Cheers to new cocktails: creative drink recipes flourish at Florida restaurants

Nation's Restaurant News, July 22, 2002 by Gary Regan

Matt Lofgren, beverage director at Delray Beach's Aura restaurant in Florida, is an accomplished cocktailian whose creations have been featured on the Food Network and the Travel Channel, and with good reason. Take, for instance, his Very Cherry Bomb Martini, a mixture of cherry brandy, a French black raspberry liqueur and "fresh sour," a term describing a house-made sour mix. To go the extra yard with that drink, Lofgren garnishes the rim of the glass with fresh cherries soaked in the raspberry liqueur and then finishes the whole thing off with a "fuse" of cherry licorice tied to the stem of the glass. But Lofgren doesn't stop there.

Aura's Nutini, made with vodka, amaretto and a hazelnut liqueur, comes in a glass that's rimmed with almonds, and the Espressotini, a combination of vodka, espresso and coffee liqueur, is served in a glass rimmed with a mixture of sugar and cocoa. Perhaps his most creative drink, though, is one called simply Cardamom, a mixture of vodka and simple syrup that's shaken "extra hard" with five cardamom seeds and a vanilla bean, split lengthwise, from which the seeds are released before shaking. The drink is served with a cinnamon stick to be used "to stir the [vanilla] beans from the bottom of the glass as they settle." It's quite a visual drink.

Another Floridian restaurant specializing in creative cocktails is Sushi Samba, the Miami Beach location for a small chain of three restaurants of the same name -- the other two are in Manhattan. The food here is a fusion of Japanese, Brazilian and Peruvian, all of which cuisines are represented by various cocktails, both traditional and newly created. From Brazil, for instance, Sushi Samba offers the Caipirinha, made with muddled limes and sugar, and cachaca, a Brazilian rum. But for a change of pace, the restaurant also serves Caipirinha variations, one made with fresh mango juice. Another uses sake as a base, and there's even a Caipirinha on the cocktail list that's made with orange-infused vodka and muddled oranges.

The most famous Peruvian drink of them all, the Pisco Sour, also is featured at Sushi Samba. Here they make it with pisco brandy from Peru, fresh lemon juice, sugar, and egg white, although some restaurants top the drink with a couple of dashes of bitters as an aromatic garnish. And to round out the international flavors, Japan is represented here with a sake-based version of the Margarita, made with orange liqueur and three different fruit juices -- lemon, lime and orange.

Coconut Grove, another Floridian hot spot, is home to Orsini, a restaurant named for "an old Tuscan dynasty of princes," according to Daniel Deubelbeiss, a Swiss-born partner in the business. And it is another restaurant that offers much diversity on its cocktail menu. Along with half a dozen Martini variations, Orsini features the Oriental Cocktail -- one of my favorites. But rather than using rye whiskey, an ingredient called for in the original recipe, here you'll find the drink made with scotch, sweet vermouth, triple sec and fresh lime juice. It's a very interesting variation and shows what a cocktailian mind can do with a tried and true recipe.

The Martini variations at Orsini include one made with gin and amaretto -- the Italian Martini -- a Spanish Martini made with gin and sherry; a mixture of gin, dry vermouth and grapefruit juice that's dubbed the London Martini, and of course there's a Miami Martini, this one made with light rum, white creme de menthe and fresh lemon juice. And for customers with a sweet tooth, Orisini features a Chocolate Martini, made with vodka and chocolate liqueur, and the Irish Chocolate Kiss, a drink made with vodka, green creme de menthe and white creme de cacao that's topped with whipped cream and a mint leaf.

Bartenders and beverage managers in restaurants nationwide constantly are bombarding us with new, innovative cocktail recipes, and in Florida quite a few creative cocktailian minds seem to be at work.