Cocktails at Jalapeno Pete's
Cocktails at Jalapeno Pete's in Studio City, California
By Elyse Glickman
Thanks to the rapid evolution of the craft cocktail bar, the revival and reinvention of century-old classics, and the evolving palates of cocktail drinking customers, those situations are becoming distant memories. In fact, as more upscale Mexican dining experiences become the norm, and the cuisines of Latin American countries gain recognition in small towns and large cities alike, bar programs should follow suit.
“Because of the craft cocktail movement, even simple dive bars and mom and pop
Mexican restaurants have had to keep up using better ingredients even for their volume-based drinks and programs,” affirms Andy Printy, bar manager of St. Louis’ Sanctuaria Wild Tapas.
While the pressure is on for bartenders and managers of Latin and Mexican restaurants to keep up to date on what’s new, just adopting trends in cocktail-making techniques and cocktail menus is not enough. Changes need to be introduced in ways that are true to the spirit of the restaurant and what’s happening in the kitchen.
“There’s greater incentive to delve into the more unusual or higher quality things on the bar,” Printy continues. “However, along with rethinking cocktail recipes, we also should be rethinking hospitality. [It should be] something that happens for the customers and not to the customers. Sure, we want to show off our showmanship. However, if we make the final product inaccessible, or throw in things that have no relevance to flavor profile, it will be a miss.”
“Ubiquitous dive bars are still avoiding the craft movement, but that’s because change is generally avoided at those locations,” notes Gretchen Thomas, the wine and spirits director at Barteca Restaurant Group—a company best known for Bartaco, a concept that blends SoCal Mexican, Brazilian, and Uruguayan flavor influences and has locations in nine states. “Any restaurant or bar attempting to charge a premium for food and beverage menu items is required to keep up with the craft cocktail movement at this point. And for the high-volume bars, this is a great source of revenue, as long as the cocktail offerings are created with speed, innovation, and quality in mind.”
MAS MEZCAL!
Although mezcal is on the cusp of going mainstream across the U.S., it still resonates as something new, different and edgy, according to Glenn Lorenzo, bar director of Jalapeño Pete’s in Studio City, California.
“We have a lot of people asking us what a certain cocktail would taste like if we swapped the spirit in question out with mezcal,” Lorenzo says. “Kitchens are even borrowing mezcal from the bar for interesting new food recipes as they have with tequila and wine. Customers are just beginning to discover that like tequila, there are many different expressions of mezcal to explore.”
Danny Mena, co-owner/chef at La Loncheria in Brooklyn, New York, and partner at mezcal company Mezcales de Leyenda, observes that while mezcal is still having a moment on the East Coast, other Mexican spirits such as sotol, bacanora, raicilla, and charanda are making inroads with adventurous customers. Though mezcal found earlier fans with its use in existing cocktail recipes, Mena believes completely original recipes will extend its already durable shelf life and “wow” factor.
“I see a lot of plays on traditional cocktails like the Oaxacan Old Fashioned, or Mezcal Negroni,” says Mena. “Right now, I am working with Mezcal Collaborative and Panorama Mezcal to build up the Mezcal Cocktail Mission. One of our goals is to develop a competition to create mezcal-based cocktails. The goal (with the competition) is to encourage competing bartenders to create a four-ingredient cocktail, using ingredients found in most bars so it can be replicated.”
REINVENTING THE CLASSICS
While Mena is concentrating on mezcal’s future, others are keen on using older recipes as a starting point for cocktails that harmonize with Latin flavor profiles and prompt customers to order drinksoutside their comfort zone.
Thomas, for example, finds aged rum and aged tequila are good choices for modifying traditional whiskey-based drinks because they mix just as well with vermouths and herbal liqueurs (with slight adjustments to balance sweetness and aromas). The swaps, in turn, have inspired rediscovery for both bartenders and customers.
