Andromeda

Bunny in all her glory

Far and away our most popular cocktail at Compere Lapin is the Andromeda.  When Ricky set our bar in motion he was determined to have an egg white cocktail be our vodka cocktail.  I will admit.  I was skeptical at first.  After three years in the French Quarter, I lost some of the fight in me to challenge guests to go outside their comfort zone.  But a Vodka cocktail is inherently approachable and that is in my wheelhouse.  So we set to work on a vodka egg white cocktail.  The first one, delicious Fontanarosa, had beet juice too!  Talk about throwing uneasy vodka drinkers under the bus! 

The next one used the new bartender ketchup, Gifford's Pamplemousse Rose (Grapefruit), El Guapo Rose Cordial, honey syrup and a near split base of Pisco and St George Green Chili Vodka.  I love that sometimes when you create a complex drink, it has very simple origins.  This, to me, is essentially a pisco sour variation.  But it is so much more.  The 50/50 sugar/salt rim mixed with the green chili makes it reminiscent of a margarita.  The rose and grapefruit are unique and all the flavors come together to be a sum even greater than its parts.

And when Ricky carved out that rabbit stencil, all bets are off.  This cocktail is a showstopper.

Now we have to have back up quarts of egg whites to get through a night of service.  Andromedas go flying out all night long.  My pisco guy loves me.

Oh and the name?  Andromeda is the galaxy closest to our own and is known for bumping into other galaxies so look out!  It is also the only name I wanted to change mine to when I was a child.  I was really obsessed with Clash of the Titans at the time.  Harry Hamlin.  Still would.

Andromeda

1 oz Pisco
3/4 oz St George Green Chili Vodka
1/2 oz Gifford Pamplemousse Rose
1/2 oz El Guapo Rose Cordial
1/4 oz Honey syrup (2:1)
3/4 oz lime
1/2 oz egg white

Stake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass with a 50/50 sugar salt half rim
top with Peychauds bitters.

Bayou Sunset Sangria

I demonstrated a rose rum sangria at the Bayou Boogaloo. Events like the Boogaloo are what made me fall in love with New Orleans! I am so proud to share my love for cocktails on this beautiful day!

Bayou Sunset Sangria

(Serves 10)

Watermelon 

Honeydew

Cantaloupe 

Red grapes

Blueberries

One jalapeño pepper

3 cups Bayou white rum

11/2 cup Bayou spiced rum

1/2 cup agave nectar

1/2 cup Bissop hibiscus concentrate

2 bottles of rose wine

Using a melonballer, break down half each of the melons. Reserve melon shells as serving vessels if so inclined. Slice grapes in half and add blueberries whole. De-seed the jalapeño and slice into thin rings

To fruit salad add agave, hibiscus and half the rum, reserving the other half for the wine punch. Fruit salad can now stay fresh for up to 3 days. 

To make wine punch, just combine rum with the wine. 

When ready to serve, use one scoop of fruit salad per person over ice with 1 cup of wine punch per person. 

Sno-Balls for Grown Ups

New Orleans has a name for frozen slushie type drinks.  Daiquiris.  These drinks are as about as far removed from an original Daiquiri as a Mango-Choco-Appletini is to an original Gin Martini.  While I have no room at my bar for a full on Daiquiri machine, I try to re-create the frozen drink craze during our hot summer months with Beverly, my industrial ice crusher.  Beverly Crusher (the smaller version is called Wesley) creates beautiful fine shaved ice more reminiscent of our famous Sno-ball stands or the shaved ice I used to get from the little old Dominican men with a huge block of ice on their shopping carts in my old neighborhood in New York City.  These men sold piraguas with hand shaved ice and homemade syrups.  My favorite here in New Orleans is called a Pink Squirrel, a cherry almond syrup that is greatly enhanced by a drizzle of sweetened condensed milk on top, a topping as common has whipped cream here at New Orleans Sno-ball stands.  Take flight with this boozed up version of the Pink Squirrel with that other form of city vermin, The Pink Pigeon.

Drink:  piragüas or as we call them in New Orleans, Sno-balls for grown ups

Pink Pigeon

¾ oz fresh lime juice

1 oz Luxardo Sour Cherry Syrup

¾ oz Luxardo Amaretto

2 oz good white rum Rum (I like a local rum like Old New Orleans, Bayou or Rouraroux)

Shake all ingredients over ice and strain ½ of mixture onto a mound of crushed ice.  Pour the remaining ½ and then top with more crushed ice.  Garnish with a drizzle of sweetened condensed milk and a cherry.

