Tales: Cognac & Blues Lunch @ Arnaud's

A special event at this year’s Tales of the Cocktail was a Cognac & Blues Luncheon at Arnaud’s on Friday. This was a four course lunch with five paired cocktails, each featuring Cognac. The cocktails were designed by leading bartenders such as Dale DeGroff and the food was the classic cuisine of Arnaud’s one of New Orleans’s legendary old school restaurants. To accompany the food and cocktails, a blues band played in the room for the duration of the lunch; some attendees even began to dance.



Cocktail guru and author Tony Abou-Ganim (pictured above) attended the event and was duly toasted as it was his birthday. The service was traditional (women were served first) and each table was anchored by a cocktail industry personality. I sat at the table of Allen Katz, the Director of Mixology and Spirits Education for Southern Wine & Spirits in New York, as he is an old friend who I hadn’t seen in a number of years.

A unique element of the cocktails was that several of them were variations of classic cocktails which are not usually made with Cognac. The Mojito VSOP by Todd Appel was the most surprising and most successful of these twists. The mint and Cognac was very refreshing and lighter than I would have expected.

The menu was:


Welcome Cocktail: Cognac Summit by Brian Van Flandern
[The recipe for this cocktail is at the end of this post]


Vichyssoise
Ritz Cocktail by Dale DeGroff



Onion and Tomato Salad, Herb de Provence & Fried Brie
Mojito VSOP by Todd Appel



Roasted Chicken with a Summer Bean Cassoulet
Side Car by Ryan Margarian




Crème Brulee
Pimp My Julep by Francesco Lafranconi




Cognac Summit Recipe:
Place lime zest and ginger slices in the glass
Pour in ¾ oz. VSOP Cognac
Lightly press the lime and ginger 2-3 times using a pestle
Half fill the glass with ice
Stir well for 5 seconds using a bar spoon
Pour in ¾ oz. VSOP Cognac
Add 2 oz. of traditional lemonade and a cucumber peel
Stir well for 5 seconds using a bar spoon
Serve immediately!

Tales: Eric Alperin & Phil Ward dinner at GW Fins

Each year at Tales of the Cocktail, a series of dinners is organized on the Thursday evening, which are collectively known as Spirited Dinners. They involve guest bartenders creating cocktail pairings for a custom menu at each of 25 different restaurants.



I attended the Spirited Dinner at GW Fins, which was a collaboration between Chef Tenny Flynn and bartenders Eric Alperin and Phil Ward. Over a 5 course meal, Alperin and Ward paired cocktails to match Flynn’s seafood cuisine.

The menu was:

Salmon & Tuna Tartares (not pictured)
Pan American Punch (Phil Ward) (not pictured)

Wood-grilled Louisiana Shrimp: pineapple basil butter, melon Carpaccio [note picture is of same dish but with catfish]
A Brazilian on Holiday (Eric Alperin)

Peach & Prosciutto Salad: baby arugula, Ricotta Salata, pickled Vidalia onion (not pictured)
Watermelon Sugar (Phil Ward)

Alaskan Yukon King Salmon: sweet and smoky glaze, summer succotash
The Slight Detour (Phil Ward)(not pictured)

Passion Fruit Panna Cotta: fresh berries
Atomized Bitters with a Tequila Finish (Eric Alperin)[Note that the drink is the atomizer to the right of the panna cotta in the picture below]


Below Alperin and Ward work on producing the Brazilian on Holiday


At one point in the dinner, a green gorilla, courtesy of Leblon Cachaca, joined our table, next to designer Ricki Kline.

Overall the evening was a success with the food and drinks both delicious. The restaurant was especially gracious about substituting catfish for shrimp in the 2nd course. It can't be easy to make batches of drinks for 60 people but the drinks came out to the whole dining room at once and suffered no effects for being made in batches rather than one at a time.

The last pairing was rather unique, as it was served in an atomizer rather than in a glass. The ingredients in Atomized Bitters with a Tequila Finish included F Ocho añejo tequila and the following bitters: wooded wheat neutral spirit, bitter orange peel, cardamom, orris root, sichuan peppercorn, long pepper, dark chocolate, black tea, hibiscus flower, tangelo (pomelo & tangerine) and vanilla bean. The "cocktail" was meant to be sprayed on the dessert course, to taste.

Alperin and Ward each came out to the dining room with each course to introduce the drink that they had paired with the course. A Brazilian on Holiday was one of my favorites of the evening. Courtesy of Eric Alperin, the recipe is below:

A Brazilian on Holiday Recipe by Eric Alperin
1/2 lime juice
1/2 French Dry Vermouth
1/2 Leblon cachaca
1/4 Licor 43
1/4 Campari
Light toss w/ ice of above.
Strain flute
Top Brut Champagne
Cucumber strip garnish

Tales: Grand Marnier Bar Room Brawl

One of the highlights of Tales of the Cocktail in 2010 was the incredible Grand Marnier Bar Room Brawl on Friday evening. Six bars were selected to compete and each bar recreated their physical bar in Generations Hall in New Orleans. A group of industry luminaries such as Audrey Saunders, Tony Abou-Ganim and Allen Katz judged the competition.

Each of the six bars was tasked with creating two cocktails; once the judges had tried all twelve drinks, all six bars opened to the attendees who could then sample their drinks. In the interim and continuing through the evening, there were also two large Grand Marnier bars with free flowing beverages.

Pictured above is the Varnish drink menu.

The bars in competition were Drink (Boston), The Varnish (Los Angeles), Dutch Kills (New York), Rickhouse (San Francisco),Florida Room (Miami) and The Drawing Room (Chicago). What made the event so cool was that the six bars faithfully recreated their design, including a great scrim behind the bar at the Varnish set up, and a huge ice block just like at Long Island City at Dutch Kills. For attendees who hadn't had a chance to visit all six in person yet, it gave a great taste of the whole experience of drinking at the bar, not just a sample of their drinks.

Pictured above are Chris Bostick and Marcos Tello behind the Varnish bar.

The People's Choice Award went to The Varnish, who had Eric Alperin, Chris Bostick, Marcos Tello and Matty Eggleston behind the stick. Eggleston now lives in Chicago and reunited with the opening team of the Varnish to assist in the competition. Ricki Kline who designed the Varnish helped recreate the bar down to minute details. Kline and Varnish partner Cedd Moses of 213 were there to cheer on the Varnish team and help celebrate their victory.

The Judges award went to Drink, whose team was led by Misty Kalkofen.

Marcos Tello with one of the models.

Erick Castro of Rickhouse preparing to make a beverage.

Chris Bostick with the Varnish's award plaque.