I'd love to share with everyone here our newest concept before we introduce it to the mainstream. It seems only appropriate that the forumites know about it first! You will have to excuse some of the seemingly vague explanations, as we are working to make this theme night as creatively organic as possible...
Creative Cocktails, held every Wednesday from 4:30 to 7:00 (or until the product runs out,) will feature 3 different tapas/cocktail pairings for $10 each. We plan to use this venue to explore the viability of our freshest ideas. The menus will have a comment card on the back, so guests can get in on the fun of the development process (I love that idea!)
Of course, there will be multi-layered themes that we will be talking about with guests. This week, Dallas is designing the food around the drink, a mental exercise rarely practiced by chefs. He has been working with each of us, drawing inspiration from each person separately. This is what I know:
Shane is all about farm-to-glass cocktails, at the moment. He will be offering a tequila-based drink that utilizes farmer's market corn chosen for youth and sweetness. Making this into a water, this drink will be garnished with jalapeno (in some form) for those who like some heat.
Diane has been working on retooling crowd-pleasing standards with Asian flavors. Her drink, a Bellini variation, will accent the traditional white peach puree with light notes of Chinese five spice. It will be interesting to see which garnish she finally chooses!
Right now I am on a mission to design drinks that appeal to the hardcore spirit purists. Fernet Branca drinkers. Scotch aficionados. The people who ask for 2 cubes of ice in their George T. Stagg. My offering, 'The Barnyard,' is an unrepentant offering designed for them. An oak-prevalent bourbon is measured out of a jigger that has been primed with Lagavulin 16 yr Islay scotch and poured into a glass primed with a Barbera from Mauro Veglio. The profile is that of a barnyard, without all the poo (thought for awhile about that descriptor, hehe!) Chef hinted that he may go in the salmon direction, but who knows?
In the next few weeks, I have a few conceptual ideas that I am excited about:
a) 'Fun with Infusions-' Where we will be showing techniques like tin-infusing, quick infusing and fat-washing using unexplored lipids (snicker bars and food-grade essential oils.) [EDIT: I almost forgot pressure infusion]
b) Some kind of Iron Chef thing where I show up to the developmental session with a bunch of crazy Asian ingredients like jackfruit, mangosteen or whatever. We have some preserved lemons in-house that I have been eyeballin', as well...
c) a shoe-on-the other-foot session, where the kitchen designs the drinks and the bar makes the food. I would pay to see that! lol!
d) a flight-night, where we highlight small portions of the rare selections we have collected in our our young life, accompanied by a collection of accoutrements reminiscent of a cheese plate.
e) an upside-down night where the drink is on the plate and the food is in the glass...
I'm excited about this, as you can tell. I really do feel this night can strike a blow for foodies, cocktail enthusiasts and Louisville in general. If you are in the neighborhood and have the volition, drop on by. Come fire walk with us, tee-hee!
