FROM OUR
Kitchen
Crafty Cocktails Two Cal Poly Pomona alumni raise bartending to an art form BY LISA MCPHERON
Medicina Latina
BY L AC E Y M U R I L LO
BY M A R CO S T E L LO
1/2 oz. Laphroaig Cask Strength Islay Scotch 3/4 oz. Highland Park 18 Single Malt Scotch 3/4 oz. Macallan Fine Oak 10 Year Single Malt Scotch 1/2 oz. Curacao 6-8 mint leaves 1 brown sugar cube 1/2 oz. orgeat syrup 3/4 oz. lime juice 6 dashes Angostura Bitters 6 dashes Peychaud Bitters Crushed ice 1. Muddle the sugar cube and mint. 2. Add the scotch, orgeat, Curacao and lime juice. 3. Take a tablespoon of crushed ice and whip the drink until the ice granules have dissolved. 4. Dump into a pilsner glass. 5. Add more ice and swizzle. 6. Top six dashes of Peychaud and Angostura Bitters. 7. Garnish with a mint sprig.
2 oz. Blanco Tequila 3/8 oz. ginger syrup 3/8 oz. honey syrup 3/4 oz. lime juice 1 slice of candied ginger Spray of Del Maguey Chichicapa 1. Shake and strain tequila, syrups and juice into a double old fashioned glass over ice. 2. Using an atomizer, spray Del Maguey Chichicapa over the drink. 3. Garnish with a piece of candied ginger.
Salt and Pepper Cocktail BY S A S H A P E T R A S K E 2 oz. London Dry Gin 4 lime wedges 1/2 oz. simple syrup 2 cucumber slices Sea Salt Black Pepper 1. Muddle the limes and cucumbers. 2. Add the gin and simple syrup. 3. Shake the cocktail with cracked ice and dump the contents into a double old fashioned glass. 4. Top with a pinch of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Thai Iced Tea BY G A R R E T T M C K E C H N I E 2 oz. Thai tea infused Cachaca 1/2 oz. Demerara syrup 1/4 inch manufacturing cream 1. Stir the Cachaca and Demerara in a glass filled with ice. 2. Strain into a cocktail coupe. 3. Put the cream into a condiments bottle and hand whip until the consistency of the cream has thickened to rest on top of the Thai tea (about 45 seconds to a minute). 4. Squeeze the cream on top of the cocktail.
Murillo and Tello enjoy the craft of making cocktails, and people are taking notice. Food & Wine Magazine named 1886 one of America’s Best New Bars of 2011.
FALL 2011
Fields of Aberdeen
Collins | |
When you ask alumni Lacey Murillo and Marcos Tello to share their favorite cocktail recipes, and they respond, “How esoteric do you want them to be?” you know you are in for something distinctive and complex. A rum and coke is out of the question. Even a dry martini is child’s play to these two. Murillo, who graduated from The Collins College in 2007, and Tello, a 2005 theatre major, are doing special things with cocktails at 1886, the bar at The Raymond Restaurant in Pasadena. Their cocktails are thoughtful and daring as they pay homage to a preProhibition time when a tavern owner shared the same status as the town doctor. These cocktailian bartenders and their colleagues are raising the act of mixing drinks to an art form. Tello and his consulting company Tello Demarest Liquid Assets, dug deep into the past of the property to develop the concept for 1886, which opened in late 2010. The Raymond Restaurant is housed in a Craftsman bungalow built in – you guessed it – 1886. It was the caretaker’s cottage of the long-gone Raymond Hotel, a glorious haunt that catered to the early Hollywood elite such as Charlie Chaplain and Buster Keaton. Its celebrity appeal earned it a pass, while neighboring bars went out of business during Prohibition. “We stepped in a rabbit hole to take on the past while still looking to the future,” Tello said. The rabbit hole has led them to often use gin and scotch in forward thinking spins on retro cocktails. These original recipes offer a range of complexity. Do not expect to order these by press time though. They introduce 16 original cocktails every season. For hard-to-find ingredients, Murillo and Tello recommend Bar Keeper, a specialty shop in Silver Lake, or www.cocktailkingdom.com. The last step to each of these recipes is “Drink! Or if you must, serve to a guest!”
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