weird shit

[by john]

steven and i headed to eastern standard for our second night on the town, and twisted the arms of mike (of this blog) and andy (roomie) to come along. hard sell. the eventual and unintentional theme of the night was 'weird shit'.

we noticed early on (we were all e.s. virgins) that e.s. maintained a dazzling array of original syrups and in-house liqueurs and bitters; the bartenders clearly knew their way around the kitchen. this must have set something off in our heads to order non-standard drinks. (is that a pun? i can't tell.)

these included, but were not limited to: an absinthe and xocolati mole bitters pairing, e.s.'s grapefruit liqueur experiment (made that day), muddled cucumber and salt, vegetable vodka, cayenne syrup, mirto, offal, and bone marrow (those last two not in cocktails).

my final drink - which these bastards ordered for me while i was in the bathroom - was actually on their menu, but was some certifiable strangeness. beet-infused vodka, greek yogurt with horseradish, tarragon syrup, and orange juice. a bizarre, yet remarkably well put-together drink. i felt healthy afterward. [3/15 edit: apparently this style of cocktail is officially a style.]

we were lucky enough most of the night to have nicole, an e.s. expert bartender, put up with our shenanigans. witty as hell. at one point, for instance, she called out andy for performing some questionable acts on his last piece of bone marrow. and she was cool enough to send us on our way with a complimentary fernet flip. the cool minty-ness would have lasted all the way home had we not singed our taste buds at the delicious pad thai cafe.



oh and a p.s. - nicole gave us a nip of the cynar - so that's what it tastes like.

and a final p.s. - some guy stopped his car on the street to compliment steven's hair. think mad scientist meets yves saint laurent.