Zane Harris of Seattle in L.A.
Zane Harris of Rob Roy in Seattle was in LA last week. He was the guest bartender for the Chicks with Knives dinner at Test Kitchen. I previously met Zane at the Edison during the March Radio Room and thought his drinks were some of the best I had that night. Some of you may remember my video of him cutting ice. It was my first vid and you always remember your first, right?
Primio Strega Swizzle
This time, I got much cooler pics of him making the Notorious F.I.G. but my video is terribly dark. I advise watching the 5 minute vid only if you want to hear bartender gossip. Something about a certain someone’s shake.
Cynar Sour
I had the Primio Strega Swizzle and Cynar Sour at dinner. Both were perfectly light and went well with the Fall-themed dinner. The Swizzle featured strega, pineapple, lime and roasted black pepper syrup. I could have had two more. The Cynar Sour had such a thick foam on top. I was impressed. It looked almost like a latte with the art. The cynar, orgeat, lemon and angostura bitters played well together. I’m not a huge fan of egg but sour drinks (pisco sours are a classic) are so wonderful, I usually just try to drink the drink without sniffing too deeply (which goes against what you want, I know…I know!).
Notorious F.I.G. & Summer Smash
I wanted to try the Notorious F.I.G. but thought it should wait until I was back on a barstool. The other offering that evening was Rosemary’s Baby, a cocktail made of gin, maraschino, green chartreuse and flamed rosemary. I’m not fond of rosemary so I skipped this.
You could ask for Bartender’s Choice. You pick your poison and he did the rest. The evening was fall themed but the Summer Smash was delightfully not. It was light and evoked warm summer nights.
My Notorious F.I.G. with bruleed fig, rum, calvados and averna is the type of drink best next to a fireplace. Or not. It was quite warming on its own. Hello, Fall!
I’ll have to catch Zane the next time I’m in Seattle or hope he visits LA more often.