Brad Keeton wrote:I stopped in Z's Fusion Friday afternoon with two friends (including occasional poster Patrick B.) to kill some time before heading to the track for the final night racing. We each had a few cocktails and appetizers, delicious as usual. As we were getting close to leaving, our bartender began offering us a few samples of various creations.
At this point I began to suspect that our bartender was Stephen, so I introduced myself, and in fact, it was. He kindly gave us tastes of 4 or 5 of his creations, including a one ingredient, clear, rocks drink that I'll leave unnamed at Stephen's request. The rest I couldn't even begin to describe, so I'll leave that to Stephen. They were all very good.
We very much appreciated the kind service, to the point of continuing to chatter about it at the track, where my wife proceeded to kick herself for not meeting us.
Thanks, Stephen.
Wow... I need to focus more on focus! Just like I almost didn't recognize you as foodies the other day, I almost let this one slide through the cracks. I got myself weeded, as I let the immersion tasting last until the last second before dinner service. My management team bailed me out with clean up, yet mis-en-place was dubious, at best. We all know the hole that digs! I was lucky that you guys chose cocktails from the adventurous side of the menu- always a sign I have some foodies I get to play with, hehe!
Ok, the play-by-play, as I remember it:
We tried the strawberry/lavender stone sour, which was the spring offering from the immersion menu. I could drink that all day...
Then we moved into the summer offering, which was the black pepper/cherry/(where the hades is the sumac?) infused Maker's Mark in the snifter over the candle with the vermouth sugar brulee inside the snifter. Lemon Vapor. Kurt, if you are reading this, I figured out the sugar presentation and I think you'd like the resolution, which is a play off of Jana's suggestion... it looks like a cracked sunrise lifting out of the bourbon sea. Quite striking!
Then we moved into the unami sangria v 2.0, the tamarind concentrate proving that it is, indeed the answer to the problems we had with the original. I'm feeling good about moving into the final phase of this one where we flame shitakes with cognac and then making a puree out of that. I think a fining through coffee filters will alleviate the sediment on the inside of the glass issue. /crossing fingers
Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't I share with you the gel that I just made with X-Rated, a pink cordial that is essentially a different color of hypnotic? It was the brunoise that I like to call 'adult gummy bears.' Just last night we finally figured out a fun application for the pink cubes, which will be mixed with the blue hypnotic cubes. They resemble the colors of the old bubble gum candy cigars passed out by expecting fathers. Called 'It's a boy/ It's a girl, they will sit at the bottom of a bubble gum cordial (Eben Freeman) and will celebrate the as-yet announced pregnancy of a member of our restaurant family!!! (he's gonna kick my arse for this!) I absolutely love that you all were in on something so special to us!
I might also get into trouble for this: the clear liquid was white dog- the rarely tasted spirit that is bourbon before aging. Simply corn alcohol, it is only used for educational purposes. This was bourbon before the introduction of the charred barrel. As bourbon fans, I felt you would dig the experience. As a member of the extended family and as an ambassador, I took it upon myself to share this with you, repeating as faithfully as I could, the lessons I was taught during my first experience with the spirit. I hope you were inspired as much as I was by the stuff!
Didn't I also show you the creamsicle foam? Karen Shane from Republic, our rep and partner dropped by with what we think is maybe Finlandia's best infusion yet: tangerine. Kelsey, one of our managers and my source of inspiration for many of our frou-frou drinks took one smell of this product and exclaimed 'creamsicle!' Well, who am I not to give the lady what she wants? Fin Tang, Tuaca, OJ, and heavy cream charged with pressurized NO2 produce a fairly stable foam that we have been serving with a creamsicle granita and grape soda syrup marinated orange supremes. The granita is gone, so the foam has become amuse-bouche...
I'm sorry if I have, yet again gone too long, or if my enthusiasm could be misconstrued as cockiness or arrogance. It is what it is...
Brad, I'm so glad to have finally met you and Patrick. Trust me, I had just as much fun as you guys did. These experiences are what motivate me to work as hard as I do. At the end of the day, recognized or not, I look back on the experience and I laugh to myself, because that was exactly why I signed onto this career... and exactly why I can say I do what I love to do.
