The Empire Room, a classic lounge with an extensive cocktail menu, has opened in NYC’s historic Empire State Building. Cocktails range from vintage fare, including the Martinique Daisy, Waldorf, Ramos Gin Fizz and The Empire Room’s signature cocktail, The Empire Cocktail, to house specialties, like The Throwback, Berry Royale, Gotham Julep and Prohibition Punch. Jonathan Pogash, director of cocktail development for Hospitality Holdings, developed The Empire Room's beverage menu and trained the bartenders.
The team of mixologists at New York City’s Hotel Griffou — Anna Badoian, Khay Mohammed, Kat Krause and May Lane — have developed spring cocktails for the menu (under the guidance and input of Johnny Swet, one of the four partners who run the venue). On the menu this spring are: the Youngblood (Alto del Carmen Pisco, red pepper syrup, orange bitters, sloe gin and lime juice); the Trophy Wife (Cabana Cachaça, Champagne and passion fruit purée), the Beowulf Bramble pictured here (Linie Aquavit, blackberries, lemon juice and crème de mure) and Red Devil Punch (Herradura Plata Tequila, hibiscus syrup, maraschino liqueur, Cherry Heering, red grapefruit juice and a splash of Rosé Cava).
One of America’s benchmark saloons, Eastern Standard in Boston, has rolled out barman Jackson Cannon’s latest menu, which includes a section of Old-Fashioneds such as the French Quarter (Cognac, Peychaud’s Bitters, orange and cherry), infusions like the Casablanca (Medjool date whiskey, a hint of vanilla and amaro Santa Maria al Monte bitters) and vermouth cocktails such as Vin Amer Fizz (house rosé vermouth, apricot, egg white and Champagne).
Craigie on Main in Cambridge, Mass., now offers a cocktail “tasting” of four different mini cocktails, which progress from lighter to heavier. Recently the list included The Frisco (Old Overholt Rye, Benedictine and lemon juice), The Camino Cocktail (house-made ambre vermouth, Rittenhouse Rye, Mirto liqueur and flamed orange twist) and the Colleen Bawn (egg, Chartreuse, rye, Benedictine and nutmeg).
Quattro Gastronomia Italiana restaurant at the newly opened Trump SoHo New York offers not only regional Italian specialties, but also Italian-inspired cocktails including the Biscotti (Grey Goose La Poire vodka, Faretti Biscotti liqueur, lemon juice and soda) and the Quattro Spritzer (Solerno liqueur, bitters and Prosecco). Beverage director Dan Warrilow heads the program.
Suzanne Goin is renowned for the French-California cuisine at LA’s Lucques, and to celebrate her third nomination for the James Beard Award for Best Chef in the U.S., bartender Christiaan Rollich created the Citrus Star (fresh tangerine, orange juice, lemon juice, Bols Genever and star anise). The bar and the kitchen work collaboratively at Lucques, where Rollich makes bitters, pickled onions and vodka infusions for his signature cocktails.