Author Archive
October 10th, 2007
The LUPEC Boston Tea Party, which took place on Sunday night, was such a blast that I’m guessing attendees are still cursing the Boston chapter of the Ladies United for the Preservation of Endangered Cocktails. Well, I can only say to them: thanks for helping us preserve those endangered cocktails — and supporting Jane Doe Inc. in the process. Don’t worry, your liver will bounce back in time for our next event. Promise.
Prohibition-era and other vintage cocktails included the Scoff Law, the Mother-in-Law and the Bronx. The ladies also created a new cocktail just for the party called the Flapper Jane (recipe below). They circulated through the crowd with silver pourers, topping up people’s teacups (you know, so the fuzz didn’t know we were drinking hooch). Miss Tess had the boat swinging with her modern-vintage singing, guitar playing and trombone blowing, accompanied by a standup bass.
Yes, I said “boat.” The shindig took place on the Merrimac Queen, a permanently docked riverboat in the North End’s Lewis Wharf. The Boston Sailing Center graciously lent it to us for the cause. In fact, many people in the spirits and food biz, plus several local businesses and friends, donated the goods and labor that made the whole thing possible. Read about them on the LUPEC Boston blog.
The Flapper Jane
1.75 oz Plymouth Gin
.5 oz fresh lemon juice
.75 oz Wu Wei tea-infused simple syrup
dash of Peychaud’s Bitters
Shake in a cocktail shaker, strain into a cocktail glass.
Posted in Cocktails, Events | 3 Comments »
October 5th, 2007
Bartender profile
Everyone seems to know Joe McGuirk. He has tended many a bar in this city for the last 16 years, including the B-Side Lounge, Chez Henri and Green Street. Currently, you can find him at Highland Kitchen. He freely admits to moving from bar to bar in order to “keep it fresh.” But, like Steve Martin or Alec Baldwin on Saturday Night Live, he returns to his past workplaces fairly regularly for guest appearances. “If you need a shift covered, call McGuirk,” he quips.
McGuirk’s an expert practitioner, as skilled at stirring up a perfect Negroni as he is at cracking open Coors Lights during a Red Sox rush. He has an unusual knack for being comfortable working just about anywhere and an attendant ability to satisfy patrons who range from bike messengers to Brahmins. McGuirk credits his own “Upstairs, Downstairs” life experiences for this. He’s a waitress’ and truck driver’s son who grew up in the genteel town of Concord. He started his own family right out of high school and worked as a line cook while studying English, history and political science at UMass. As if his ease with bar patrons of all stripes wasn’t enough, McGuirk has a good memory for names and details. He understands something a lot of bartenders don’t: “My real bosses are the customers.”
OK, that’s all pretty impressive. But I’m convinced the real reason McGuirk’s famous in his trade, the reason he’s gotten press both locally and beyond, is the Twinkle — that flicker in his eye that both sizes you up and hints at a whole ‘nother dialogue going on beyond the drink-for-cash transaction. Women often interpret it as flirtatiousness. Men might recognize it as a warning against oafish behavior. Whatever. It works wonders.
Hometown
Concord, MA.
Past bartending jobs
I have worked at many bars but the ones that stand out are Chez Henri, B-Side Lounge, Central Kitchen and the Enormous Room, Game On, and the Beehive.
Favorite bar in Boston other than your own
Favorite bar (that I have not worked at) is Eastern Standard.
Favorite bartender(s) in Boston
My favorite bartender of all time is Denny Lewis (retired). My favorite active bartender is Kevin Scott, the James Brown of bartenders. However, there are so many I love.
Most annoying myth about bartenders
That we sleep more than the average person. Friends call at 11:00 a.m. and are shocked to discover we are still in bed. Well, if I worked ’til 4:00 and got to bed by 5:00, then I am only in my sixth hour of sleep. Call after noon, and I promise to stop calling at 3:00 a.m.
