So if you missed out on getting the original rogue cocktails guide before we got all cease-and-desisted, we’re giving you a chance to get the recipes in a super bare bones $5 ‘zine. It’s literally “just the drinks”: no manifesto, no pictures, no commentary, no precepts. Just for fun, it does include five brand new cocktails that will appear in the next real book, which we promise to publish in the not-too-distant future.

Look for Kirk or I during Tales to purchase the ‘zine.  I’ll “tweet” (@maks_p) my location here and there when I have them on me, you’ll be able to find me there  if you’d like a copy.  Also look for updates on this site if we drop them in a stationary place somewhere for the week.  Post-Tales we’ll figure out a distribution system of some sort, standby…..

One last thing:  I’ll be returning to my roots and spending some time behind the stick at Cure, on Friday night (starting @ 9 PM), and all night Sunday, so if we haven’t seen each other in a while, you should come and get a drink with with me.

11 more reasons to love new orleans:

11.  Watching the sun rise over the Mississippi.

10. Shotguns!

9. The photography of Kevin O’Mara.

8. The sno-balls at Hansen’s Sno-Bliz.

7. Lil’ Wayne.

6. The professionalism, courtesy and encyclopedic knowledge of Chris McMillian.

5. Rock n’ Bowl.

4. Sunday evenings at Bacchanal.

3. Friday Lunch at Galatoire’s.

2. The French Quarter.  The heart and soul of the city.

1. The vibe, the pulse, the energy.  However you want to describe it, New Orleans feels different than anywhere else; its best not to think about why, just let it soak in.

Cocktails……..Lets get these out of the way:  French 75 might be the best bar in the country to get a quiet cocktail and smoke a cigar, if you’re into that type of thing.  Chris Hannah will be working Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, and possibly Saturday. Go one of these nights.  Cure (massive full disclosure conflict of interest, etc.) sets the standard for the artisanal cocktail movement in New Orleans, with the only truly comprehensive program.  For something different, check out the bar at Iris.  Alan Walters has put together a really interesting and unique cocktail program at the restaurant, with a focus on inventive and inspired market-driven syrups and ingredients.  Bar Tonique, on the edge of the French Quarter has done a nice job refreshing their cocktail program, and it probably won’t be as overrun as some of these other bars.  Definitely worth stopping by for a quiet drink.

Old school New Orleans………..Y’all know the Carousel Bar at the Hotel Monteleone.  Or at least you will.  Marvin is an excellent host and a gentleman, and the bar is beautiful.  If you don’t have a Pimm’s Cup while soaking in the patina and passage of time at the Napoleon House at least once, you’re out of your mind.  Go during the day, as their hours are ridiculous.  Tujague’s (pronounced “Two-Jacks”) is one of the oldest bars in the city, and along with Napoleon House is the best bar in which to contemplate the meaning of New Orleans.  Order a Sazerac just to see how they did it back in the day, and try to refrain from commenting on any aspect of the proportions or techniques.  Its just a drink, y’know?  Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop claims to be the oldest bar in the country, and looks the part.  Like all of the bars listed in this section, an excellent place to get lost in conversation and lose a day while time melts away.  Molly’s at the Market is the quintessential New Orleans Irish/Dive bar, and shouldn’t be missed.

You need a shot and a beer to face the cocktail cognoscenti…….The Erin Rose is close to the Hotel Monteleone, and is as good of place as any to get a shot of Jameson and a Guinness.  That should set you straight.

Beer and whiskey………DBA on Frenchmen Street is a New Orleans standard.  Warm and inviting with just enough grit to remind you where you are, along with a good-for-New Orleans whiskey selection and rotating draught beers.  Live music almost every night is another bonus.  The Avenue Pub on St. Charles Avenue has remade itself over the past year, and now features the best draught system and selection in the city, thanks in part to the help of New Orleans beer guru and deli owner Dan Stein.

You want to get a good cocktail and a bite at the bar……Cocktails at restaurants were the bane of my existence for a while.  New Orleans restaurateurs just didn’t give a shit about their cocktail programs.  That’s finally started to change.  The most notable restaurants serving creative, fresh, cocktails are the aforementioned Iris and Boucherie, as well as Coquette, a new southern contemporary bistro on Magazine Street, and Domenica, John Besh’s new Italian restaurant in the Roosevelt Hotel.  Ironically, you can get a better Sazerac at Domenica than at the adjacent Sazerac Bar.

