The Restaurant Guys

Labor Day Weekend: Sunday Cookout with Groove Fusion and Jack Daniels

Sunday, September 6th will be our final cookout of the year! Jack Daniels is our sponsor and you can look for all sorts of swell end-of-summer drinks from them, including the Jack Daniels Slushie, Tennesee Juleps, Tennessee Thyme Lemonade and Jack and Mexican Coke (which is surprisingly delicious).

We will be on the sidewalk, weather permitting, with a menu that includes our famous Stage Left Burger, Lobster Rolls, Wild Salmon (if available), Grilled Giant Louisiana Prawns, Wild Boar Chili Cheese Dogs, St. Louis Ribs, our entire Steak Menu, and a Mixed-Grill for those who can't decide! It won't be exclusively a meat-fest, as NJ Tomatoes, Corn and Melons will round out the menu nicely.

The amazing horns of Groove Fusion will set the soundscape of the streets that Sunday with a musical farewell to the summer season. Groove Fusion is a local band that plays a high energy infectious mix of jazz and funk. A killer horn ensemble (trumpet, trombone and tenor sax) is backed by percussion-centric rhythm section and awesome vocals. They're going to blow down New Brunswick! We love these amazing young musicians.

The dress is casual and the day is fun. Rain or shine! We will be on the sidewalk from 2 - 10 PM. Music starts at 4. Make a reservation here or at 732-828-4444.

The Music is Arranged Through

The New Brunswick Jazz Project
The Home of Jazz in New Brunswick
http://www.NBJP.org

Taku Salmon Sunday at Stage Left

As you might imagine, genuine Wild Taku River Salmon is not inexpensive. Sunday Only, we're offering Taku at Some Pretty Special Pricing. We'll have it all week if we can keep getting it, but the prices will return to normal after Sunday.

Taku River Salmon Sandwich
Baker Farm Heirloom tomatoes
Corn Aioli and Sorrel
$25

Seared Taku River Salmon
Jersey Corn, Grilled & Pickled
Ginger-Pistachio Romesco, Sungold Tomatoes
$29

Taku Three Ways
Seared Taku with Butter-Poached Corn, Pickled Corn, Asparagus Puree and Pistachio Romesco Sauce
Taku Salmon Tartare, Smoked garlic, Heirloom Tomatoes, Corn and Cucumber
24-Hour Cured Taku with Pickled Shallots, Rye Croutons, Espelette, Horseradish and Caraway
$29

Make a reservation here or by calling 732-828-4444.

Disclaimer

We are basing this event on fish that are still in the water and yet to be caught. We have guarantees from our fishmonger, truck driver, pilot and fisherman, but there is always the small possibility that something might go wrong. And it's not like we can run to the market if it doesn't arrive.

Swimming Upstream

I write to you today of River Salmon. Salmon is one of the most delicious fish in the world, but not all salmon is created equal. Middling salmon is okay, but really great salmon is in another world. Atlantic and Pacific Salmon are quite distinct. The vast majority of salmon consumed in America is of the Atlantic genus, and farm-raised. The commercial fishery for Atlantic salmon in North America is done.

You see salmon, because of their wide ranging and very specific lifestyle, are the canaries in the coal mine of the oceans. Salmon start their life in pristine fresh headwaters of rivers. They then swim downstream and wander the oceans for a couple of years. They can range from Alaska to Japan to Patagonia, but after their journey, they return to the exact place of their birth to spawn. While a few will stray to an alternate spawning ground, most will die trying to get back home.

Wild-caught salmon is much better than farmed salmon for a number of reasons, but river-caught salmon is the best and the most interesting. Once salmon reenter fresh water, they stop eating. They swim upstream for miles upon miles relying only on the energy stored in their bodies, to get them to the calm spawning grounds where the journey started.

This makes these salmon, the tastiest and one of the most nutritionally dense foods on the planet. It also means that salmon from different rivers have different tastes to them. The two main reasons for this are the genetic isolation of fish that spawn only in one place; and the characteristics of the river.

A Whole Different Kettle of Fish

Taku River Salmon are a personal favorite of Mark and mine. Because these rivers are so carefully managed, there is often little or no fish to sell. The catch is regulated every year and strictly based on how many fish are running upstream. We've been unable to get Taku for the last four years! It's going to arrive Saturday and we're going to have a salmon party on Sunday.

The Taku River begins in British Columbia and drains into an inlet at Juneau Alaska. The Salmon from the Taku must make an arduous journey up a frigid and fast-flowing river. These salmon have spent years in the wild, eating variously from its many oceans. Their bodies are packed with oils and nutrients that give them a flavor and texture unlike any other.

The New York Times and many other publications have documented, most of the salmon sold as "Wild" salmon is nothing of the sort. We're getting this shipped in directly from the Taku on Saturday. We are 100% certain of its provenance.

