NEW Restaurant Review: Slightly Oliver

I attended the friends and family preview of the new restaurant/mixology bar Slightly Oliver on October 27th and the official public opening was this past Tuesday. The people running the joint have a lot of experience in the industry: Stanton DuToit (Owner, Tolani Wine Restaurant), food by chefs Luis Ulloa (Tolani) and Jason Hicks (Jones Wood Foundry) and cocktails by Orson Salicetti and Albert Trummer (both from Apotheke, Theater Bar). The theme is a "cocktail gastropub," the only one to currently exist.

500 Amsterdam Avenue, NYC

The venue used to be Bar Luna but was completely transformed into it's own unique, environment complete with a mini-distillation system made of delicate glass, for art purposes only of course *wink.* As I walked in I was promptly greeted by a beautiful hostess who escorted me to the bar, where I'm most comfortable. My seat allowed me to get a bird's eye view at all the action. Within about twenty minutes of my arrival, the place was packed and everyone was in a celebratory mood congratulating the owners and staff.

The overall look is more "modern-gastropub" than the original English pubs I have been too. Dark, "new" wood is the general theme of the venue and seating for dinner is plenty with more private dining towards the back. I can see people getting real cosy back there late night.

Dimitri

The preview went very well, it was open bar and open food for everyone in attendance. I tried a few things off the menu: the foie gras, which was out of this world with a slight hint of cumin, I think. The spare ribs were beyond delicious and the meat just fell off the bone with a savory sauce.

The cocktails were all pre-batched, mixology punches by Mr. Salicetti in beautiful, large glass containers on the bar top allowing us to watch the fruit-fusions in action and providing a beautiful presentation. The punches were tasty and ranged from sweet, sour, neutral and spicy.

Sailor, Bollywood & Virgin Island

The staff were extremely excited about the opening and took great care to re-fill waters, smile and were knowledgeable on both the cocktail and food menu - you could tell they were well-trained. The cocktail menu will feature classic cocktails from the prohibition era all the way up to modern time.

The fashion: it was a rare, cold night in the city for the Fall so everyone had on their best winter attire: fashionable scarfs, boots, jackets, hats - these are making a huge comback with men - and leggings/stockings for the women.

Foie Gras

By the end of the night I was pretty tipsy -- shocker -- and didn't realize I had been there for three hours, time flew right by. On a scale of one to ten, I give Slightly Oliver a solid 9. I look forward to going back and trying the permanent cocktails and would recommend this place to anyone looking for a more sophisticated atmosphere where you can sip cocktails, listen to some indie-music and all while enjoying a solid meal.

Yerba Buena and São Organic Cachaça

I attended the "Secret Society Mixer" at Yerba Buena in the East Village this past Tuesday night. The private invite said it would be featuring complimentary appetizers and São Organic Cachaça caipirinhas. The Yerba's are known to be mixology/foodie venues so that coupled with the tempting appetizers and caipirinha's was a party I wasn't going to miss. Unfortunately, I am not able to tell you too much about the food as I only managed to get a quick bite of some quacamole, I can tell you it was on point though. By the time I arrived the event was in full swing and everyone was mingling and cocktailing, it was nice to come into a buzzing party.


Street view

The crowd was a cool mix of New Yorkers, you could tell everyone was a New Yorker by the way no one even blinked an eye when someone new walked in the room. Mind you, the space is small, think the size of a living room stretched out longways. Only a New Yorker can ignore someone that is smack in the middle of their personal space. After a while I managed to get into some interesting conversations and exchange business cards.

The fashion was upscale, I didn't see any hipsters for some strange reason, they're usually everywhere! The women wore nice dresses, heels and the men were in suits with ties, not all but quite a few - very MAD MEN type of vibe. Basically what I figured for this venue. I have dined here before so it was nice to find out about this secret room with the "secret mixer."


Caipirinha

On to the cocktails...caipirinhas! I am huge fan of caipirinhas, for that matter a huge fan of anything Brazilian. Pronounced kaip-i-rheena, it's the national cocktail of Brazil. It's made with limes, sugar, cachaça and ice. The Brazilians use crushed ice and serve the cocktail with the limes in it, Yerba's mixologist did the same making them authentic.

I've had caipirinhas with other cachaças and I've noticed a burning in my throat, with the organic cachaça, São, I didn't get this. It tasted clean and pure, real smooth - like a lemonade. Therefore, if you care about cocktails and quality, opt for the organic cachaça in your caipirinhas, it's definintely worth it.

São Organic Cachaça

Cachaça is pronounced ka-sha-sa and is similar to rum in that they are both derived from sugar cane. The difference is that cachaça is made from pure sugar cane juice while rum is made from molasses. The organic property of this cachaça (São) has to do with the sugar cane field, which is free of pesticides and chemicals and allowing the sugar cane flavor to come through.

