A while back the actor Stanley Tucci caused a sensation when he posted a video of himself making his wife a negroni.
I’m a fan of the Tooch, but he got some things wrong about my beloved negroni, so I decided to set things straight with this video.
In it, I tell you which gin and which sweet vermouth is best – Campari is a constant.
Take a look, then get out your cocktail glass – not a shaker – and mix yourself or your loved one the Perfect Negroni.
Like a lot of people, I make my cocktails in my kitchen – everything’s that I need is there, why haul things out to the dry bar in the living room?
And it’s easy to grab a drink when I’m cooking.
Today I wanted something different, something refreshing, so I called on Tim Wilz, the bartender at Soco in Thornton Park, to see what he could come up with.
He made a delicious Blue Rebel, and he shares the recipe below. Click here to watch the video then give the recipe below a try.
In this episode of On the House, bartender Ashley Hutagalung demonstrates how to make a Proper Pineapple, one of the signature cocktails at American Social. Watch the video, give it a try, then stop by AmSo and have a proper Proper Pineapple.
American Social is big on its happy hour, which runs from 4 to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday with $4, $5 and $6 drink specials and and great deals on shareable plates.
American Social is at 7335 W. Sand Lake Road, Orlando.
Gin is really big in Ireland right now, maybe even more so than whiskey. In this episode of On the House, Alan Delahunt of Raglan Road Irish Pub at Disney Springs demonstrates how to make PJ’s Poison, a signature gin cocktail at the popular restaurant.
Watch the video below, then grab the ingredients and give it a try. Sláinte.
How important is a corkage fee to you?
If you're not sure what a corkage fee is, then it probably doesn't matter much at all. Corkage fees are what a restaurant charges a guest who wishes to bring his or her own bottle of wine rather than order one off of the restaurant's wine list. Why would someone want to do that? Usually it's because the guest has a special bottle of wine he'd like to enjoy for, presumably, a special occasion. Sometimes, less frequently, a guest wants to bring a bottle from his own cellar as a way of saving costs.
The better question is why would a restaurant, which is in the business of selling food and drink, allow this?
Some don't. Many years ago I was on the phone with Paul Bocuse and I asked him what he says when guests ask if they can bring their own wines to his famous restaurant near Lyon, France. "I tell them, 'Fine, why don't you bring your own chairs, too,'" he replied through an interpreter.
Many restaurants grudgingly allow guests to bring a bottle of wine from home. And most that do will impose a corkage fee for the service of the wine, the use of the glassware and the cleaning. The fee may run anywhere from $15 to $20 typically, although as this article, which is curiously titled "The Etiquette of Navigating a Corkage Fee," states, some restaurants, such as Thomas Keller's French Laundry and Per Se, charge $150 for each bottle. That's presumably to discourage the practice, but given the price point of those two restaurants a guest might come out ahead with the corkage and a bottle brought from home.
It's possible that a restaurant would charge nothing for guests who bring a bottle with them, but those will usually be establishments without a license to sell alcohol.
If you'd like to take a bottle of wine to a restaurant, be sure to call ahead and ask about the restaurant's corkage policy. Never take a bottle that can be found on the restaurant's own wine list, and it's also bad form to take an inexpensive vintage (or nonvintage) just to save a few bucks.
What do you think? Have you ever taken a bottle of wine to a restaurant? What's the most you've paid for a corkage fee? And restaurateurs: What is your policy about outside wine? Or dining room chairs, for that matter? Leave a comment below.