Corpse Reviver No. 2, #2

Not too long ago, I discovered that such a thing as 'flaming cocktails' exists. Intrigued, I looked up all of the standard versions of these drinks only to find that they're all pretty much a combination of boiling water and Bacardi 151 - which to me, sounds more like lighter fluid than a cocktail. At the same time, I was really into the corpse reviver No. 2. Then it occurred to me - the corpse reviver's got a wash of absinthe - which is super high proof! Let me go grab a lighter and see what happens if I...

And while it might be a little gimmicky AND I know you're not supposed to serve a corpse reviver in a low ball glass, this (admittedly) blasphemous version of a corpse reviver is just too much fun to keep to myself.

Caramel Popcorn - Liquified

It's been a really long time since I've made anything out of the alinea cookbook - and so I woke up this morning with the goal to make something out of it that:

A) I had all of the equipment/ chemicals for
B) I hadn't ever tried before
C) I could get done in one day

After flipping through and going straight to the winter section (who doesn't love seasonal crap!) I found a recipe for liquefied caramel popcorn that was super easy and would take, like, half an hour tops.

Craigie on Main

After being thoroughly impressed by the off-menu burger at 'drink' one night, I made it my mission to eat off as many secret (and sometimes not so secret) menus around town as I could discover.

Through some good ol' fashioned Internet trolling, I discovered that Craigie on Main had what was slated to be another epic burger. I finally made it over there last night to decide for myself. Apparently this 'secret' barside-only burger is so popular that it's typically sold out within minutes of the restaurant opening, and patrons line up before the restaurant even opens to bum rush the bar and get their hands on one. Cragie opens at 5:30pm on Saturdays and I arrived at precisely 5:31.

Dry Aged NY Strip with Deep Fried Hon Shimeji Mushroom and Pickled Pearl Onion Salad

The Gunshop Fizz

While shopping at the Boston Shaker the other day, I was asked a very innocent question: "what are you drinking these days?"

The guys at this shop seem to know more about drinks than most bartenders I run across, so for me this was actually a pretty intimidating question. While I didn't have a very good answer ready to shoot off, I somehow managed to mutter off an "uhh penicillin". I was shopping with a friend of mine and told him he'd only need a little bottle of peychaud’s because one is basically a lifetime supply. At this point, the guy behind the counter says that he’s been buying the big bottle because he's been making this drink called a gun shop fizz which - as opposed to using a dash or two of the anisey bitters - uses 2 ounces. And as he described it, also includes some weird ass bitter Italian soda called sanbitter.

The Laphroaig Project

For my first ever post I had a difficult time deciding what to write about... since I have an (almost) equal love of food, scotches, and cocktails it really could have gone either way BUT since my favorite cocktail also involves scotch and because its pretty much as close to cocktail perfection as it comes (at least for my palate anyways) here's the Laphroaig project!

A Bourbon and Branch original, I'm kind of disappointed I never had one there while I was living in San Francisco for the last few years. After discovering the ingredients list I shifted my focus try and acquire all of the parts to this as soon as possible - I really do think its got "project" in the name because nobody has ever got all of the ingredients for it.