The Restaurant Guys

The Livingston Avenue Cocktail

The Livingston Avenue Cocktail

Bonded Apple Brandy, Bourbon, Passion Fruit Wine, Pineapple

 

The Avenue Cocktail appears in the old Café Royal Cocktail Book, published by the UK Bartender’s Guild in 1937. It calls for a passion fruit syrup. We've twisted it a bit with passion fruit wine (truly fermented passion fruit juice) and good old Laird's Apple Brandy stands in for Calvados. 

 

Tonight, we will pour Livingston Avenue Cocktails for $9.  We will pass hors d'oeuvres until 9 PM.  The most tasteful cocktail enthusiasts of The Garden State will be in attendance, as is their custom.  I hope you can join us.

Dalmore "Amaroso" 1981 Scotch Whisky

 

The Spirits Project at Catherine Lombardi will feature

The Dalmore "Amoroso" 1981 Scotch Whisky

Suggested Retail Price is $1,000.  We will pour one ounce for $32

We’ve got quite a special bottle for this week’s Spirits Project.  

The Dalmore Distillery has been producing exceptional single malt whisky since 1839. For almost a century, it was owned by the Clan Mackenzie. The stag antlers that adorn the bottle are taken from the Mackenzie family crest.

Dalmore is located on the northern shores of the Firth of Cromarty, deep in The Highlands. The waters are from Loch Morie, high in the hills overlooking the distillery. The barley is from the rich coastal soils of The Black Isle. Dalmore is situated at sea level and hard by the water.  The distillers believe this affects the aging of whisky in their particular tiny little corner of the world and makes it singular.

This 1981 single-cask bottling spent 26 years in American white oak bourbon barrels, followed by a short, intense period in Amoroso sherry casks from Gonzalez Byass in Jerez de la Frontera.  It numbers just 484 bottles. 

Come share a glass. 

Stage Left 20th Anniversary Dinner

Our 20th Anniversary

The Great Chefs of Stage Left Dinner

 

On May 22, 1992, Lou, Mark and Francis opened Stage Left Restaurant on a not-yet-revitalized street corner in downtown New Brunswick.

 

 

On Friday May 18, 2012, we will host a special anniversary dinner in Stage Left, with some wonderful chefs with whom we have had the great privilege work.  Each of these chefs made their mark here and we're so very grateful to have each of them back for one night of celebration.   Won't you join us?

 

Along with our wonderful current Chef J.R. Belt, Chef Anthony Bucco, Chef Patrick Yves Pierre-Jerome and Chef Eric Martin will join us.  Chef Bryan Mack, who was the long-time maitre d' of Stage Left, has gone on to be Chef and Manager in his own right.  He was our pastry chef long ago and he will oversee dessert.

 

Hors d'Oeuvres at 7 PM

 

We will then sit to Lobster Wontons by Eric Martin

 

Followed by Pulled Duck and Foie Gras Ravioli by Patrick Yves Pierre-Jerome

 

Black Trumpets and Tuna Loin with English Pea Puree and Pea Tendrils

by Anthony Bucco

 

A Duo of Aged Wagyu Strip Loin and 48-Hour Short Ribs with Gingered Carrots by JR Belt

 

and finally, Dark Chocolate Mille-Feuille with Hazelnut Mousse, Mocha Pot de Creme and Chocolate Cardamom Ice Cream by Bryan Mack

 

Dinner is \$79, not including beverage, tax or service. 

Make reservations: [email protected] or 732-828-4444

Stony Hill Wine Dinner

Stony Hill Wines of Napa

Wine Dinner, Friday May 11  8 PM

Fred and Eleanor McRea - Old Vines Chardonnay

 

One of THE FIRST wineries of the modern era to plant high quality, dry-farmed, mountainside chardonnay vineyard and began making super high-integrity, age-worthy wines 30 years before California chardonnay was fashionable. 

 

Sara McRea will bring her family's whole range of wines, including cabernet sauvignon, riesling, a fantastic late-harvest semillon and an amazing vertical tasting of their one-of-a-kind chardonnay dating back 15-years.  Don't miss it! 

 

Friday, May 11 at 8PM

Hors d'Oeuvres
White Riesling 2010
Gewurztraminer 2009

Sea Bream with Spring Vegetable Pistou & Spring Peas
Chardonnay 2007

Breast of Poussin & Morels, Rolled and Stuffed with Pistachio Mousse
Chardonnays 2004 and the 1997

Roasted Suckling Pig with Rosemary and Sage
Cabernet Sauvignon 2009

Sabayon with Black Mission Fig and Chestnut Honey
Semillon de Soleil “Late Harvest” 2009

The Monk on a Motorbike

The Monk On A Motorbike

Benedictine, Cointreau, Lemon

 

The sidecar is a well-known cocktail based in Cognac.  The legend of its naming has to do with a military man on a motorcycle.  Bartender James Hanly is responsible this particular variation.  It's an unlikely substitution of Benedictine for Cognac.   Now Benedictine and brandy go famously together, but I would never have considered swapping one for the other. 

 

It works though, and very well!  The herbaceous notes of the Benedictine dance on the lemon and add complexity and depth; while the lemon and Cointreau enliven the liquor.  Served in a sugar-rimmed glass, it's a delight. 