“I’ve noticed bartenders embracing cocktails that they dismissed as unfashionable a few years ago: Mai Tais, Sex on the Beach, dirty martinis, and cosmos,” she says. “I’ve also seen a big push on Moscow Mules. While that’s going on, I have been exploring ways to present new riffs on my non-frozen daiquiri recipe, mojitos, and so on.” The Anchojito Verde—a summery take on the mojito she makes with Ancho Reyes Verde Liqueur and light rum—is one example.
Merging different Latin cultures and influences into one cocktail or an entire cocktail program can make once-forgotten classics relevant again, says Lorenzo, whose Oaxaca Old Fashioned blends influences of Oaxaca (where mezcal comes from) and Jalisco (tequila’s home), then finishes with a Fresno pepper. Printy, meanwhile, turns to today’s barrel-aging trend to create inventive cocktails that bridge the gap between new and old.
“Tequila aged in bourbon barrels [is a good alternative] for purists who may normally insist on bourbon for a particular cocktail,” he says. “The whiskey sour is another recipe we play with, as whiskies and some tequilas share similar characteristics after they are barreled and aged for a time.” Those characteristics include nuances of cinnamon and vanilla, which come from the natural oils in the wood the barrels are made from.
“There are also tequilas and whiskeys aged in tempranillo barrels that impart similar flair that can update vintage brown spirits recipes,” Printy adds.
INTRODUCING NEW RECIPES
Printy reasons that most customers who are not exposed to the latest cocktail trends on a regular basis are torn about whether to order something different or stick with an old standby. Therefore, they lean on bartenders to help guide them toward something that’s familiar, but with an unexpected element. This is where a touch of education can help bartenders close a sale.
“Some customers may think something like a Manhattan is tied to only one specific
kind of recipe,” Printy says. “But if I take them back further in time, they will realize Manhattans were devised as a concept drink and not something created expressly for one type of spirit. The Manhattan’s backbone is a brown spirit, with sugar and bitters as components. This means it can easily be adapted and yet still be true to its origins.”
Douglas French, who created the Scorpion Mezcal brand 20 years ago and Sierra Norte Mexican Whiskey in 2016, takes a similar approach when introducing bartenders to his products or developing recipe ideas for on-premise promotions. For example, French says he is starting to see restaurants incorporate Mexican whiskies at the bar, using them to put new spins on traditional cocktails like the margarita. To help bar pros craft cocktails using Sierra Norte whiskies, the company has developed recipes that underscore the different varieties of corn (including black, white and yellow) used to make the products.
“We came up with recipes for Hot Buttered Mexican Whiskey, Cherrie Jubilee, Olé Mexican Julep, the Sierra Cucumber Smash, Smokestack, and, of course, our Mexican Manhattan,” he says.
QUALITY MATTERS
In today’s increasingly sophisticated culinary climate, “authenticity” remains a buzzword for customers whose palates have reached the point where they instantly recognize when compromises have been made with cheaper ingredients.
According to Printy, prebatching is going “out the window,” pre-made mixers are out of favor, and taking the time to make house-made syrups, bitters and shrubs is essential to staying relevant. He practices what he preaches at Sanctuaria Wild Tapas, where the homemade sodas made with champagne yeast and real fruit extractions are bar signatures.
Another fresh, house-made ingredient: the orange tincture made with orange peels
soaked in alcohol used to make the Biff and the Blue Haired Panda, which Printy calls “a twist on a New York Sour.” In that cocktail, he layers flavors of mezcal, agave nectar and lime juice, finishes the cocktail with a tempranillo wine float and a spiced lime wheel for garnish, then pours it into a glass that’s been sprayed with the orange tincture.
Lorenzo agrees that once fresh juices and produce become part of a bar’s program, there is no turning back to bottled mixes or sweeteners. Grapefruit, especially the ruby red variety, is one of his favorite ingredients “because it offers the right balance of sweet and sour to create a smooth cocktail without a need to add too much of a sweetener,” he says. “Its natural oils
can actually transform an entire recipe into something fresh and different.”