The drink you most like to make
The Negroni is the prettiest drink when portions are corrrect, and if you burn the oils off of the orange peel, the smell is great too. But I am happiest when I introduce someone to a drink they have not had but really love. And that comes more from talking with my guests and trying to match them with a drink.
The drink you least like to make
After 3:00 p.m. the Bloody Mary is the most annoying drink. And a dirty martini is the silliest drink. You have to pay for a drink in which half of the spirit has been replaced by the brine of your garnish. Mind blowing.
The drink you most like to drink
Is Budweiser a drink?
If you weren’t a bartender, you’d be…
I probably would be a line cook if I didn’t tend bar. But I wanted to be a zoologist, college professor, sports announcer and the author of the Great American Novel.
Is Boston a good bar town? If so, why?
Boston is a great town for bars. Besides being home to some wonderful old bars and some beautiful new ones, the city has always celebrated its drinkers and the men and women who serve them. And although I am sure other cities do the same thing, it just seems that Boston is big enough to support a great bar scene, with wonderful variety; and small enough for most bars and their bartenders to get the recognition for their efforts. There is a fraternal feeling among the bartenders in this town, and although I might not know each one there is a very strong chance that if you have been doing this for a few years, we are destined to meet. And there is a very good chance that we know a bunch of people in common, whether they are patrons or peers. And the history … didn’t Paul Revere start his midnight ride from a tavern? And didn’t Ray Flynn personally poll his constituency at J.J. Foley’s? Not unlike Ken Reeves doing the same thing at the Green Street Grill?
After having tended bar in San Francisco, I know that Boston respects what we do, our trade, more than they do in SF. And while I like the hours, and I love what I do, it doesn’t hurt to have my community say what I do is a decent way to make a living.
Posted in Bartenders | 4 Comments »
September 30th, 2007
I want to like the bar/lounge that is part of the nouveau steak house KO Prime and used to be part of the restaurant Spire, in the posh Nine Zero Hotel (90 Tremont St.). KO Prime is in a great, history-saturated part of Boston — near the Common, the State House, the Athenaeum, the Parker House, Locke-Ober and the Old Granary Burying Ground, where Paul Revere and Samuel Adams are buried. Not bad company. My first visit was promising. I ordered the rum-based Tea Party Cocktail, which was smartly served in a plain white chilled teacup. The rum, spice and citrus flavors evoked a really good colonial-style rum punch. I also sampled the One Hot Minute, a mixture of tequila, agave nectar, lime juice and Lillet Blanc with a few drops of jalapeno Tabasco sauce, served on the rocks in a short glass. Sounds odd, but all the ingredients balanced one another out and constituted a nicely layered, zesty drink.
Unfortunately, the sleek, characterless look of the bar isn’t much changed from the Spire days — though the cowhide covering the low lounge chairs is a colorfully kitschy new touch. In the restaurant itself, the recessed ovals in the ceiling display — inexplicably, but what the hell — details of Grant Wood’s famous painting American Gothic.
Admittedly, KO Prime is about the food. We’re talking about Mr. KO, or Ken Oringer, of Clio fame, and rising young chef Jamie Bissonette, formerly of Eastern Standard. But … the bar happens to come with the place. Some time and effort were obviously put into the list of newly created cocktails. I revisited the Tea Party Cocktail and the One Hot Minute on my second pass through KO Prime. They weren’t as good as previously. The rum came through too bluntly in the Tea Party, and the One Hot Minute was served in a bigger glass. This helped throw the balance of ingredients off so that the drink tasted a little too tequila-y and a little too sweet. I mentioned to the bartender that the drink had been served in a rocks glass previously, and he said he put it in a highball glass because, basically, ‘more is better.’ With a gin and tonic, maybe, but not with a more complicated mixture.
I’m guessing Oringer and Bissonette wouldn’t be so cavalier about changing the proportion of ingredients in one of their dishes. Is it being too nitpicky to ask for consistency in the quality of the cocktails? This would make the bar at KO Prime worthy of its owner’s culinary reputation and its location’s luster.