 

As the Benedictine Liqueur was originally made by the monks of that order, and the drink is a rather simple derivation of a sidecar, we have dubbed James' cocktail Monk on a Motorbike.  I was able to find several pictures of such a thing online; however, it seems most monks who actually ride on motorbikes are Tibetan.  If you can find a picture of a European monk (or ideally a Benedictine monk) on a motorbike, please do forward it to me.

 

Friday, we will pour Monks on Motorbikes for \$9.  We will pass hors d'oeuvres until 9 PM.  The most tasteful cocktail enthusiasts of The Garden State will be in attendance, as is their custom.  I hope you can join us.

Glenfiddich 30-Year-Old Speyside Scotch Whisky

 

This Thursday, April 19 - The Spirits Project at Catherine Lombardi will feature

Glenfiddich 30-Year-Old Speyside Scotch Whisky

Suggested Retail Price is \$325.  We will pour one ounce for \$12

 

In 1887, William Grant purchased a small, unspoiled field, hard by the River Fiddich.  There he founded the Glenfiddich (Gaelic for "Valley of The Deer") Distillery.  I don't really need to go into the quality and pedigree of the whisky that's been coming out of said distillery since that time. 

I would, however, like to put into perspective, the history of this bottle No. 5134 of batch No. 00027 of this particular 30 - Year we'll be pouring Thursday night.   It ran off the copper pot still when a farmer in China stumbled across 8,000 terra cotta warriors buried under his field.  It was put into cask as the first oversized mobile phones appeared on city streets and Stephen Hawking developed his theory of black holes.  It was rolled from the filling house into the warehouse as Darth Vader, Han Solo and The Bee Gees arrived on the scene.  As it was lifted onto its pyramid of casks, Apple launched its first computer: The Apple 1. Microsoft was using DOS.  As the warehouse doors were closed and double locked, the Sony Walkman made its first appearance. 

--Time Perspective from William Grant & Sons

 

Tracie McMillan

Tracie McMillan

author of The American Way of Eating: Undercover at Walmart, Applebees, Farm Fields, and the Dinner Table

Mark and Francis discuss how summer camps are different from when they were kids. Their guest is Tracie McMillan, author of The American Way of Eating: Undercover at Walmart, Applebees, Farm Fields, and the Dinner Table. They discuss her year undercover picking garlic, grapes, and peaches, stocking shelves at Walmart, and cooking at Applebees.

Listen Here!

Lesley Townsend

Lesley Townsend

Founder of the Manhattan Cocktail Classic

Mark and Francis discuss old-school cocktails they found in an old cocktail book written by African-American bartender, Tom Bullock. Their guest is Lesley Townsend, founder of the Manhattan Cocktail Classic. They discuss the big events happening this year, including the Gala, the Industry Invitational, and the events happening all over New York from May 11-15, 2012.

Listen Here!

Friday Night Cocktail: The Widow's Kiss

The Widow’s Kiss                                      

Calvados, Yellow Chartreuse, Benedictine and Bitters

This cocktail is taken from the pages of George Kappeler’s 1895 Modern American Drinks. We have no clue just who the widow was, but if the drink is any indication she must’ve been something!

 

The Widow's Kiss is on our current cocktail menu: however, I'm changing up the Calvados we're using this Friday to a wonderful Pays d'Auge Calvados from a producer named Roger Groult.  I love Groult's Calvados for sipping.  It's rather unheard of to pour a Pays d'Auge (older) Calvados in cocktails but Groult has some favorable pricing which brings it within reach.  The difference it makes in the cocktail is really amazing.  It's elegant, silky, appley and herbaceous. 

Tonight, we will pour Widow's Kiss made with Roger Groult Pays d'Auge Calvados for $10.  We will pass hors d'oeuvres until 9 PM.  The most tasteful cocktail enthusiasts of The Garden State will be in attendance, as is their custom.  I hope you can join us.

Jim McEwan's Celtic Heartlands "Caol Ila 30-Year Cask-Strength" Single Malt Scotch 1980

This week in The Spirits Project, we will feature

Jim McEwan's Celtic Heartlands "Caol Ila 30-Year Cask-Strength" Single Malt Scotch 1980

(bottled 2010)

Suggested Retail Price $399.  Tonight, we will pour once ounce for $12

 

Caol Ila was founded to the North of Islay in 1846 by one Hector Henderson. It is located near Port Askaig and sits in lush, floral surroundings, overlooking the cove and the Paps of southern Jura. The name derives from the Gaelic for ‘Sound of Islay.’ 

 

The distillery draws its water from Loch Nam Ban, whose waters travel through limestone and peat before reaching their beneficiary, Caol Ila.  The the majority of production is used in Johnnie Walker blends. Just 5% is kept for maturation as single malt.

Independent bottlings, like this one from Jim McEwan of Bruichladdich, are some of the most interesting whiskeys in all of Scotland.  This particular 30-year was matured in Bourbon casks and then further enhanced in Italian Amarone casks - Bottled in Islay.

 

We will open one bottle at 6:30.  When it's gone, it's gone!