The spirit is produced and distilled in Horizontina, Brazil in the state of Rio Grande do Sul. Fun fact!: Horizontina is the birthtown of Gisele Bundchen; therefore, if you drink São Organic Cachaça you will shortly thereafter turn into a gorgeous supermodel... psych!

It's nice to go into a venue and see a varitey of artisanal spirits and not just the main-stream, mass brands. This is a hint to the back of the house and the products and ingredients they choose. If they take great care in choosing quality spirits, they're doing the same in the kitchen.


Yerba mixologist

Back to the event...when I arrived I felt very special as I was escorted by a lovely gentleman down tiny wooden stairs, through a skinny candle lit hallway and into the secret mixer. The restaurant has an atmosphere and design that makes you feel at home, down to the friendly staff. Note to venues: this is so important and it's sad that many have forgotten to be nice to everyone who comes into your establishment, it makes such a difference and makes us want to return. In any case, it felt nice to be treated special here.

The space is perfect for intimate cocktail parties such as this one or birthday dinners. I can see it becoming a fan favorite during the colder months as it's very cozy and warm. I loved the mix of cocktail party happening downstairs while the upstairs was a buzzing restaurant with people dining and drinking. As my friend would say it was "poppin."

Yerba is planning to hold the secret mixers once a month and I'm hoping to make the cut again. If not, the environment was good enough to make me crave wanting to make a reservation and bring a sexy date to canoodle with.




Our Soon-To-Be NEW Skyline - NYC

 

*Will always remember... #Sept11

Summer Cocktail Soiree

Had some good times Tuesday night at White & Church in TriBeCa and some serious cocktailing activity. Thank you to the fun people who came out and got tipsy with me! Also, thank you to the various blogs/party sites that posted the invite, I see you...

Guest of a Guest -- Socially Superlative -- The Fabulous Report|Nylon -- Fully Booked -- The Print Up|NYC Event List -- All Things A New York Girl Needs -- Beauty and Events.

After all the boozing, I finally managed to take pictures of some of the fabulousness that was hanging out:

Ivy Pascual, Jamie Jimenez

Laurene Williams, Leslie Faison, Lisa Chappell

Caroline, Ilona Tykotski

Mina Jovanovska, Tracey

Katerina Makris, Olga Faldamis

The "original" tipsy girls: Melonie Diaz, Renata Paternoster (Bday girl!), Nadia Chante, Kristin Cruz

Come Get Tipsy With Me

My invite below got alot of play on various blog boards/party sites and alot of RSVP's, thank you! Hope to see some of you party people tonight. XO -tg

A Bar, Some Drinks & An Elephant

Just when I thought I’ve seen everything in the city, out pops a 5000 pound baby elephant named Minnie just hanging out front of Theater Bar in TriBeCa this past Thursday night. The elephant was part of a  “Bombay” theme party sponsored by Bombay Sapphire, in fact they provided the STAR complete with brand signage hanging down both sides of her. Naturally, I was concerned the elephant was being a little abused sitting out there all night so I investigated and found her to be well-fed and really loved by her two trainers (they gave her lots of XOXO's). She probably had fun being out of her usual environment for a little excitement. Check out the cutie below in my amatuer street video complete with my nonsense babble...

Will HANGOVERS Become a Thing of the Past?!

Will future cocktail drinkers never experience hangovers? A new spirit is available that is claiming THEIR drinkers will not. Blat Advanced Vodka (blat means “wheat” in Catalan) launched in New York a few months ago. It hails from Barcelona -- everyone’s favorite Euro city -- and the distillers say "there are no impurities and promise drinkers will have NO hangover the next day.” BOLD, BOLD words from a spirit company right there. So what’s the story then?  How can they say that, it sounds crazy, could it be possible? I naturally think everything is a gimmick so I had to investigate. According to Fernando Banús, one of two brothers behind Blat, “it’s the impurities and chemicals in a spirit that create a hangover and Blat Advanced Vodka has removed ALL through their purification process.”

Many vodkas boast they have the “least impurities,” only Blat Advanced Vodka says it has zero impurities and is the only vodka in the world that is legally allowed to claim so and post it on their label. When a spirit is launching, their labels have to be approved by the TTB (Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, US Department of Treasury) before going onto the bottles. The TTB needs to verify information on the label for accuracy or else spirit companies could put anything on it to help them sell more. For example, to say a spirit is organic, the TTB needs to verify this information with the USDA and see a certification certificate. Therefore, for Blat Advanced Vodka to be allowed to say they have zero impurities on their label means it is in fact true.