Posted in Boston bars, Cocktails | No Comments »
September 26th, 2007
A friend of mine recently asked me to create a cocktail for her wedding. I was honored. I immediately began imagining cognac and champagne mixtures with fresh citrus and exotic liqueurs. Then my friend forwarded me the contract from the bartenders she had hired for the occasion. That brought me back to reality. How do you create a festive, wedding-worthy cocktail out of the raw materials found in the standard Marital-Industrial Complex bar setup (a phenomenon that persists no matter how fancy or distinctive the wedding)? You break out the bitters, that’s how.
You know the kinds of booze I’m talking about: Canadian Club, Seagram’s VO, a couple types of vodka, and liqueurs that were big in the ’80s, i.e. Peachtree Schnapps. No bourbon, no cognac and, obviously, no fresh citrus juice. There’d be gin and champagne, though, so I decided to work around those. My friend loves French 75s, after all.
I realized that the cocktail would have to be very simple, given that I would need to batch up the spirits beforehand and transport them to the wedding myself in my Executair 101; there was no prayer that the speed-pouring M.I.C. bartenders would follow a recipe, even if I supplied the called-for ingredients. I could only rely on them to chill the spirit mixture and top it with champagne. Since I love the combination of bitters that make another champagne cocktail, the Seelbach, so distinctive, I thought I’d use two kinds of bitters to bring my gin-champagne mixture to life. After a few experiments, I settled on a 2:1 proportion of Regan’s orange bitters and Peychaud’s bitters.
The bride-to-be sampled my creation and proclaimed it worthy of toasting her union with a man named Jones. I think it’s pretty tasty. See for yourself:
The Mrs. Jones Cocktail
makes 2 drinks
1 oz gin
1 tsp simple syrup
4 dashes Regan’s orange bitters
2 dashes Peychaud’s bitters
Champagne
Shake first four ingredients in a mixing glass with ice and strain into 2 champagne flutes. Top with enough champagne or sparkling wine to make the cocktail light pink. Drop a very thin slice of lemon into each glass.
Endnote: I went to cocktaildb.com, and the only other drink I could find that combines orange and Peychaud’s bitters is:
The Metropole Cocktail
1 1/4 oz cognac
1 1/4 oz dry vermouth
1 dash Peychaud’s bitters
1 dash orange bitters
Add cherry
Stir in mixing glass with ice and strain into a cocktail glass.
Posted in Bitters, Champagne, Cocktails, Gin | 1 Comment »
September 24th, 2007
If you just can’t wait for the LUPEC Boston Tea Party (scroll down), and you’re dying for a tasty vintage cocktail that’ll help Boston-area women, you have until the end of September to visit some of the restaurants participating in LUPEC Boston’s “This One’s for the Ladies” drink promotion. Be sure to ask for the cocktails those establishments chose to raise money for Jane Doe Inc. (the Massachusetts Coalition Against Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence). Examples: the Pegu Cocktail at the Independent, the Hanky Panky at Eastern Standard and the Barbara West at Green Street.
I have to admit I’m partial to the latter, because … well, every LUPEC (Ladies United for the Preservation of Endangered Cocktails) member has a cocktail alias, and Barbara West happens to be mine. Not only is this dry, appetite-whetting drink delicious, it reminds me of those two great “forebroads” I knew as my grandmothers: one was named Barbara, and the other (Marion) drank sherry. Here’s the recipe for the BW, from Ted Haigh’s Vintage Spirits & Forgotten Cocktails:
Barbara West Cocktail
2 oz. gin
1 oz. sherry (preferably amontillado)
1/2 oz. fresh lemon juice
1 sm. dash Angostura bitters
Shake in an iced cocktail shaker and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon twist.
Posted in Cocktails, Gin | 2 Comments »
