Martini Rosato - US Launch

Giuseppe Gallo, the Global Brand Ambassador for Martini, came to the US last week from his home base in London, to help launch the new Martini Rosato vermouth. At Copa D'Oro, Giuseppe discussed the origins of vermouth, the heritage of the Martini brand and the ingredients, flavors and uses of the new Rosato, which won a Gold Medal at the 2010 San Francisco World Spirits Competition.

The origins of vermouth were in the aromatic wines made in Roman times in the Italian peninsula. For centuries, Piedmonte has been the center of the aromatic wine industry. The Martini & Rossi company was founded in 1863 and the goal of the founders was to achieve consistency in a product that had been highly variable.

Martini uses over 40 types of botanicals which are infused into its vermouth, through both maceration in the slow turn and through distillation in an English pot still. In order to achieve their goal of consistency, the firm searches out its desired ingredients and then establishes long term contracts with growers, rather than purchase supplies on the open market.



Martini Rosato is made using red, white and rose wines, in contrast to traditional vermouth which only uses white wine. Rosato also has a different set of botanicals infused into it, including clove, nutmeg, cinnamon, pomegranate and pink grapefruit. Caramel is also added to help give it its distinctive pink hue and pure sugar and alcohol are added to the wine to help preserve it.

In addition to presenting, Giusseppe mixed several cocktails for the attendees, including the Martini Royal and the Martini Summer Punch (recipe below). The Rosato cocktails were surprisingly refreshing; very light and crisp.

Martini Summer Punch
* 3 oz of Martini Rosato
* 3 oz of Prosecco
* 1 oz Strawberry Liqeur
* Fresh Berries
* Fresh Pineapple Chunks
* Ice Cubes

Starry Kitchen Opening Party

In honor of its 3 month anniversary and the launch of dinner service tomorrow, Starry Kitchen had a grand opening party last Thursday to celebrate their success. The restaurant was filled with friends, family, supporters and plenty of bloggers and hosts Nguyen and Thi Tran and their staff provided a cornucopia of their signature food, the star of which was their legendary green crispy green tofu balls.


Founder/owner/host Nguyen welcomed the crowd from the kitchen.

Chicken drumsticks, sandwiches, glass noodles and of course crispy green tofu balls were all part of the Starry Kitchen grand opening bounty.

Below are a couple of pictures of the happy crowds hanging out and enjoying the celebration.

Some of the many bloggers in attendance were Bill Esparza, Pat Saperstein, Josh Lurie, Javier Cabral, Diana Hossfeld, the Minty, and literally about a dozen others.

Don't forget to check out Starry Kitchen's new dinner service on Thursdays & Fridays, beginning tomorrow!

Starry Kitchen is located at 350 S Grand Ave (California Plaza). Phone: (213) 617-3474. Website: www.starrykitchen.com

Rivera's Spring Cocktail launch

On Thursday Rivera's superstar bartender Julian Cox launched his Spring cocktail list of 13 new libations with a special launch night price of $6 each.

The bar and lounge area was packed with cocktail aficionados, bloggers, and fans of Julian's delicious drinks. Recent DonQ cocktail competition champion Kristina Howald (pictured at left), who is usually only behind the bar on Fridays & Saturdays, was there to help with the onslaught.

I got to meet several people in person for the first time including the Amateur Enthusiast and LA/OC Foodie.

I sampled three beverages over the course of the evening in two sessions (had to decamp to the Rooftop Bar @ The Standard for a reunion of another sort in the middle).

Began with the Widow's Kiss - Rye Whiskey, Calvados, Yellow Chartreuse.

Followed up with Sexy Thyme - Gin, Aperol, Orgeat, Golden Raspberries, Thyme

Last drink (round 2) was the Smoked Manhattan - Rye, Amaro Cio Ciaro, Smoked Rosemary, Angostura

My favorite of the cocktails I tried was the Sexy Thyme. Very balanced, not too sweet but easy to drink. I was a bit hesitant to order it as I have had a few unsuccessful cocktails with Aperol, but Sexy Thyme has removed the Aperol jinx from me. I also love the great ice served with this drink.

The smoked manhattan involves lighting the rosemary on fire to smoke it and impart some of the smoky scent to the drink. Enjoyable to watch and it adds another flavor component to the drink without overwhelming it.

The evening was so successful that when I came back for round 2, the bar had run out of several of the fresh ingredients, which I take as a very good sign. Rivera's classics will continue to be available.

Blogger ThirstyinLA has helpfully posted the full list of Spring cocktails here.