PDT's Jim Meehan and Eleven Madison Park's Leo Robitschek mix the 20th Century cocktail
Trendy tipplers were out in full force last night for an all-star gathering of mixologists, headed by PDT's award-winning bartender Jim Meehan, who emceed a panel discussing building an effective cocktail program in a chef-driven restaurant. The event, hosted by Culintro, brought together some of NYC's top talent, including Cameron Bogue (Bar Pleiades), Eben Klemm (BR Guest Restaurants) and Leo Robitschek of Eleven Madison Park.
After sampling the 20th Century cocktail, guests sat down for the talk, which discussed the challenge of translating the success of smaller, specialized cocktail bars (like PDT) into a larger restaurant—without sacrificing quality. "It's my hope that quality drinks will become so commonplace that one day you can go into Applebee's and get a good cocktail," said Bogue. Let us know!
As for upcoming cocktail trends, Meehan predicts more fun in the sun. "The cocktail scene in New York started with this very Prohibition-era vibe, and then it sort of moved to this 'Mad Men' phase and now I think we'll start to see some rum-based, tiki-style drinks coming back. People want some fun in their glass." We'll drink to that! —Jamie Feldmar
