Archives for March, 2008
Dining Out Club at Reef
| March 25, 2008 | ||
Love eating out? Looking for new places to try and new people to share the experience?
I’m the organizer for Dining Out Club/Houston! We’re a growing bunch of dedicated foodies, all wanting to find exciting places to meet and eat. Once or more each month we go to different restaurants somewhere in (or near) Houston. I’m anxious for you to join in the fun!
- There are no club fees!
- Each attendee pays their own food bill.
- Meetings start at 7:00pm in a restaurant somewhere in the Houston area and last an hour or two.
- Some people stay around after the meal to enjoy the venue and the company.
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Interested? Sign up and RSVP for our next meeting. Come every meeting or come when you can!
FYI: We use www.meetup.com as our RSVP/Membership tracking tool. It’s free for you! |
This Meeting
Reef was selected as the best new restaurant of 2007.
Expertly prepared seafood with Gulf Coast, Mediterranean and Asian influences reflects culinary sophistication never-before seen among Houston’s high-profile restaurant scene. Complementing REEF’s global seafood flavors is its mesmerizing backdrop: 8,000 contemporary square feet accented with tranquil watery hues. A market-style fish room provides a sneak peek at the whirl of kitchen activity, and offers a front-row seat of Chef Caswell creating signature dishes.
Lively atmosphere and moderately priced!
Price range: $18-29 for dinner entrees. See their menu (PDF).
REEF Houston
2600 Travis Street at McGowen
Houston TX 77002
(713) 526-8282
www.reefhouston.com
Located near downtown in Houston’s thriving midtown district.
Tales of the Cocktail
| July 16, 2008 | to | July 20, 2008 |
The Most Spirited Event of the Summer: July 16-20th, 2008
I’ll be there again this year! (I was there last year and it was a blast: and the spirited adventure of a lifetime). I’ve booked my room at the Hotel Monteleone, the hub of all the activity.
Those of you planning on going, stay at the Monteleone and you’ll not need to drive anywhere, inebriated or not. TOTC rate is only $99/night (if the rate is still available): a great New Orleans deal. If you’re on a budget: the Holiday Inn is right across the street for a little less.
If you’re planning on going, let me know via email to jmartin@off-focus.com. I’ll try to coordinate a Houston contingent.
Regardless, put it on your calendar now and look for the full agenda which should be published online in early April.
About Tales of the Cocktail
Tales of the Cocktail, a culinary and cocktail festival on July 16-20, 2008, features award-winning mixologists, authors, bartenders, chefs and designers in the New Orleans French Quarter at five days of cocktail events such as dinner-pairings, cocktail demos and tastings, seminars, mixing competitions, design expos, book-signings and much more. Measuring some of their success in garnishes, Tales of the Cocktail 2007, used 7250 mint leaves, 3580 lime wedges, 800 watermelon cubes, 560 gin soaked dried cherries, 1390 orange slices, 2 tons of ice and more for thousands of sippers!
The McGlinchey and the Swizzle Stick Bar
“Hi, my name’s John. What’s yours?”
“Kevin,” said the young bartender who looks too young to be able to answer my next question. He’s Kevin Moreau and I’m in the famous Swizzle Stick Bar at the Loews Hotel in New Orleans.
“I’m on a mission and I have a deadline.” I’m almost afraid to tell Kevin why I’m really there. I need to finish designing two different signature drinks for a cocktail reception and a dinner tomorrow night. I’ve been mixing and sampling on-and-off for a month, but now the time is getting close and I’m not ready yet.
“Can you help me conjure up a signature cocktail?” I anxiously ask Kevin. “The law firm I work with is holding its annual meeting here and I’d like to serve a signature drink upstairs in the hotel tomorrow night.”
Café Adelaide / the Swizzle Stick Bar
300 Poydras Street
New Orleans LA 70130
(504) 595-3305
www.cafeadelaide.com
In front of me is a yellow sheet of legal paper with the outline of a drink I’m calling the “McGlinchey.” That’s the same name as the law firm. The drink is a whiskey sour of sorts, except more complex and hopefully a tad more drinkable.
“Sure, I’ll do my best. Is that where you’re starting?” Kevin glances down at the sheet of paper I’m writing on. Like any bartender or accountant, Kevin is an expert at reading upside down.
“Yup,” I say. “The drink starts with Irish whiskey to celebrate the heritage of the McGlinchey name. Then there’s Southern Comfort to honor the New Orleans roots of the firm. There’s some lime juice, fresh of course, to give it a slight sour edge and some pineapple juice to blend the lime with the peach notes of the SOCO. Can you mix one over ice so we can find out what it tastes like?”
Kevin glances at the recipe’s outline, turns away and moves to his mixing station. In a minute or so he returns with a short drink in a rocks glass. He places the drink in front of me. Using a bar straw, he pipettes a little of the mixture and tastes it himself for the first time.
“Too sour,” he says. It takes me barely a sip to agree.
“We should add a little simple syrup,” Kevin says, knowing I’m ready to agree.
I’m wearing a friendly smile of appreciation: “Sometimes I underestimate just how sour fresh lime juice can be,” I nod.
Kevin brings over a shot glass with just a spot of simple syrup. I pour the syrup into the glass and mix the drink with a swizzle stick.
“Much better! I think we’ve got it. Mission accomplished.”
McGlinchey
With just a taste of old New Orleans
1 1/2 ounce Irish whiskey
1/2 ounce Southern Comfort
1/4 ounce fresh lime juice
1/4 ounce fresh pineapple juice
1/4 ounce simple syrup
dash Peychaud’s bittersServe over ice in a rocks glass.
Garnish with a cherry and a pineapple cube.
“Now, one more thing, Kevin,” my earlier apprehension mostly gone. “I need another drink for a smaller group of the firm’s lawyers who practice law around the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005, that’s ‘CAFA’ for short. This drink needs to be stronger and, here’s the hard part: the initials of the ingredients need to spell out CAFA.”
A mystery in a glass
I woke up on Super Bowl Sunday, stumbled into the kitchen, pressed myself a cup of coffee and flipped on the boob tube to see what happened overnight around the world.
I figure if there are commercials on that means nothing important happened. (Nobody aired commercials on 9/11 or during OJ’s White Bronco chase, did they?) The news was on, no commercials yet, so maybe something interesting is going on.
Channel surfing by CBS Sunday Morning, I have now learned everything I need to know about absinthe.
Spec’s is selling Lucid for $65 a bottle.
