Phew busy day today people...let's just get to it. Oh and hello, Friday. Going to be a busy weekend I'll tell you what. Due to rushing and scrambling, I give you a quick fix of Five for Friday- I know this weekend is Cinco De Mayo and the Derby, so I give you the slurry edition of my weekly five spot, which focuses on the best of the best of da booze:
Best mint julep recipe- I believe in community, and Esquire's recipe for a punch bowl full of bourbon and mint is best for those of you looking to share your lovely brown drunkenness with others. Besides, alcohol in a bowl is always more fun.
http://www.esquire.com/drinks/mint-julep-community-style-drink-recipe
Best margarita recipe- Cinco de Mayo, yo. I love this recipe from Chow that twists up the classic and coats the glass with cayenne or cumin flavored salt. I'm a real traditionalist when it comes to margs, but love that the main ingredients are intact, and we get a bit of a twist on the rim of the glass. More please.
http://www.chow.com/recipes/10643-perfect-margarita
Best bourbon cocktail- Maybe you're not a big bourbon drinker, but I married a Kentucky man and have come around to what is now one of my favorite poisons. I would inject it if I could, but somehow, that seems dangerous. As noted by Esquire, Gary Regan says in The Book of Bourbon, "We think most good bourbons sound like Tom Waits." How can you not want to sip on that? I dig this recipe from Garden & Gun for Bourbon and spicy ginger soda. Bourbon and fresh ginger root with a pear garnish? Even the Yankee-est amongst you will be rebel yelling for this one.
http://gardenandgun.com/article/southern-staple-bourbon-and-ginger
Best new cocktail bar in NYC- It's not like I've been doing the rounds or anything, but the bar at the new Nomad Hotel on 28th and Broadway is hands down the sexiest bar I've been to in ages. It has a bit of the Hotel Costes in Paris bar vibe going on- dark yet lit, beautiful bar, and a cocktail menu that is complex and delicate at the same time. If you are looking for a place to wear those stockings with the back seam and a trench coat with something slinky underneath (bra and panties work too), then go there- and for the gentlemen- if you have a woman in mind who you would like to see in said outfit, take her there. It's hot. For real. Non sexual collaborations will enjoy this bar too. It's gorg. And the little library room off the side has that bookish thing I love to be surrounded by when sipping on something potent. I wish I could remember what I drank there, but I do know bourbon was involved and it was excellent.
Best cocktail bar I need to go to- Very excited that the Experimental Cocktail club has opened stateside, and right here in New York on the Lower East Side. This is a bar from Paris that many say is one of the few places there for real cocktail enthusiasts, and knowing that New York is a place where cocktailing is a way of life, this place is going to enjoy a steady stream of patrons. I'll see you there- it's at Chrystie and Rvington and waiting for us.
And now that we're through, I hope you have a lovely weekend betting on ponies, drinking tequila in a sombrero, or checking out a great bar wherever you happen to live. It's all about vices this weekend, friends- I say embrace them wholeheartedly, cause that's what's up this somewhat Bukowski inspired betting on ponies and down that hatch kind of Friday in the 212. It's 5 pm, somewhere, isn't it. XO