At Old Town Brasserie in Chicago, the cocktail-friendly bar menu features an update of the classic hors d’oeuvres concept. The globally influenced hors d’oeuvres menu, offered weekdays from 4 p.m., includes contemporary munchies like duck dumplings, and Chicken-N-Watermelon rum-braised drummies with compressed watermelon-mango and candied ginger.
While nobody’s claiming we can study geography via the cocktail menu, it is possible to experience the flavors and styles of cross-cultural influences. Consider 
Chifa, the Latin-Asian restaurant in Philadelphia. During happy hours, the restaurant’s Buns and Beers menu matches up food items with artisanal beers. The Pork Belly, Hoisin and Pickled Carrot with Togarashi Mayo on a Steamed White Bun, for instance, is paired with Flying Fish OktoberFish beer. Four varieties of buns and beers are available.
For a taste of modern coastal cuisine, Fuego at the Maya in Long Beach, CA, offers Modern Latin cocktails that blend old and new influences. Drinks such as the Hibiscus Lemonade Rickey (with hibiscus tea and gin), Horchata (sweet rice milk) with Spiced Rum, and the Mayan Martini are complemented by a bar menu featuring contemporary Latin cuisine. Among the choices are Organic Jalapeno Yellow Corn Maya “Fries” and Queso Fundido Mexican Cheese Fondue with Chicken Tinga, and Tostadas Azul.
In Seattle, the Spanish/French bistro Olivar offers a Tapas Happy Hour menu four nights a week. These drink-compatible tapas items include a Croque Monsier with Serrano ham and Manchego cheese, and a duo of Albondigas (meatballs) served with tomato jam and Marcona almonds.
At Stir Martini + Raw Bar in Bellevue, WA, the food menu and cocktails are a blend of Northwestern and Asian influences. With a name like Stir, you’d expect the concept to feature drinks at the forefront, and you’d be right. Everything says so, from the bar’s ice-encrusted vodka tap to the signature cocktail menu. The raw bar offerings include Ahi Tuna Poke, Sake (Salmon) Sashimi and Halibut Ceviche, and there’s an all-day dining menu as well. On the signature cocktail menu are specialties such as the Baby Shea (Titos Vodka, Lillet, Orchard Apricot and lemon juice) and the Maximiliano (Finlandia Grapefruit Vodka, Aperol, egg white, and Champagne).
Sometimes, the sense of place is more local, featuring regional flavors and influences. At Boka in Chicago, senior mixologist Daniel de Oliveira has been creating neighborhood cocktails inspired by ethnic ingredients that reflect the heritage of those living in the city. Also, if your customers’ idea of a beer cocktail is limited to the retro Boilermaker—a beer-and-a-shot experience—you might want to get hip to the TeQuilmes beer cocktail served at Boka. It’s a combo of Quilmes (an Argentinian lager), Don Julio Blanco tequila, Domaine de Canton ginger liqueur, lime, and agave nectar.
Now more than ever, food and drink menus work together to offer customers a well-integrated experience.
It’s hard to imagine a more idyllic place to distill vodka than in Freeport, Maine, a picture perfect slice of America located just north of Portland. It’s there that four men set out to craft a handmade spirit that would embody the pristine character of Maine. Succeed they did, and in November 2005, the four launched COLD RIVER DISTINCTIVE MAINE POTATO VODKA.
The artisanal, small batch spirit is triple-distilled from locally grown potatoes and spring water drawn from an underground aquifer fed by the nearby Cold River. Instead of relying on a more conventional, stainless steel pot still, Chris Dowe, head distiller at Maine Distilleries, has the opportunity to ply his trade with a traditional, copper alembic still. Its composition and design produces a significantly cleaner and more flavorful spirit. The vodka’s essential purity out of the still means that it requires only minimal filtering before being bottled, thereby leaving its inherent character intact.
Cold River deserves both its critical acclaim and growing celebrity status. The shimmery, crystal clear spirit has a medium-weight, lushly textured body and a semisweet, floral and vegetal bouquet. Its initial approach is quite warm, yet peaks well below hot, leaving behind the lingering flavors of cocoa, caramel and toffee. The flawless finish caps off the experience.
Cold River Vodka is a laudable achievement. Although potatoes contain more fermentable sugars than an equal amount of grain, they are considerably more expensive and technically challenging to distill. The difficulty involved in making potato vodka has only fueled demand in general and Cold River in particular.
As good as it is, the COLD RIVER BLUEBERRY VODKA is bound to grab the headlines. The soul-satisfying vodka is an 80-proof homage to Mother Nature with a voluminous bouquet and a finish like the holy chorus of blueberries. Great stuff.