In terms of on-trend techniques, Lorenzo says “it’s all about infusing,” which gives bartenders a chance “to experiment to find out which new flavor profiles will work and update tried-and-true recipes.” Fresno honey is his current favorite ingredient to experiment with. After infusing it in spirits for 24 hours, the resulting spirit has a very flavorful but subtle sweetness that is different from sugar or agave, he says.
Even produce like passion fruit and jicama, which don’t have much flavor on their own, come alive when mixing them with certain spirits, bitters or herbs—a process that “can make their best nuances come out,” Lorenzo says.
A BITTER HARVEST
Though sweetness is a common characteristic in many Latin-inspired cocktails, more sophisticated palates prefer more complex flavor profiles that can be accomplished with bitters and herbal elements. As the popularity of mezcals and sotols rises, ingredients like Amaro, Fernet Branca, and Cinnar (things not often associated with Latin cocktails) are becoming part of the bartender’s arsenal, as they stand up to “the big, vegetal notes and
qualities in tequilas and mezcals,” Printy suggests.
Moving beyond the familiar Angostora bitters, Printy says he uses Condessa Bitters in Sanctuaria’s Tequila Old Fashioned (“a huge money maker for the restaurant”), and strawberry and chile bitters for Daiquiri-based cocktails.
“Bitters allow us to take those speak-easy cocktails and bring them to a new place where they are exciting and remove the pretentious vibe that’s lingering in some craft cocktail circles by bringing them into a more welcoming Latin context,” Printy explains.
Thomas, meanwhile, uses a lot of vermouths and wine-based liqueurs, with Byrrh Quinquina one of her favorites. “They can have complex flavor profiles but are low ABV and have less sugar generally than most liqueurs, as they are essentially stand-alone cocktails in their own way,” she explains. “Their herbal components mix well with tequila and can take a tequila cocktail out of the pigeon hole of only producing south-of-the-border style drinks. They are also less expensive than traditional liqueurs, and are generally distributed by wine distributors, which is a giant bonus in the liquor control states!”
“The great thing about bitters and herbs is that they provide an unexpected accent that surprises customers because they not only work with different spirits but pair well with Mexican food and Latin flavor profiles,” adds Lorenzo, who also puts a variety of unexpected and classic bitters (rosemary, amaro, chocolate, walnut) to work behind Jalapeño Pete’s bar.
SOMETIMES SIMPLE IS BEST
While cocktails have become more creative over the past few years, some bar pros have noticed a bit of a backlash against some elements of the craft cocktail scene. Take garnishes, for instance.
“There is a line in the sand that’s been drawn for garnishes,” says Printy. “While I enjoy the pageantry of inspired garnishes, bartenders must recognize garnishes are more than hood ornaments for the drinks. They need to serve a purpose and be functional. For example, we do a fermentation with strawberries and honey over 10 days that not only adds an aromatic sensibility but also a fizzy and effervescent funkiness to the finished cocktail. On the other end of things, it’s not enough to just throw a lime into a drink, as what we’re doing with cocktails is essentially a culinary process and based on how much people are paying for drinks.”
Thomas has noticed garnishes have become less showy and more functional. She’s recently turned to using dried fruit chips, which add contrasting color and double as an edible garnish. Mena, meanwhile, points out drinks are becoming more minimalist, with a dramatic large ice cube, an orange peel twist (“It is still king as garnish,” he says), or a lit and smoking cinnamon stick.
“I feel minimalism within craft cocktails is also a staple,” Lorenzo concludes. “If anything, the classics have helped pave the way for originality in crafting new cocktails. While Mexican and other Latin American restaurants always had some sort of association with tequila, bartenders like me are experimenting with gin, cilantro, lime juice [to create] a simple cocktail that goes well with Mexican food.”
Elyse Glickman is a Los-Angeles based writer and regular contributor to el Restaurante.
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