I want to hear live music! Rebirth plays at the Maple Leaf on Tuesdays.  Kermit Ruffins plays at Vaughan’s on Thursdays.  Both shows are a lot of fun.  The Spotted Cat has live music every night, with no cover.  Fixture Washboard Chaz plays there early on Friday nights.  Plus DBA is across the street.  Basically Frenchmen Street is a pretty good place to check out if you want to hear live music.  Even the tiny, underrated Apple Barrel usually has something going on.  I actually heard one of the best performances of my life here, though I have no idea who it was.  It was a long time ago, and it was just two dudes.

Its 4 AM…….R Bar, in the Marigny, $5 shots of Jameson with a high life, jukebox, and a pool table.

Its 5 AM…….The Saint, in the LGD.

Its 6 AM…….Snake & Jakes, Uptown.  I don’t recommend hitting all three of these in one night.

In the Quarter though? Molly’s.  Flanagan’s.  The Erin Rose.  For some reason a lot of you will end up at the Alibi.

Be safe kids!

Cab companies:

United, (504) 522-9771

Carriage Cab, (504) 207-7777

You just arrived and need an immediate shot of New Orleans…..You’re going to Coop’s.  Best “first meal” of the trip.  Divey atmosphere, locals and tourists cautiously eyeing each other, its where you blink and realize that you’re not doing whatever boring shit you usually do the rest of your life and dammit, this is going to be amazing.  Get the fried chicken and the rabbit & sausage jambalaya.  Drink a turbodog.  Take your time.

You keep hearing about “po’ boys”……..You want a sandwich?  Thats what they call po’ boys everywhere else.  The locals think that “po’ boys” are something special, a magic sandwich that will somehow transcend every other culinary experience you’ve ever had.  The reality is that a po’ boy is a motherfucking sandwich, on decent French bread.  Since its New Orleans, half of the po’ boys have fried seafood on ‘em, which while nice and all, usually makes the bread, and thus the idea of the “sandwich,” superfluous.  Anyway, with all that said, the roast beef po’ boy at Parkway Bakery is fucking delicious. It’s the best iteration of a sandwich on French bread in the city.  Dressed, with swiss and mustard.  Barq’s longneck. You can take the Canal St. streetcar out to Mid-City and walk there if you don’t have a car.  A pretty great slightly-under-the-radar option is the hot sausage po’ boy at Gene’s, on the corner of Elysian Fields and St. Claude (hard to miss the bright pink building), in the Marigny.  In the quarter, Johnny’s is probably your best bet. And if you want a good sandwich, without all the po’ boy bullshit, go to Stein’s Deli or Cochon Butcher.  It should also be mentioned that I’m craving a fried shrimp po’ boy from Domilise’s pretty bad right now, despite my earlier proclamation.  Damn you New Orleans, damn you to hell.

You’re from New York and/or California and you’re really into this “head-to-tail” trend……Donald Link has been championing the “whole hog” philosophy since 2006, while most New Yorkers were still obsessing over “farm-to-table” ramps and fiddlehead ferns.  Execution-wise and philosophically you can probably find restaurants with similar-to-better quality and ethos on one of the three coasts (New York, Cali, Chicago), but Cochon is still one of the best restaurants in New Orleans, and Link has been doing it for longer than most.  The small plates, sides, and boucherie are generally better than the entrees, so go with a small group and share away.  Go to Cochon Butcher, next door, for a quick lunch or to pick up some boudin for the trip home.

You need that one superlative “New Orleans” dining experience…..A lot of options here.  Gautreau’s might be the best, and is pretty close to Cure as a bonus.  Clancy’s is considered one of the best “casual” fine dining destinations in the city among many of the locals, with a bistro vibe and a Creole inspired menu.  It’d be pretty disingenuous of me not to mention Stella!, considering its easily one of the most innovative restaurants in the city.  If you’re prepared to drop a lot of money, this is probably your best option downtown, though the menu is a touch less representative of New Orleans cuisine and local ingredients, than say August or Bayona, both of which are also excellent.  Irene’s is a local favorite, serving southern-flecked Italian in a comfortable atmosphere that feels miles away from the French Quarter.

