The Restaurant Guys

Friday Evening Cocktail: The Negroni Sbagliato (The Wrong Negroni or The Messed-Up Negroni)

The Negroni is a timeless cocktail, but it's a little bitter for some. The Negroni Sbagliato is one of a legion of drinks that was supposedly invented "by mistake." The Negroni is a combination of Campari, Sweet Vermouth and Gin. Legend has it that one night, long ago, at Bar Basso, the most famous cocktail bar in Milan, the father of current owner Maurizio Stochetto accidentally grabbed a Prosecco bottle instead of the gin: The Negroni Sbagliato was born.

While it's quite obvious the story of its origin is fabrication (no barman mistakes a room temperature bottle of gin off the bar for an ice cold bottle of Prosecco from the cooler), it is of no import. The drink is fabulous. It's perfect for the weather and fantastic in a sidewalk cafe. Even today, you will find it quite popular among fashionable sidewalk diners in Milan.

Friday we will serve The Negroni Sbagliato in The Catherine Lombardi Bar AND Stage Left's Bar as well at a 33% discount. We will pass hors d'oeuvres until 9 PM in Catherine Lombardi, and the most tasteful cocktail enthusiasts of The Garden State will be in attendance, as is their custom.

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The Spirits Project: Southern Comfort (Antique Bottle from the 1960s)

Making the experience of super-luxury spirits crazily affordable and accessible!
Read more about the Spirits project.

• Estimated retail price:  $??? per bottle
• We will pour an ounce, side-by-side with a contemporary bottle, for $12
  

We know for a fact that this quart bottle of SoCo dates back beyond 1977 when U.S. liquor changed over to the metric system. There's a ton of debate about how a finished spirit changes in the bottle. For a long time, conventional wisdom has held that it does not. I have been fortunate enough to have drunk several bottles of spirits that have been in the bottle more than 50 or even 100 years old and I am working out my own opinion. When you buy a very old whisky or brandy, it's not been in the bottle very long. It's a current bottling of older spirits that were aged in barrel.

The debate is complicated by the fact that distilleries may change their styles over time. This can be in large breaks or in small increments, imperceptible in the course of a generation or two, but apparent after half a century. We assume this bottle is from the late 1960's. We will pour it side-by-side with a contemporary bottle. Long time drinkers of So Co have claimed for years that the contemporary spirit is nothing like the old time "Grand Old Drink of The South." Let's find out. Come by at 6:30! Tonight, at precisely 6:30, we will open just one bottle of the old stuff. When it's gone, it's gone. I do hope you can join us.

Next Week in The Spirits Project: Bunnahabhain 1978

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Memorial Day Weekend: Stage Left Turns 21

Sunday, May 26th

We're celebrating with a cookout- Stage Left Style - Cookout, Cake & Champagne Cocktails

Sunday, May 26, we are going to have a cookout on the sidewalk. Of course it will be a cookout Stage Left style. The Stage Left Burger will be prominently featured as well as fantastic specialty meats from our regular butcher. Of course we'll have Spanish Jamon Iberico (which is served on sidewalks all over Spain) with great sherry. Have you had our own Specialty Wild Boar Chili Dogs? Not to be missed! As well, we'll offer our entire steak menu and whatever cool fish is freshest and best that week. We'll have plenty of summer wines and great beers. I'll be drinking Riesling!

We're going to have a very, very big Beautiful Birthday Cake, by our new very talented baker. Come help us blow out the candles at 5:30 PM and share some complimentary cake and a champagne cocktail. Grab some great food and drink. Listen to music on the sidewalk (indoors if it rains) and share some stories and some laughs. Cigars welcome outside and downwind! I'll post the menu shortly. Everything is a la carte and the cake and champagne at 5:30 PM are complimentary. We would love to see you.

Reserve a table: [email protected] or 732-828-4444 Seating from 1PM - 7PM

The Best Memorial Day Weekend of our Lives

Hello My Friends,

Twenty-one years ago, on the Friday of Memorial Day Weekend 1992, at 5:05 PM (five minutes past the last possible minute), the city clerk of The City of New Brunswick handed me our liquor license.

We were completely out of money and time, and we needed to be open that weekend. The city clerk of this wonderful town stayed late for us on a holiday weekend in order to process our CO, which I had received from the building department at 4:55. I sprinted back to the restaurant to find about 50 people waiting outside for our planned 5:30 opening.

Yes, they were all bartenders from town and waiters and bar customers from our old jobs and other friends and family. Many of them had been in there the night before painting and fixing and installing and cleaning. But they were also customers...our first customers.

They cheered me as I walked in the door. I hung it on the wall and joined Mark and Lou who were stocking the bar and making the final preparations in the kitchen. We opened those doors at 5:30 on the dot and proceeded to have the best Memorial Day weekend of our lives.

We made some mistakes I know, but even before we ironed out the glitches, we knew the place had soul. We knew that we had a family of folks here in New Brunswick and if we took care of them, they would take care of us.

That family has grown exponentially, and the offerings have evolved as well; but those traditions remain. That same spirit guides us today, and the place still has soul.

Friday Evening Cocktail: A Weekend of Mint Juleps

Y'all probably know that the official drink of The Kentucky Derby is The Mint Julep. Here is one of the best things I've ever seen with regard to Mint Juleps. It's a video with Chris McMillian, who was bartender at The Library Lounge in New Orleans when this video was made. He is also a co-founder of The Museum of The American Cocktail and a veritable institution in that fair city. In seven minutes, he gives a great account of the Mint Julep and recites a bit of poetry while he teaches you to make one. If you want to skip to that part, it's at 4:36. This man is a barman of the highest caliber.

Friday night we'll serve Juleps with the wonderful Willett bourbon and fresh Jersey mint. The julep is a marvelous synthesis of very simple ingredients. That doesn't mean it's easy. It's all in the freshness of the mint and the skill of the bartender. Friday evening, we will offer Willett Mint Juleps at The Cocktail Bar at Catherine Lombardi for $8. We will pass light hors d'oeuvres from 6:30 and the most tasteful cocktail enthusiasts of The Garden State will be in attendance, as is their custom. We hope to see you there.

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The Spirits Project: Caol Illa (1990) 21 Year “Murray McDavid Mission Selection”

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Estimated retail price:  $159 per bottle
We will pour an ounce for $4.50

Murray McDavid is an independent bottler of sorts. I say “of sorts” because Murray McDavid is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Bruichladdich Distillery. What this means is that Bruichladdich’s master distiller, Jim McEwan, purchases barrels of whisky from other distilleries, finishes the aging and bottling himself and then releases them under the Murray McDavid label.

Unlike many, so called, “Merchant Bottlers” Murray McDavid never blends, but releases only single malts. While they don’t blend whisky from different distilleries, they don’t ever bottle single-casks. They prefer to dump several carefully chosen casks at a time for consistency. While I like single cask bottlings, they certainly do achieve whisky of great complexity and finesse with these small-batch bottlings.

Murray McDavid never adds any coloring (a surprisingly common practice), nor do they chill filter. All bottlings are with Islay Spring water, bottled at the Bruichladdich distillery.

Islay has always been one of my favorite whisky producing regions and Caol Ila is fast becoming one of my favorite distilleries on the island. This particular batch was finished in wine barrels from Château Haut-Brion. Wine barrels work a particular magic on peaty whisky like this one. I can’t wait to open it this evening. I hope you’ll join me.

Tonight, I will open one bottle at precisely 6:30. When it's gone, it's gone.

Next Week in The Spirits Project: 1999 Rum from Panama