Cocktail creations by Umami Mart: shaken, stirred, and remixed.
Happy Hour
September 23, 2009
Happy Hour: Bobby Burns Cocktail
Like an overly anxious 300 pound stripper, Fall this year seems to have fallen abruptly on our lap and we are powerless to do anything about it. While there is normally a slow and smooth transition between seasons in New York, summer this year seemed like a mere placeholder for the season to follow. But […]
September 16, 2009
Happy Hour: El Grito
Today is Mexican Independence Day folks! It’s been too crazy of a day for me, and everything including Happy Hour’s been behind schedule, so I’m keeping today’s post short and to the point. Mexican Independence Day, also known as El Grito de Dolores, is often incorrectly confused with Cinco de Mayo, which is actually a […]
September 9, 2009
Happy Hour: Parkway Punch
Another Labor Day has come and gone. Although summer doesn’t technically end until sometime around mid-September, many generally regard Labor Day as the finish line. This is especially true in New York, where the holiday is regarded as seriously as the expiration date on a carton of milk–here, the prep set make their final Hamptons […]
September 2, 2009
Happy Hour: Leap Frog
Last week, while reminiscing about the various fun summer activities I engaged in as a child, I remembered a game some kids liked to play which I was not so fond of–Leap Frog. I remember lots of kids getting a huge thrill from the game, but never me. Frankly, the idea of kneeling down and […]
August 26, 2009
Happy Hour: Endless Summer
Since childhood, the end of summer has always made me a little sad. I grew up in Los Angeles, so it wasn’t so much about the weather since the weather wouldn’t shift much after Labor Day the way it does here in New York. Rather, it was about the change of the feeling in the […]
August 19, 2009
Happy Hour: The Painkiller
*This post was updated on June 16, 2011, as it relates to Pusser’s vs. Painkiller. I’ve never been a big believer in alternative medicine. While there are centuries-old practices like acupuncture–and even relatively new ones like chiropracty–that seem to deliver on what they promise, I can’t really get down with all the new-age therapies that […]
August 12, 2009
Happy Hour: Mai Tai
The Mai Tai is one of the most important and enduring drinks in the continuum of the American cocktail–it is an indelible piece of the ever-changing mosaic called “Americana.” That it instantly conjures images of tropical sunsets, surfboards, and other props fitting for the mis en scene of Beach Blanket Bingo is the reason it […]
August 5, 2009
Happy Hour: The Americano
I am, I must admit, a Negroni man through and through. As far as cocktails go, the Negroni is probably the closest a libation comes to inducing what smokers refer to as the “munchies”–in other words it’s a monster of an aperitif. Yet despite its simple and to the point manner, in these dog days […]
July 29, 2009
Happy Hour: Cuba Libre
Our month long jaunt into the world of classic Cuban cocktails concludes this week with the most famous yet simplest of them all, the Cuba Libre. Named in honor of Cuba’s struggle for independence from Spain, “Cuba libre!” or “free Cuba!” was the battle cry of Cubans seeking freedom from Spanish rule, whose centuries-old grip […]
July 22, 2009
Happy Hour: The Mojito
Yes indeed, the Mojito is finally making its Happy Hour debut. You may have wondered what took so long–ok, so maybe you don’t ponder the decision-making process of Happy Hour columns in your spare time, but I’ll tell you anyway. I was waiting for the heat of the NYC summer to really unleash itself before […]