You woke up on the levee when a train sped past you blaring its horn (true story!)……You’re probably pretty hung over.  Which means you need to find a car, or somebody with a car, drive across the Mississippi to the Westbank directly to Pho Bang (932 Westbank Expy. 504-872-9002.  Its in a strip center), and order a bowl of pho.  New Orleans has a sizable Vietnamese population, with a number of good eateries serving the fare.  I’m told by people that know that Pho Bang is the best in the city for pho, and its never failed to satisfy one of my cravings for the rich, aromatic broth + noodle combination that constitutes the dish.  There is also good banh mi to be found in the city, with the best being Dong Phuong, out in New Orleans East.

Something new? Boucherie is badass.  Honest, inventive, good value, always well executed.  Menu is southern influenced bistro awesomeness.  If you missed it last year, Green Goddess is bringing some interesting ideas to the table, with unique + unusual ingredients and flavor combinations.  They also do a great breakfast/lunch that is a touch more subdued than the esoteric dinner menu.

You’re a cocktail bartender who just spent $500 to fly to New Orleans, so you’re broke……Luke has one of the best happy hours in the city, at least if you like oysters:  $0.50 oysters, every day from 3PM to 6PM, plus some drink specials.  These used to be $0.25, I’m guessing the price increase has something to do with BP.

Late night? Yo Mama’s (until 2 AM) makes the best burger in the city.  Clover Grill is 24 hours. There used to be a taco truck on Frenchmen Street that per the comments has apparently been banished to Cafe Negril.  Yuki, a fun little joint that serves Japanese tapas pretty late is also on Frenchmen.  Café du Monde is of course open 24 hours.  Coop’s kitchen is usually open until 2 AM as well (sometimes).   I’m pretty sure the aforementioned Gene’s is open 24 hours as well. Unfortunately Verti Marte caught on fire a couple of months ago, so you’re shit out of luck there.

Breakfast! I love breakfast.  I love everything at Cake Café, and I love the praline bacon and duck hash waffles at Elizabeths.  I love the boudin biscuit at Surrey’s.  I love the Blue Jay Special (eggs, cheese and chorizo in a tortilla) at Huevos.  I love the “it feels like I’m in Austin” hipster vibe of Slim Goodies.  All have funky hours, so do your research.  I can’t do everything for you.

Note: The BP oil spill has predictably wreaked havoc on the gulf coast seafood industry.  My insider operatives are reporting that shrimp is still mostly available, oysters less so.  Assume that if you can get it, its safe to eat.  Enjoy, cause who knows how long until we can’t get any gulf seafood anymore.

Tomorrow: Where to drink!

love + hate in new orleans

New Orleans is now, and forever will be an incredibly frustrating place. Renowned for its culture, yet fostering neither creativity nor innovation, the city is a caricature of itself, awash in contradictions, locked in a constant struggle between the way things used to be and the way they could be. The city clings to its past as if its very existence depended on it, perhaps because it does, both because of the tourism dollars that the “past” generates, and the embedded way of life for those whom the “past” has led to comfort and status today. And yet, while life sustaining, this zealous adherence to “tradition,” to this idea of “New Orleans,” is also crippling.  So much of the city’s identity is reliant on its “culture” and “tradition,” that some of our most human traits, our ability to innovate, our desire to experience something novel, is subjugated by a mechanical proclivity for things to stay exactly the same, as they always were.

For all its uniqueness, New Orleans’ “culture” is highly structured and formulaic, a “paint by numbers” treatment applied to food, music and art that reinforces the “New Orleans” brand.  ”New Orleans cuisine.” Jazz. Folk art masquerading as something meaningful.  This is what makes New Orleans, “New Orleans.” And while the chefs and restaurateurs, the musicians, the architects, the artists and others that are responsible for bringing us our daily dose of New Orleans culture are some of the most talented professionals in their respective industries, they are also largely working within an existing framework, with little room for innovation and invention.  Show me something new New Orleans.

