Wexler's Interior

We started with dinner a Wexler’s, a relatively new place in the financial district that serves up inventive interpretations of Southern food, often infused with smoke (and featured in today’s New York Times!). We of course had a round of cocktail’s there (I had a regular Manhattan) which were a great start to the evening.  The food  at Wexler’s is fantastic, the service is excellent and Matt Wexler himself is a gracious and helpful host. In fact, when Rob made the reservation via OpenTable, Matt remembered that Rob’s wife Joyce has some dietary restrictions and actually contacted Rob to see if he should start thinking about a special menu for Joyce. Now that’s service.

I won’t recount the whole meal, but I will mention the Scotch Eggs. This is a traditional and nasty dish consisting of a hard-boiled egg wrapped in sausage meat and deep fried. On the server’s urging we tried chef Charlie Kleinman’s reinterpretation: Soft-boiled eggs covered in burnt-ends of short rib and deep-fried. The eggs somehow stay whole and soft and the rib meat is a perfect foil. An original idea, perfectly executed.

Clock Bar Logo

Next we found our way to the Clock Bar at the St. Francis. I’ve written about this before. While Marco is no longer tending bar there it remains, perhaps, the pre-eminent posh bar in the area. The bar itself is beautiful, the staff is informed, efficient and friendly, and the cocktail list, of course, is fantastic. Two favorites were the Autumn Sweater (Bols Genever, Dimmi, Apple Juice, Lemon, Vanilla Rosemary Syrup and Egg White) and the Ahumados (Mezcal, Canton Ginger Liqueur, Lime Juice, Agave Nectar and Ginger Syrup). The latter was a bit too smoky for Kang’s taste, but I was able to help him out. That’s what friends are for.

Bourbon and Branch

We could have spent the entire night there working our way through the list but we had a reservation at Bourbon and Branch, a self-styled speakeasy where you need a reservation and a code-word (ours was “bent” which was soon to be accurate) to get a table.

Here’s where my memory gets a bit fuzzy, but I do remember closing the night with a flight of tequilas. And I know Rob ended the evening with a Last Word (equal parts Gin, green Chartreuse, Lime Juice and Luxardo) which may be, in fact, the last word in cocktails. Hopefully Rob and Mark and Kang can fill in the details.

How fuzzy? Well let’s just say that Mark called me about a week later and asked me to look in my wallet at my United Mileage Plus Credit Card. Sure enough, it was imprinted with Mark’s name and he was holding mine. We’re in the process of reconciling our bills right now because neither of us had any trouble using the other’s card. Some much for credit card security (but you knew that)!

In any case we’ve determined that this will be a regular event, currently under the code name of GCRS (read the post title, silly). Although we’re open to cocktail researchers of all genders….

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After reading an entry in Jordan Mackay’s Buzzed blog, I stopped in at the Clock Bar which recently opened in the Westin St. Francis. And, in fact, sat right in front of Marco (so, if that reference is meaningless to you then you need to click on the link above and read Jordan’s blog) which meant not only was I served by him but I got to watch his handiwork and chat him up a bit on cocktails. He’s a fount of information about various recipes and their sources, but it was particularly impressive to watch him operate.

I chose a Wibble, which was refreshing and excellent. I then asked Marco to make me something. He said “is there anything you don’t like?”  My answer was “Rum. I don’t like rum. So make me something with rum in it.” And now I’m embarrassed because I don’t remember the name and can’t point to an even approximate recipe. But it was rum and fruit juice (pineapple) and my favorite part was the grated nutmeg on top. It wasn’t half bad and the last sips, which contained the nutmeg, were especially yummy. It was too fruity for what I was in the mood for late at night, but would have been perfect on a sunny day.

Wait.  Marco just left the following comment, making up for my faulty memory:

The Rum cocktail you refer to was a Calypso, which I took from Anthony Dias Blue’s Complete Book of Mixed Drinks. Oddly, the book was published in 1993, when falernum was nearly, if not completely, impossible to find. The drink was prepared with Appleton rum, Velvet Falernum, pineapple, fresh lime, and Angostura bitters.

The bar itself is gorgeous…very upscale and sleek and befitting the relationship with Michael Mina (if you haven’t eaten there you should simply take out that 2nd mortgage and go). I did notice that it wasn’t designed by a bartender. There was far too little space for glassware and not much work surface for Marco and the other bartenders. Still, highly recommended. There was a long list of cocktails I want to try and it isn’t often you get such a good choice at a hotel bar. But bring a fat wallet, because I think they were $14 each.  At least it was dollars and not euros or pounds….

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