivet scotch out of Chinese take out soup bowls, until it was very late again and time for bed.

Sunday: deli breakfast, Brother Jimmy’s again, Houlihan’s, Amtrak again

We hit a little deli place for breakfast.  It was up near the Juilliard, but we’d decided that we didn’t feel like going to where Ed had made reservations for breakfast.  After a bagel sandwich and carrot cake, Ed went off to work and we went back to his place to chill out.

We hit up Brother Jimmy’s for dinner since I’d noticed that they have an “all you can eat ribs and all you can drink drafts” special on Sundays.  (Mondays are even better – it’s rib tips and chicken wings.  We may have to stay through Monday next time.)  So I grabbed that, drinking down Bud Lites and having a single plate of ribs (I wasn’t as hungry as I thought, particularly after eating some hush puppies with maple butter that were “eh”).  We sat there, ate, watched some TV (and desperately tried to avoid the TV that had on Bridget Jones’ Diary), and I drank a few beers.  Service was kind of slow, but it was getting close to time to go, so Marshall checked Amtrak’s schedule for our train.

2 hours late.

CRAP.

We went over to the station and there it said “1 hour 20 minutes”.  Marshall went over to the news stand to hang out and I hit Houlihan’s, a bar in Penn Station.  It was warm and stinky in there, but a couple of beers helped that until finally we managed to get onto a different train (thanks to Marshall’s keen ears – our train was listed as “1 hr 45 mins” at that point but I hadn’t been able to hear announcements in the bar) that got us down to DC by about 11:30.

This time we didn’t have flasks – well, Marshall did, but he wasn’t imbibing of it – so I just drank a couple of Yuenglings and Bud Lites on the train, and hooked him up with a gin and cranberry juice when he started having issues with some of the gifts Ed had given us.

About half an hour and a $33 cab ride (for me, before tip) later, and I’m home.  Catch up with Matt & Cathy and it’s off to bed.  God, it was nice to sleep in my own bed!

Highlights of the Trip

For me, the biggest highlights were Death & Company, Elettaria, and Pegu Club.

That’s not to say the other places were that bad – it was just that these places were great.  Everywhere we went, for the most part, people were really cool and fun to hang out with.  I had a great time the entire weekend, except for a few minutes at about 5 AM Sunday morning when I was really regretting that last Glenlivet.

If I was disappointed at all, it was at not getting a chance to hit PDT, and a bit disappointed to have missed out on Milk & Honey.  I think we just really ordered the wrong drinks at Tailor, but the scene there wasn’t bad, and I’d be willing to give it another shot (I would, however, check their menu online first).

I’m already excited about going up again.  We didn’t try to squeeze too much in and that helped a lot.  I’d love to visit Aquavit again, too, especially in the atmosphere we had Saturday early – i.e. almost dead quiet, so we can just chill out and get to know the place.

The next time I go up, though, I do want to hit McSorley’s again, and we still haven’t hit Gray’s Papaya.  And, honestly, even if it’s just Bud and Bud Lite, I wouldn’t mind all you can eat rib tips and chicken wings at Brother Jimmy’s!

Ahhh, New York.  I have so much fun when I visit you.  If you were one of the people we got to meet up there, well, then, it was great to meet you (I can say without reservation) and hope to see y’all again – and if you make it down to DC, would love to buy you a drink down here.

And to the rest of you, cheers, I should probably get back to work!

Well, if’n y’all haven’t a-heard (DAMN SALSA COWBOYS!) ol’

tmfiii

and I are off to the Big Apple this weekend.  We will be taking Amtrak up there Friday morning, and back Sunday night, while hanging out with our old friend Ed, I’m guessing possibly his lovely fiancee Froggy McLimey Frannie, and in general hitting various restaurants and bars.

We even have our new business cards up and ready to go for the trip – and they look nice.  They’ll point you to our new site, which is still under construction, but should hopefully be up rather soon-ish (and will, right now, point you back here, so don’t let that become a recursive clicking issue).

I don’t know how reliable our access will be to the ‘net, other than by mobile device, but I will be doing my darned bestest to keep things updated via Twitter.

(I’m HighwayStar on there if you don’t feel like clicking on that link.)

Some of the places we will be hitting or at least attempting to hit:

• Aquavit
• Death & Company
• Pegu Club
• Elettaria
• Flatiron Lounge
• PDT
• Little Branch
• East Side Company Bar
• Tailor

Anyways, hope that we get to see some of y’all while up there, and hope that you get a chance to check out our travels around the island of Manhattan!

(Mental note: Must get a Manhattan while on Manhattan!)