Questions First, Schust Later: Bar Time Travel and Juicy Tips
This week's Q&A mixes a bit of fantasy with practical advice.
Welcome to the latest installment of this ongoing Q&A series for Schustack! This edition features some fantasy bar magic, writing advice, and things to sip—both boozy and not—that taste juicy without the juice.
If you could travel back to any bar from any era, which bar do you go to? (This person also writes: “Please sober up before returning. Do not drink and time travel.”)
I have two answers because I can’t decide. Hey, we’re fantasizing, right?
One of my favorite cocktails is the 20th Century, a mix of gin, Lillet Blanc (or Cocchi Americano), fresh lemon juice, and white crème de cacao. It’s named for the 20th Century Limited Express, a passenger train that ran between New York City and Chicago from 1902 to 1967 that had one of the snazziest bar cars ever. It was a sort of lunch room by day and transformed into a dazzling night club after dark. For reasons that bear further investigation, its namesake drink was invented later and elsewhere, in 1937 by C.A. Tuck at Café Royal in London.
Sipping one always makes me think of a long held fantasy of traveling back in time to strike up a conversation with a fellow lone passenger in that bar car over cocktails. Every once in a while they bring it back for a limited run, but with travel, any travel, as it is these days (and what people get away with wearing), I feel like it’s not quite the same as experiencing it in its heyday.
The first time I had a 20th Century was at the original Gramercy location of Dear Irving, which I’m so excited is celebrating its 10th anniversary tonight! Massive congratulations to Meaghan Dorman and team for keeping it going all these years, which is a massive achievement in modern day New York City. Walking from front to back through its various retro settings has always felt like stepping through time in its own special way.
I also fantasize about visiting London in 1851 to pop in for a few hours and experience the Washington Refreshment Room in the basement of the spectacularly ambitious Soyer’s Universal Symposium of All Nations, which only existed for a couple of months in the site of what is now Royal Albert Hall. One of the things I loved most about writing Signature Cocktails was the opportunity to research recipes from the entire history of drinks. I included Soyer Au Champagne (recipe at the end), a yummy Champagne float made with vanilla ice cream, cognac, orange liqueur, and maraschino that was served there.
The Symposium was an extravagant multi-level food hall in what had once been Gore House, a sort of artists’ residence. It was the vision of Alexis Benoît Soyer, who was hailed as one of the first celebrity chefs because he enjoyed substantial attention from the press and had a large circle of prominent friends who were some of the most important artists, thinkers, philanthropists, and political figures of the Victorian era, including Florence Nightingale.
You could say that Soyer was the José Andrés of his day in that as much as he sought attention for his culinary pursuits, he also made it a life’s mission to feed the hungry and invent tools to help people prepare their own food, like portable stoves.
The Symposium was divided into separate dining areas on different floors and outdoor spaces that each had their own geographical themes. The bar at the bottom was the first “American bar” in London, meaning it was the first to specialize in the American trend of serving cold mixed drinks that went beyond punch. In her book Relish: The Extraordinary Life of Alexis Soyer Victorian Celebrity Chef, author Ruth Cowen lists some of them: “flashes of lightning, tongue twisters, oesophagus burners, knockemdowns, squeezemtights, brandy pawnees, shandygaffs, and hailstorms”. They also served a fizzy RTD called Soyer’s Nectar Cobbler made with Madeira and a mixture of juices that made it turn blue. It was meant to be commercialized for the grocery trade but, as with the whole Symposium itself, the business end of things was completely mishandled.
It would be an extraordinary opportunity to see what the first cocktail bar in London was like, and witness people experiencing an entirely new thing that more than a century later is an integral part of most international cultures. And of course I’d want to see the bonkers art direction of the whole Symposium—elaborate tapestries, a 500 seat banquet table with a single table cloth, syncopated gas lights, fogged up mirrors to make an arctic themed room only look cold!—before the whole thing was shut down from under planning and over budgeting (and pissed off neighbors).
