I've always been a sucker for a strong margarita. It tastes like vacation in a glass. More like a "staycation" when it comes to the jalapeño margarita at One Lounge in Dupont Circle.
Break out the bourbon, boys! It's Kentucky Derby time again, meaning that bartenders everywhere will be whipping out their muddles to create that old time classic, the mint julep. Even though my family hails from Kentucky, and I have been a loyal slave to the bar business for over 13 years, I have never been [...]
Vienna Inn: releasing thousands of dogs a month. As if reading a blog for local information weren't enough, here's more evidence that we live in a new media world: Old news never dies and gets turned into fish wrap. It just gets picked up by some "discovery" bot and becomes "news" all over again. Case [...]
Another day, another completely unscientific ranking of something or another by a glossy men's magazine! Today, it's GQ, out with "the 25 best cocktail bars in America." Cue overhyped intro: If you haven't noticed, we are in the middle of a cocktail revolution in this country. A wave of bitters and tinctures and hard-to-find spirits [...]
The classic Negroni, with its mix of bitter and sweet, is one of my favorite cocktails. I find it the perfect aperitif. I also find that many bartenders have never heard of it. I cannot tell you how many times I have had to explain the recipe to a waiter, even at Italian restaurants. In [...]
Bon Appétit's August issue includes a breakdown of the "Top 10 Best New Cocktail Bars" in America, and right there at the bottom of the page is the Brown brothers' punk-like exercise in personalized drinking, The Passenger, as well as its nerdy, science-obsessed sibling, the Columbia Room. Author Andrew Knowlton wrote this about Tom and [...]
This weekend while walking the streets of Chinatown, I ran into Tom Brown standing outside the Passenger. He was trying to absorb the last few rays of sunshine before taking his turn behind the bar. We got to talking, and he mentioned the latest madness among bar drinkers: those who ask for a shot of [...]
The "Drink Chef" Blake Donaldson has a more elegant (and less messy) way to prepare an Irish Car Bomb/Irish Triplets. Take a look.
Carrie and I were baffled by the name "Irish Triplets," which we spotted on Molly Malone's St. Patrick's Day drinks menu this past weekend, though we did have fun speculating on its origins and definition. Carrie figured it was every heterosexual man's fantasy. I figured it was every single man's domestic nightmare. The bartender finally explained that "Irish [...]
As we head toward Thanksgiving, Y&H wants to help you eat like a pilgrim (a Native American, too, because we’re all about equal opportunity eating here). In other words, we want to help you eat locally for the holiday. Almost 400 years ago, the pilgrims had no choice but to eat local. These days, we [...]