In its defense, New Orleans provides the opportunity to experience the essence of living, a reality stripped of the bullshit that dominates so much of our modern age: the useless Internet memes, the talking heads, the commercialization and homogenization of everything.  But also stripped away is that which elevates our existence from the mundane to the brilliant: the ambition, the examination of “why” things are the way they are, the search for meaning.  Life in New Orleans is about getting from Point A to Point B, where Point A is whatever you’re doing now and Point B is the next party.  This is at once the most compelling reason to live there and that which drives people away. The fact is, for all of New Orleans’ beauty and charm, the city is best appreciated on a superficial level; it lacks the depth of experience found in cities with a truly creative and vibrant character, where energy and ambition and inspiration envelopes your daily existence, bombarding you with the new, the great, the unknown.  New Orleans may be beautiful, but it’s not a work of art.  Its simple living in its finest form, disguised as something greater.

With that said, there is perhaps no better place in the country to be yourself. To be unique and interesting and weird.  It is a place where you feel immediately at home, perhaps because the people of New Orleans maintain no illusions about what makes up “life”: the daily irritations, the celebrations, the heartbreak, the strange, the beautiful, and the losses we all experience. There is always a reason to have a drink, and there is always a reason to see a friend.  New Orleans allows us to imagine, and in some cases experience, a life totally unlike anywhere else.  It’s a place you love in the same irrational way you love a girl who’s wrong for you in every way, but brings something out in you that no one else can.  You should be too smart to marry her, but you’ll also be damn happy if you do.

Postscript

The irony of writing this piece from New York, where the “past” is systematically picked apart only to be replaced by glass skyscrapers and H&Ms and Chipotles is, believe me, palpable.  I don’t want New Orleans to fall prey to the same market forces that have conspired to decimate so much of the history and culture of New York anymore than you do.  What I do want is for New Orleans to realize how much cultural capital it is sitting on, and how much potential it has to be something amazing.  The city is in the unique position of being one of the few authentic places left in this country, one of the few cities with an actual identity.  But this identity is not an end in itself.  New Orleans could be so much more, if it was just able to collectively harness that cultural capital, that identity, in a more productive way, than, for example, importing and discarding millions of plastic beads every year.

Later today: Where to Eat!

I was originally introduced to the idea of using salt in cocktails in Kirk’s Search for Delicious, which appeared in rogue cocktails (r.i.p.).  The theoretical underpinning of the salt application in this cocktail was the idea of “seasoning” the artichoke essence of the Cynar, which was used as the base spirit.  Per Kirk’s own words, the cocktail tastes like “blanched artichoke hearts carmelized with belgian endive, and dusted with Maldon sea salt.”

The cocktail, and more specifically, the application of salt, stuck with me for a while.  I did my own riff on the idea, the Growing old and dying happy, blah, blah, blah, which has since evolved into the Italian Heirloom on the Counting Room menu (just substitute a 1/2 oz of Laphroaig 10 Yr and a 1/2 oz of a blended scotch for the Rittenhouse 100), but was never quite satisfied with my understanding of salt, and its effect on the palate.  As anyone who’s ever tasted under-seasoned food can attest, salt worked, I just didn’t understand how.

They say fortune favors the bold, or at least those dumb enough to attempt to read Herve This’ Molecular Gastronomy without any formal kitchen or chemistry education (that would be me). Luckily, buried within the dense prose tackling subjects such as how to gelatinize milk without destabilizing it (use as few polyosides as possible, it turns out), was a chapter entitled “How Salt Affects Taste.”

Among other effects, we learn that salt “increases the ionic strength of aqueous solutions, making it easier for odorant molecules to separate themselves from food.  This is why unsalted soup has no flavor and why adding salt amplifies its odor, which is an important part of flavor.”  Got that?

“Sodium chloride is also a taste molecule that stimulates the papillary receptors.”  That too?  Awesome!

But, does salt really “bring out the flavor of a dish?”

Fortunately for Herve (and us), Gary Beauchamp and his colleagues at the Monell Chemical Senses Institute in Philadelphia were on the job.