Check out this article I wrote for Gastro Obscura a few months ago, which goes more into detail about this lavish (some would say “garish”) event. I can’t stop thinking about it!
If you could teleport to any bar in the world to make it your local, which one suddenly shows up on Court Street?
The Chart Room from New Orleans. Since the demise of the original P.J. Hanleys (not the short-lived “renovated” iteration) and the Waterfront Ale House on Atlantic Ave., that sort of casual, comfortable, anything goes non-cocktail tavern with a storied past and cast of neighborhood characters hasn’t existed in years. Every neighborhood needs a Chart Room.
What’s the best writing technique advice you’ve ever been given?
My 5th grade teacher, Mrs. Gosling (no relation, as far as I know), was big on creative writing assignments and I will never forget that she made it her personal mission to make her students learn how to effectively use descriptive language. She regularly gave us an in class exercise where she handed us a bunch of random adjectives and we had to use them in comparative, fill-in-the-blank phrases.
Example:
“Smooth as _____”
She would not accept words like “glass” or “silk”. We had to come up with our own description. I said “pond in winter” and I will never forget that she commented, “well, assuming it’s frozen…”, yeah! It made me constantly seek better ways of describing things.
I always think of her when I see the word “smooth” in a tasting note.
Tasted anything good lately?
Chinola Mango Liqueur: like its Passion Fruit sibling, this liqueur captures the authentic essence of a fruit that we rarely get to taste at its best when we’re not in the tropics. I love that it’s a shelf stable way to add a tropical, juicy kick to cocktails, even stirred ones, without juice.
OOSO Sparkling Teas — one of the things I don’t like about most alcohol alternatives is all the sugar or synthetic sugars most of them need to taste like something. Ones with real ingredients and balanced flavor structure without the calorie bomb are hard to come by, but these bubbly teas make me happy. I think the company is trying to position them as a sparkling wine alternative, but to me, they’re just a refreshing, fizzy way to sip something beyond seltzer and bitters that has herbal complexity, harmonious tannins, and a hint of sweetness that isn’t too sugary tasting. At 45ish calories a serving, I’m in! It’s available with either herbal and caffeinated tea styles, and comes in 750 ml bottles or single serve 8 oz cans.
I’m always intrigued by what Cardinal Spirits in Indiana is up to. They recently sent a few liqueurs to me to test drive for summer cocktails:
Bramble — it’s a black raspberry hibiscus vodka that appeals to me because it’s juicy, but slightly floral and not too sweet. It reminds me more of an American version of a sloe gin than a berry flavored vodka.
Songbird Coffee Liqueur — it happens to taste really good with the Bramble! I’m going to experiment with a stirred coffee Negroni type situation with these two, maybe also using the…
La Boîte American Amaro — a red wine-based variation that reminds me of the local Chinatos I’ve tasted at cafes in Italy. When I don’t feel like committing to opening a whole bottle of something, I can see myself splashing this into a glass over sparkling water with some orange. Speaking of…
Triple Sec Valencia — it’s definitely on the drier side of the orange liqueur spectrum, but still tastes authentically orange and zippy. It’s ideal for making your next round of…
Soyer Au Champagne
Recipe via Signature Cocktails by Amanda Schuster, Phaidon Press, 2023
1 scoop (ideally French) vanilla ice cream
½ oz (15 ml) cognac
½ oz (15 ml) orange liqueur
½ oz (15 ml) maraschino liqueur
Brut Champagne or other dry, sparkling wine, to top
Garnish: orange slice and/or cocktail cherry
Scoop the ice cream into a large coupe or Martini glass. Add the other liqueurs to the glass and top with the bubbly, Garnish with an orange slice and/or cocktail cherry.
20th Century
also via Signature Cocktails
1 ½ oz (45 ml) dry gin
¾ oz (22 ml) fresh lemon juice
½ oz (15 ml) Lillet Blanc or Cocchi Americano
½ oz (15 ml) white crème de cacao
Garnish: lemon twist
Shake all ingredients with ice. Double strain into a chilled coupe glass. Garnish.