The Spirits Project: Pappy Van Winkle 20 Year Family Reserve

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

• Thursday, August 27 (for as long as it lasts), we're pouring a one-ounce pour for $39

For the Month of August, we're going to do something a little different with The Spirits Project.

These are perhaps the most coveted bourbon whiskeys in the world right now. We've been buying Van Winkle Bourbon since 1992, so we do get a very tiny allocation. We're going to blow most of it on this project. The idea is to share it with you, our loyal readers and imbibers.

Every Thursday in August, we're going to open a rare bourbon.

We will open the doors at 5 o'clock precisely. The first 24 folks to claim a spot will be served.

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

We serve one per guest. We will not be able to offer seconds.

• Thursday, August 3 - Old Rip Van Winkle 10 Year - $10
• Thursday, August 13 - Van Winkle 12 Year "Special Reserve - Lot B" - $12
• Thursday, August 20 - Black Maple Hill Bourbon KY - $12
• Thursday, August 27 - Pappy Van Winkle 20 Year Family Reserve - $39

The Nalini Fizz

(Rum, Falernum, Egg White, Ginger Beer)

Here's a drink I came up with several years ago but never really put into full use. I've re-christened it The Nalini Fizz for Sunday. It's delicious. If you like a Ramos Fizz, this is like Ramos's sexier cousin with spice from Blenheim's Ginger!

El Dorado 12 Year stands up to the ginger and makes this drink sing.

El Presidente

(Rum, Curacao, White Vermouth, Grenadine)

This was originally a Cuban drink, but it was popularized by barman George Stadelman at Club El Chico in New York. Club El Chico is also where New York discovered Rhumba. It is a more spirit forward drink, like a Rum Manhattan of sorts; a summertime Manhattan, if you will. It requires the El Dorado 15 Year

The Rum Old Fashioned

(Rum, Sugar Syrup, Bitters)

The Old Fashioned is a drink that predates the muddle fruit salad of what was called an Old Fashioned when I started bartending. It was once, a simple and elegant mix of spirit, ice, sugar and bitters. The El Dorado 21 Year makes a spectacular Old Fashioned. Spectacular. It's the only one outside the price range of the other cocktails as the bottle of rum alone is close to $100 and the drink has few ingredients other than rum! This very special drink is offered Sunday for $18

The Floridita Daiquiri

(Rum, Lime, Sugar, Maraschino, Grapefruit)

The Daiquiri is The Fundamental Rum Cocktail. The Floridita (aka The Hemingway Daiquiri) adds some grapefruit and Maraschino Liqueur and lessens the sugar. Daiquiris do not require blenders, fruit other than lime, or 'mixes.' If you go to a bar and ask for a daiquiri and the bartender was unaware there was any such thing as a 'daiquiri' unmodified, please order a beer.

El Dorado 3 Year (white) is perfect for a classic

El Dorado 12 Year is a wonderful variation, but we have found that it requires us to up the sugar a touch to account for the wood-age

Darker and Stormier

(Rum, Ginger, Orange, Pineapple, Lime, Bitters)

El Dorado 8 Year

Not every drink requires re-inventing the wheel or searching the archives of cocktail historians. I was surprised that Rum and Coke can actually be delicious. The quality and authenticity of the Rum and Coke of my early bartending days reminds me of the old yawn that goes, "This is the very ax that George Washington used to cut down the cherry tree. Really? Had to replace the handle. Had to replace the blade, but this is it." You see, not only had the rum gone to heck in a hand basket, the coke formula was changed and now includes high fructose corn syrup. HFCS is, in our opinion, kryptonite to cocktails. Mexican Coke is still made with sugar. El Dorado is awesome and Voilà: a great drink. Same story for the Dark and Stormy. Blenheim Ginger Ale and El Dorado are striking. Our own long time variation, The Darker and Stormier, is perfect with the El Dorado 8 Year

The Mai Tai

(Rum, Curacao, Cane Syrup, Orgeat (almond), Sugar)

The dean of all Tiki drinks, was invented by the dean of all Tiki, Victor “Trader Vic” Bergeron in Oakland, California. Most people don't realize that Vic used a very good and quite old 17 year rum in his original. By the time I started bartending in 1986, it was a mishmosh of bottled juices and cheap rum that made no sense at all. It was to the original Mai Tai as a Twinkie is to cake. Here are Bergeron's own words, "...start with a fine, 17-year-old Jamaican rum. Then I took a fresh lime, added some orange curaçao from Holland, a dash of rock candy syrup, and a dollop of French orgeat, for its subtle almond flavor. A generous amount of shaved ice and vigorous shaking by hand produced the marriage I was after. .... I stuck in a branch of fresh mint and gave two of them to Ham and Carrie Guild, friends from Tahiti.... Carrie took one sip and said, Mai tai -- roa ae! In Tahitian this means 'Out of this world -- the best!'" --Vic Bergeron, 1944

We're making it to Vic's standards with El Dorado 15 Year