The Monell Institute team of psychophysiologists wanted to know whether salt selectively filters tastes, weakening unpleasant tastes while enhancing pleasant ones……they compared aqueous solutions containing one or more of three substances: urea (bitter), sucrose (table sugar), and sodium acetate.  There were reasons for choosing these three: Sucrose added to urea softens its bitterness, and sodium acetate contributes sodium ions without imparting too salty a taste……

As predicted, sodium acetate reduced the bitterness of urea.  What gastronomic empiricism did not predict, however, was that salt masked the bitterness much more effectively than sugar.  Mixtures of sugar, urea, and salt turned out to be sweeter and less bitter than unsalted mixtures of urea and sugar. Moreover, in strong sugar concentrations, the sweet character was increased by the addition of sodium acetate, probably because salt offsets the weakening of the sweet intensity caused by the bitterness of urea.  Consistent with the hypothesis, the addition of sodium acetate by itself to sugar, in the absence of urea, did not increase the intensity of the sweet taste.

Cool, huh?  So, cocktail implications:  In the above examples, not only did the salt “season” the Cynar, but it also helped mask some of bitterness inherent to the Cynar, and brought out of some of its sweeter notes.  Now, lets step up the bitterness quotient just a bit.

In our Ten Trends for 2010 post from a while back we asked y’all to taste “salted” Campari side-by-side with unsalted Campari.  The conclusion that should have been reached is that the “salted” Campari was noticeably less bitter, and almost tasted more like the “essence” of Campari, without the strong, bitter finish.  (Note that Campari contains sugar – it is not a purely bitter substance like urea, but more like the urea/sucrose combination).

Obviously, the next logical step was to create a cocktail featuring this “idea.”  That was fairly simple.  Take the above experiment, increase the volume, add ice, stir, orange twist, and you have the Campari “Martini.”.  Fun, huh?  Its easier to execute if you create a saline solution (roughly 3 parts water to 1 part salt, by weight, as salt has a saturation point in water of around 26%), but whatever works for you.

The Campari “Martini”

3 oz Campari

3-5 drops saline solution (to taste)

Stir, strain into a chilled coupe, orange twist.

This is a relatively extreme application of salt, in that its really acting as the only modifier in the cocktail.  There are certainly more subtle applications out there that I recommend trying, particularly in cocktails containing fresh fruits & vegetables (Toby Maloney’s Juliet & Romeo is a good example of using salt with cucumber in a cocktail), as well as in flips.

Just some things I’ve been thinking about:

• Why are sours containing orange curacao/triple sec so hard to balance?  I hope I’m not the only one that finds Sidecars, and Pegu Clubs in particular,  difficult to balance.  While I’ve more or less settled on a Sidecar recipe (2 Cognac, +3/4 lemon, 1/2 MB orange curacao, 1/4 simple), I still have a hard time making it well, consistently.  For what its worth, I do think the classic proportions for the Corpse Reviver #2 result in a well-balanced cocktail.  If you’re interested in trying to figure out the Pegu Club for yourself, there is a good thread over on eGullet about it.  Also, please share your recipes for these temperamental cocktails in the comments section, if you’re willing.
• I don’t think all cocktails should be served as cold as possible, particularly those in the Manhattan family of drinks.  A too-cold Manhattan is a little like a too-cold glass of wine, or pale ale – you lose the nuance.  While I don’t consider it a sin to serve Manhattan’s too cold, because you can always let them warm up before you imbibe, I think that one should focus more on achieving optimal dilution when stirring the drink, rather than maximum coldness.
• Ingredients I’m wondering about: carrots, parsley, rhubarb, beets (I hate beets), horseradish/wasabi, dill, coffee/espresso, oatmeal, echinacea, eucalyptus, spring peas, nori, fennel, corn, mole, root beer, blood oranges, meyer lemons, coca-cola, smoke.
• Does anyone have a good Campari/Strawberry cocktail?  Ever since reading about Ferran Adria’s combination of the two ingredients I’ve been trying to perfect a cocktail featuring the combination, unsuccessfully.
• Salt, salt, salt.  Some quick reading on salt and coffee: Khymos post #1, Kymos post #2.  Maybe all my Pegu Clubs need is a pinch of salt?
• Tickets for Tales of the Cocktail 2010 seminars have been up for a little bit.  I’d recommend securing seats for Science of Stirring soon, as the follow-up to last year’s popular Science of Shaking promises to be one of the more interesting and engaging seminars of the event.  I’ve also bought tickets for Umami in Cocktails, something I’ve been thinking a lot about recently.
• I’m a sucker for infographics: the Conception of Wine.