Thursday, June 12, 2008

What Drives Cocktailians Crazy

I went to a new Park Slope, Brooklyn, restaurant called Elementi recently. It's gotten good reviews and I had a pretty good dining experience. Good food. Fresh and homemade ingredients. Great service. Nice wine.

But then I glanced at the cocktail menu and shuddered. It was the typical "-tini" horror. Among the monstrosities: The Lemon-Basil Martini; the Elementini; the Apple Ginger Martini; the Vanilla Espressotini; the Chocolate Raspberry Martini.

There were only five drinks on the menu that weren't advertised as spins on the Martini. Every single one of them featured vodka as their base liquor. And the majority of those were flavored vodkas.

How can a restaurant that does everything else well slip up so badly in the cocktail department? And who told them that cocktails are meant to be dessert?

One this I will give them: They listed the Negroni as one of their featured drinks and apparently make it in the old style, on the rocks with an orange slice. I don't want to give them too much credit, though. They also feature a Manhattan served on the rocks

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Robert, we came across your blog post and couldn't agree more. It's a shame that restaurants, who offer incredible food at jacked-up prices, can't get past the vodka "-tini" explosion of the earlier part of this decade. A drink that is going to stimulate the appetite, or pair well with appetizers, is much more appropriate, and in the process, the restaurant may attract a stronger customer base that may pop in for just a drink or two, with an app, on occasion.