Of course Strawberries and Cream are another natural combination.  Try this classis New Orleans Sno-Ball Boozed up:

Tiger’s Blood

2 oz Coconut Rum

1 oz Coconut Milk

1 oz simple syrup

Fresh Strawberries

Spiced Rum Whipped Cream*

Muddle about 2-3 ripe strawberries into the simple syrup.  Shake all ingredients over ice and strain ½ of mixture onto a mound of crushed ice.  Pour the remaining ½ and then top with more crushed ice.  Top with Spiced Rum Whipped Cream and fresh strawberry.

*To make the spiced Rum whipped cream, whip 1 cup of heavy cream with 1 tsp of vanilla, 1 Tablespoon of spiced rum and 2 tablespoons of Steens Cane Syrup.

Belinis, Sangrias and Daiquiris…on ice!

Not all snowballs are creamy.  Adding some bubbles to shaved ice created a refreshing frozen treat that dances a conga on your tongue. 

Island Bellini

1 oz Passion Fruit Puree

1 oz Peach Puree

3 oz of Moscato d Asti

3 oz Dry Cava

Pour all ingredients over crushed ice and mix gently.  Garnish with a sprig of fresh mint and a fresh peach slice if you are so inclined.

I use half moscato and half dry cava to control the sweetness to my liking.  When working with frozen ice or blended drinks, it is key to go a tad sweeter than you would normally.  The dilution of the ice needs a bit more sugar to bring forward the entire flavor of the cocktail.  Of course, all sweetness should be adjusted to your own personal preference.

Good Morning!

Huey P Long giving Cocktail lessons.

If ever there was a town well versed in the Hair of the Dog, New Orleans surely is the shining city on the hill.  Morning drinks are an entire sub category here in the land of 24 hour bars.  The Lovely Ladies of Uptown think nothing of starting the day with a fortifying Brandy Milk Punch.  Every dive bar in the French Quarter makes a glorious Bloody Mary with spicy pickled green beans and okra.  And you can get these drinks to go, thus taking a invigorating perambulation while you take your tonic to shake that dog that bite you the night before. Perhaps the most famous New Orleans morning drink is the Ramos Gin Fizz.

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Henry C. Ramos invented the Ramos gin fizz in 1888 at his bar, the Imperial Cabinet Saloon on Gravier Street, in New Orleans Louisiana. It was originally called the New Orleans Fizz, and is one of the city's most famous cocktails. Before Prohibition, the bar was known to have over 20 bartenders working at once, making nothing but the Ramos Gin Fizz - and still struggling to keep up with the demand. During the carnival of 1915, 32 staff were on at once, just to shake the drink. The drink's long mixing time (12 minutes) made it a very time consuming cocktail to produce.

The Roosevelt Hotel in New Orleans also popularized the drink, as did governor Huey P Long’s fondness for it. In July 1935, Long brought a bartender named Sam Guarino from the Roosevelt Hotel to the New Yorker Hotel in New York City to show the staff there how to make the drink, so he could have it whenever he was there. The Museum of the American Cocktail has newsreel footage of this event. The Roosevelt Hotel group trademarked the drink name in 1935 and still makes it today.

The twist that we do at SoBou is to add some house made hibiscus syrup to turn the drink pink, like our Elephant, BarBar.  We also add some Bitterman’s Orange Cream Citrate, like the old time soda jerks used to use to give the drink and extra kick.  With the healing power of protein from the cream and egg, refreshing cooling citrus, sweet and dry from the hibiscus, I’d say this would bring you back from the brink of any illness.

SoBou Gin Fizz

2 oz Beefeater Gin

1 1/2 oz cream

1 egg white

1 oz simple

3/4 oz lemon/lime

1/2 oz hibiscus syrup

dash of vanilla

1 dropper full of Bitterman’s Orange Cream Citrate

Dry shake, without ice, then add ice, shake long and hard.  In a large chilled glass add some soda water on the bottom, pour slowly to build a rich thick creamy head. Top with more soda if necessary.

Whiskey

Santa Baby, slip this whiskey under my tree?

Just to let you know how far we have come in our selection of Whiskey...

Last night I was at a new music venue to see The Black Crowes.  PS, Amazing show, my first time seeing one of my favorite rock bands...Finally!  They played Twice as Hard and I was 17 again, driving those country roads in Virginia in my pick up truck names Elvis again.

But I am not 17 anymore, and thank goodness because now I can drink at rock shows!  And drink I did.