Here is what the label says: “We guarantee, as result of proprietary process, that the batch this bottle was filled from has produced vodka with non-detected impurities. The analysis has been carried out by the most accurate USA Independent laboratory certified by the TTB. The results have shown that typical traces of 1-Butanol, Active Amyl Alcohol, Isoamyl Alcohol, Isobutanol, Methanol, N-Propanol,  DB Acetaldehyde, DB Ethyl Acetate, were all non-detected.”  Translation to English: while the impurities listed above are normally found in spirits, a scientific lab in the US tested a batch produced by Blat Advanced Vodka and found none. There are only two scientific labs in the United States that are certified by the US Government to test wines and spirits for impurities and Blat Advanced Vodka sends each batch to one of them for testing and then back to Barcelona for bottling. Some critics will argue that mixers are what produce hangovers; not true. It’s the chemicals in the spirit, I can’t recall the last time I was nauseous from drinking too much orange juice! Dehydration will also add to the effects of a hangover, but that is easily remedied with a responsible drinker.

Here’s how it works: during fermentation, sugar is added to wheat to create alcohol and this process is where impurities grow. After fermentation, the batch is distilled and this process removes the wheat and sugar to leave pure alcohol. Some vodkas are distilled over and over again to reach the purest state of alcohol. This is great; however, it still leaves impurities. Blat Advanced Vodka adds an extra step to the production process they call “purification.” The makers created this top-secret process that only they know, they don’t even tell their employees AND they have the secret locked in a safe with only their lawyers knowing the code. Craziness, maybe they should consider separate planes when flying.

So who are these guys and how could they have produced this secret? Turns out they’re third generation spirit makers. Two brothers: Fernando and Esteban Banús are the distillers behind Blat and they come from a family that has been distilling spirits since 1887. The family company was the Spanish partner of Pernod Ricard and Bols. They’ve made, among others: Tia Maria, Liquors Bols and Pastis Pernod. They were the exclusive Spanish distributor for those brands as well as Ballantine’s, Southern Comfort, Jameson and Piper Heidsieck Champagne -- ok this solidifies their credibility and earns them my RESPECT. 

Back to the question at hand; is there really no hangover after drinking Blat Advanced Vodka? I tested it for myself and here’s how it went…I drank three cocktails made with Blat, drank water to keep myself from becoming dehydrated, drank no other spirit and no other extra party supplies (wink wink) for a true test. I chose to stop at three cocktails because this is my limit before it’s get ugly (yep a lightweight!). By the second cocktail, I forgot I was doing a test all-together and just had a merry ole’ time, the night came and went and next thing I knew it was morning. As I sat on the couch watching the Today Show, I remembered, “oh yeah I did that test last night.” I racked my brain for the feeling of the usual nausea and headache I associate after a night of drinking and to my complete surprise there was none. Yeah, I was tired because I stayed up late but, NO HANGOVER. Ladies and gentlemen, bartenders and mixologists, spirit connoisseurs and social drinkers…the future has arrived… http://www.blatvodka.com/ 

Difference Between "Bartender" and "Mixologist"

Once and for all, let’s get right down to it and clear up the difference between a “bartender” and a “mixologist.” Going from calling oneself a bartender to a mixologist is sort of giving oneself a promotion in the cocktail world. I’ve personally been a bartender, and I must fully admit that I was JUST a bartender, pouring cocktails created by someone else such as the Tom Collins, Margarita or Batida. I did my job well by making sure everyone was taken care of, ringing up charges and taking re-orders when necessary -- simple bartender.  



"The Pour" is the icing-on-the-cake

  If this had been a profession I was considering taking to the next level, I would have immersed myself into the actual CRAFT of it. The craft is a major difference between bartenders vs. mixologists. A plain old bartender can’t go to a high-end mixology venue and land a job (well, I guess in reality they could -  IF they showed a decent amount of bartending experience and a passion for creating their own unique cocktails). Of course they’ll be asked to make something unique and if they pass the test there is a chance they’ll get hired. It’s a serious profession and not one that just any bartender can do. It’s an art and the artist uses what is in front of them to create something magnificent.

In New York City a mixologist can be catapulted into a star and have a strong fan following – but you have to have pretty wicked cocktail making skills to reach this level. Mixologists take their craft very seriously and some will even have ingredients flown in from other countries to ensure their cocktail is THE most unique cocktail. The coolest ingredient I’ve seen used was the herb horny goat weed. It is, yes, an aphrodisiac and it’s found in South East Asia. I’m sorry I can’t remember the rest of the ingredients as it was a long time ago but I do remember it being extremely tasty and made for quite the evening when I got home ;-) 

Mixology den: Theater Bar

Some top mixologists in NYC: Alex Valencia, Miguel Aranda, Duane Fernandez, Albert Trummer and Orson Salicetti. Top mixology bars in NYC: Death & Co., Macao Trading Co., Employees Only, Theater Bar, Dutch Kills and PDT. Top mixology restaurants in NYC: Yerba Buena (both East and West), Little Giant, Hotel Griffou, Rouge Tomate, Double Crown, The Dressler, Stone Park Café, Red Rooster and we here Boca Chica in the East Village hired on a mixologist to re-create their existing “bartender” menu and turn it into a “mixology” menu!