Showing posts with label negroni. Show all posts
Showing posts with label negroni. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 22, 2019

Winter DineLA Menu at Commerson

It's been a while since I've done Dine LA Restaurant Week, but I recently checked out a new (to me) restaurant, Commerson on La Brea. I've read that this place is one of the underrated gems in LA, so I was excited to try it.

Commerson's Dine LA dinner menu is $39 per person for three courses. The first course option includes:
Red snapper ceviche with avocado and plantain chips.
Commerson dineLA
The portions were quite good for the price and as you can see, the ingredients they use were obviously fresh.

One of the other choices was the butternut squash agnolotti with parmigiano reggiano and brown butter sage.
Commerson dineLA
This agnolotti is always a good pasta dish to have in the colder months, and Commerson's rendition was a good one.

Thursday, September 22, 2016

Rediscovering the Italian Food in Boston's North End at Artu

All the tourists and locals alike know that Boston's North End is the place to go for Italian food, yet most of the time I go there, I end up at Neptune Oyster for a lobster roll, instead - I can't help it! Sure, I've had my cannolis and I've been to a couple of the Italian places there, but for the most part, North End remained fairly unexplored to me. But thanks to a recent blogger dinner at Artu, I got the chance to experience another part of the North End.
Artu
Our dinner started with a simple salad of Roasted beets, pistachio vinaigrette, gorgonzola
Artu
Polpetti (homemade meatballs, parmigiano, $8)
Artu
I love meatballs when the texture is right, just like the ones here. Tender homemade meatballs with traditional Italian tomato sauce - why mess with something so simple and perfect!

Grilled country bread, smoked mozzarella, prosciutto, Backyard Farms tomato
Artu
I loved the smoked mozzarella on these!

Artu also had some solid cocktails, and the bar is open until 2 AM every day. Every day! That's one of the latest places to grab in the drink in the area, especially on a weeknight. I stuck with the classics, which they do very well.

Thursday, February 4, 2016

Bar Toscana, Brentwood's Hidden Italian Gem

Bar Toscana is the cocktail bar next door to longtime Brentwood favorite, Toscana. The Italian trattoria has been in business for 26 years. In the competitive culinary world of Los Angeles, that means they must be doing something right!

For their cocktails at Bar Toscana, they have brought William Perbellini who came from Italy to head the bar program here.

Bar Toscana

Perbellini's cocktail menu ranges from the classics to the seasonal, like this Costa Esmeralda (cognac, Grand Marnier, grapes, and sage)
Bar Toscana
I love grapes as a cocktail ingredient, and here it is paired with a grape-based spirit.

Barrel aged negroni with Plymouth gin, campari, and sweet vermouth
Bar Toscana
This was an unusually good negroni, expertly made and even smoother thanks to the barrel aging.

Thursday, January 22, 2015

Negroni Slushies and Amish Chicken at Parson's Chicken and Fish (Chicago, IL)

I almost missed my flight out of Chicago. I almost missed it because I was busy eating fried chicken and drinking slushies at Parson's. Parson's Chicken and Fish was opened by the team at Longman and Eagle, which you may remember was one of my favorites from previous visits. I'd been hearing about their negroni slushies and decided to stop by on my way to the airport. The place is a fun, colorful, diner.
Parsons
They actually had negroni and dark & stormy slushies, so we got both! They're not just frozen blended to order but actually comes from two slushie machines which you can see sitting on the bar. The two drinks cater to different palates, with the sweeter and zingy Dark and Stormy versus the slightly more bitter Campari taste from the Negroni. Since it's the Longman and Eagle team who opened this restaurant, Conbon asked for her favorite Old Fashioned from L&E and they were able to make it.

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Campari Cocktails: Negronis, Punches, and More

Most people think of Negroni when they hear Campari, a classic that you can't really go wrong with.

Negroni
1 oz gin
1 oz sweet vermouth
1 oz Campari

But any liqueur deserves more than one cocktail to be made from them, so various mixologists have played around with this red spirit.


Nicaraguan Negroni Punch
Created by mixologist Jon Gasparini of Rye on the Road


15 ounces Campari
10 ounces Flor de Cana 7 year
7.5 ounces Cinzano Rosso
10 ounces Grapefruit Juice
2.5 ounces Honey

Combine juice of ten lemons and 30 cloves in a tupperware container or cake mold and freeze. Combine all ingredients in a large punch bowl with flavored iced block.

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Since I didn't have Flor de Cana and it was New Year's day, I tried substituting Appleton rum. After trying the above recipe, we kind of decided that grapefruit + campari is just too bitter overall, so we topped it off with Sparkling Cider and more rum for good measure.

The Butchered Negroni Punch went something like this:
2.5 oz honey
7.5 oz sweet vermouth
10 oz grapefruit juice, fresh squeezed
15 oz Appleton Rum
7.5 oz Campari
7.5 oz Sparkling Cider (or to taste - some like it more bitter than others)


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They also sent over a Valentine-themed Campari cocktail that sounded good, I'll be trying to replicate this soon :)
(PS. Don't get confused by "Small Hand Grenadine" - it's not a typo, this is just grenadine made by Small Hands Food and is actually made of - gasp! - pomegranates as opposed to food coloring!)

Love Letter
Created by Adam Wilson of Beretta


1 oz Campari
1 oz Freshly Squeezed Lime Juice
0.75 oz Cointreau
0.25 oz Maple Syrup (should be 1:1 with water)
0.25 oz Small Hand Grenadine
3 dashes of Peychaud's Bitters

Shake. Add Soda. Pour over ice in highball. Garnish with a lime zest.

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