The location is very speakeasy; you pass the West Side Market, cross a bridge, and a block later, between the abandoned houses and the train tracks, you are in the sort of place which seems to have nothing at all acceptable to offer. Until...
The inside is fairly informal, which I approve of. Evening gowns are fun sometimes, but I do not like feeling I have to dress up to my drink. Speakeasies were not upper-class venues; they were democratic if anything; cocktails should be the same.
Speaking of cocktails, my first was the Manhattan, made with rye! I was already won over; this is the only bar I've been to which served rye. They also use a house-made sweet vermouth, actually more of a red wine reduction--winey and fruity. I wasn't expecting so much vermouth, and would have preferred a more modern Manhattan--but their version was really more artistic than the 4 to 1 ratio I'm used to. Also, real Maraschino cherries. The whole drink was as dark as grape juice--in contrast to other bars' Manhattans that look, and taste, drenched in cherry syrup.
If you are like me, you look down on the Whiskey Sour. A bar version is drowned in sour mix; my home
version tends to be either too sour or flavorless. The Velvet Tango Room version will destroy everything you thought you knew about whiskey sours. The secret: an egg white! I even got a scientific explanation for this; because an egg white is thick protein, it smooths out the sour tastes; because an egg white is bland, you don't taste it, but you feel its smooth, foamy texture. The lemon taste is there, but it doesn't intrude. It's more like the lime in a very subtle key lime pie.At the bar, I dared to drink the raw egg; at home, I would drop it in briskly boiling water for ten seconds, then fish it out and ice it. This keeps the egg white liquid and shakeable while, I am told, killing any germs.
Another drink I look down on is the Dark & Stormy. The Velvet Tango Room makes their own ginger beer, and I have high hopes for it. I will report on this later.
I have a bottle of Luxardo maraschino liqueur. It's been here for a year. I hate it, I hate the way it tastes, and I want it gone. After I went on in this vein for a while, I received an Aviation cocktail. Gin, lemon juice and maraschino. No crème de violette-that would be 'gilding the lily'. It was quite good--the Luxardo was the first and last taste perceivable, but there was so much in between that I was willing to tolerate it.
My fourth choice was the Widow's Kiss--Benedictine, Chartreuse and something I forget. This has interesting ingredients, but somehow they don't come together to form any whole, and nothing except sweetness was discernible from the Benedictine. Of course, my taste buds may have been dulled by this point.
More exciting drinks to try here: an Apple Brandy Sour, Caipirinha, and Hemingway Daiquiri (I drink the latter at home all the time, but it's very tart; an egg white might do a great job polishing up the grapefruit and lime flavors.)
It soon became obvious to the owner that my companion and I were interested in cocktails, which resulted in scads of free cocktails, conversation and compliments, in a transparent and successful attempt to get us to come back. Almost as good as the booze is the chance to nerd out over it. I also went home with a free bottle of their house-made bitters, which is full of Vietnamese cinnamon. So, it's already in my top three bars, and I may not be able to go back to #2.
The drinks are all $10 during Happy Hour and $15 at other times--which I consider reasonable, for the quality. And of course, if you don't like a drink, you can request a free replacement.
This whole experience made me realize how damn lazy I've been when it comes to drinking! If I try something and don't like it, I just forget about it and go back to an old standby or boring old Scotch & soda. If I were just a little more Scientific about it, and bought better mixers, and tried some adjusting, I'm sure my range of drinks would be greatly expanded.
For instance, the Knockout Cocktail:
1 oz dry vermouth
1 oz gin
1/2 oz anisette
1 tsp white c de m
cherry
I drink this, but I drink it knowing it's mediocre. What about Pernod rather than anisette? What about an egg white? And a more upscale crème de menthe, if there is one, would make a big difference. Update to follow!