I started with a really fine Tennessee whiskey cocktail.  No, not Jack...they had George Dickel!  They made a delicious Old Fashioned with honey and Boston bitters.  Well done, Civic.  They teamed up with my dear friend Neal Bodenheimer of Cure and Bellocq to make easy and delicious cocktails using small batch and organic spirits.  The batched cocktails look clean and inviting in lovely glass bottles.  I will go back to try them all, but I decided I was on a whiskey adventure.

So next stop on my whiskey safari was Islay.   I had some Organic Bruichladdich scotch.  A treat but I had to!  I have been to that distillery, so I slurred to the bartender as he called it a Bourbon!  No!  Its a scotch.  And a mighty fine one too.

I slowed down and next just poured some Rye Whiskey from my Punch Brother's flask over some fresh rocks.  I assume its some Bulliet Rye.  Tastes good.

They I ended my whiskey parade with some Micheal Powers Irish whiskey.  I had heard rumors that this Whiskey had been discontinued.  Better drink it up before its gone, I guess.

Tennessee, Scotch, Rye, Irish.  So many whiskeys available on a single night.  Whiskey is back.  We are living in a new golden age.  Golden brown honey spicy smokey age.  Yum.

Bourbon for Breakfast?

Creole Commando

One of my favorite drinks I learned during my time at The Beagle in NYC was the Commando.  Its a variation of the Sidecar, another favorite classic of mine.  And here at SoBou, when people ask for an off menu drink, I often guide them to the Commando.  Its refreshing and citrusy but has a nice Bourbon kick.  And the Absinthe rinse is pure New Orleans.  

The Commando was such a hit with a customer last night, that he asked for further variations of THAT drink!  Well, easily done as Creole Shubb makes an interesting, more Nola alternative to Cointreau and this blog is called RyeGirl, after all.  So I present the Creole Commando!  Reminds me of all my New Orleans friends who spent the recent hurricane with pistols and automatic weapons strapped to their sides (yikes!).





Creole Commando
1 1/2 oz Rittenhouse Rye Whiskey
1 oz Rhum Clément Creole Shrubb
1/2 oz Lemon juice

Rinse coupe with Absinthe. Shake, strain up, no garnish.

Commando 

1/2 oz lemon,
1 oz Cointreau,
1 1/2 Elijah Craig 12yr.

Rinse coupe with Absinthe. Shake, strain up, no garnish.

Sidecar

3/4 oz Lemon

3/4 oz Cointreau

1 1/2 oz Brandy or Cognac (Lairds apple brandy is good!)

rim glass with lemon juice and sugar rim, shake, strain up. 

Dear John Letter to a City

Dear New York,


This is hard to write.  My love for you is so strong and so deep.  There were times when I felt like we were the only two in this whole crazy world who truly understood each other.  You are so sexy and I loved to explore every inch of you.  We have such a beautiful history together stretching back thru generations of my family.  We went thru heartbreak together and when my soul felt empty, you were always there to fill it up.  And when you were down and out, when your very being was in doubt, I was so happy and proud to be there for you.  I nursed you through a difficult time and I will always be happy that I was there for you and helped you come out of that darkness.  Lord knows you brought me out of some dark times.  I will defend you and love you forever.


But we have been growing apart.  Henry David Thoreau said "city living was millions of people being lonesome together".  And I feel like you have been neglecting me.  I feel lonely...even in the warmth of your 24 hour presence.  I am getting tired of seeing my hopes and dreams ripped open for your approval and being met with indifference.  I'd like to say that its not you, its me...but the truth is, I feel the same and you have somehow changed.  Seems impossible, I know, but I see your head turn as you admire the younger shiny newbies, and it hurts me.  I just don't feel like you appreciate me anymore.  I feel like there is no room for me in your life.  I need to feel needed.  I need to feel wanted.  I need to be rewarded for my love and devotion.  I have earned that, no?


That is ok..really.  I understand.  I am happy that you are doing well.  I just don't feel the same.  I know you will always be there for me...we have too much history and love to truly fall into bad graces.  Perhaps this time apart will bring us both closer together in appreciation and love.  


Besides...I have met someone else.  New Orleans and I have always had a special relationship, but recently we have grown quite close.  She is warm, sweet and lately we have been thinking about taking our relationship to the next level.  The flutter in my heart has returned and I am filled with girlish glee whenever I see her.  She is beautiful and so proud, like you.  And I feel like she needs me.  So I am going to her.


Know that you have forever changed me and that my thoughts are with you always.


Lets keep in touch.


Love you,
Abigail