Subject: Cocktails

• Sullivan's Steakhouse

  January 29, 2009

• Harry's Country Club

  March 26, 2009

• Crash Course in Cocktails

  August 16, 2007

• Brick Martinis in Photos

  April 24, 2008

• The Bartender's Favorite Drink: Diedre Hayes

  August 5, 2008

• Whatever It Is, It's a Hit for The Drop

  July 25, 2008

• The new Peachtree Restaurant is glamorous enough for the Power & Light District, but the original buffet is more fun

  March 5, 2009

• Rachel Maddow continues to drink you under the table

  Rachel Maddow bullies political pundits on MSNBC show but she says if she couldn't do that she'd "bully people about what they drink."So begins another round of Rachel Maddow, classic cocktail expert. I've previously written about Maddow's excellent Jack Rose recipe and this audio clip is no different. Here she riffs about why classic cocktails are the only way to go.A few points. In the transcript, Maddow mentions her prized 1953 edition of a certain book called Esquire Handbook for Hosts. Whil

  January 19, 2009

• Best Urban Happy Hour

  October 17, 2002

• Mo Mo Mojito!

  December 12, 2002

• TGI Thursday

  March 6, 2003

• Best Drink That Looks Like an Accident in a Glass

  October 9, 2003

• Opening Night Twitters

  March 18, 2004

• Warm-Up Exercises

  March 25, 2004

• Double Down

  May 20, 2004

• On Deck

  June 17, 2004

• Best Shrimp Cocktail

  October 7, 2004

• Best Margarita

  October 7, 2004

• If you only had 10: Liquors for a house bar

  Flickr: MayhemWith people cutting back across the board, one easy way to save money is to limit the number of drinks you buy at bars or restaurants. If ever there was a time to have a good home bar, this is it. People think they need every liquor and cordial under the sun, but really all you need to make a majority of drinks are these 10 basic liquors:1. Dirt-cheap vodka: Buy a 1.75 liter for under $15, and once it's cold in the freezer it tastes perfectly fine with heavier mixers like cranberry

  March 2, 2009

• The next big thing: booze-flavored popcorn

  Remember the name Cary Silverman. The 22-year-old senior at the University of Missouri may not be the next Bill Gates, but he's definitely going to be somebody. This business management major from Kansas City  watched a couple of friends sneak booze into a movie screening so they could sip liquor with their popcorn and had an epiphany: alcohol-flavored popcorn! It may not be the greatest marketing idea, but it was an idea and Silverman went straight to work on making it a reality.

  March 24, 2009

• Non-drinkers: bars' new best customers?

  Flickr: Thomas HawkBecause I'm a good friend, I've spent my share of nights at bars sipping on coffee, soda or mostly water trying to enjoy drunk people as much a sober person can. Being a designated driver has one major upside -- safety -- but some minor drawbacks, one of which is limited drink choices.Many bars are trying to change that, hence the growing popularity of "mocktails." The idea behind serving mixed drinks with a lot of flair but no booze is that designated drivers and non-drinkers

  April 8, 2009

• Slurp It Up

  February 12, 2009

• Mickey's Irish Pub

  October 16, 2008

• John's Big Deck

  August 28, 2008

• Vivace

  August 21, 2008

• Dog Deals

  May 29, 2008

• Kansas City’s Corona Cantina #1 still has some problems to work out, but we’ll raise a few bottles to the concept

  February 21, 2008

• Dropping Pins

  December 27, 2007

• Happy-Hour Hit list

  April 23, 2009

• Going for the Gold

  Pursuing the two-minute orgasm on Southwest Boulevard

  May 19, 2005

• Hitting the Sauce

  The bar at Gates is a fine place to get help.

  September 18, 2003

• Spring means spring cocktails and the loss of my dignity

  It is sad that the New York Times liquor blog Proof is closing shop after four months and 40 posts. It dealt with alcohol in serious ways (such as in its first post) but also with a sophisticated pizzazz.Flickr: The SkiniminOne of the posts I was waiting to highlight was written last month. "Your signature cocktail" talks about how what you order says a lot about you as a person -- but so does what you don't order but secretly would like to. As someone who harbors secret desires for fruity drink

  April 14, 2009

• M&S summer drink menu

  I stopped by M&S Grill's wonderful happy hour last week (more on that Friday) and got to talking to the bartender. It's one of my favorite bars in the city not only because of the food specials and the atmosphere but because the mixed drinks are so damn good. As I've noted before, M&S is a true scratch bar -- everything from the juice to the simple syrup is made to order.Flickr: Bi Chrome PhotoThe bartender (mixologist?), Scott Beskow, was just putting the finishing touches on a summer d

  April 15, 2009

• AMC Mainstreet Theater: a second look

  I went to the Mainstreet Theater and its restaurant The Marquee for a second time yesterday. Previously I had only been in the restaurant area, which opened for business at the beginning of this month. The theater part, which is the in the south end of the building, is nearly done and officially opens for business May 1. (Although you can get a preview at the Kansas City Film Fest.)The space is divided into six theaters. The three on the ground floor are for moviegoers ages 18 and over (minors a

  April 21, 2009

• Bristol Seafood Grill

  May 7, 2009

• Wet dreams: Power & Light's pricey pool

  And now for some completely different Power & Light District news. Here's how much it costs for a membership at the P&L's rooftop pool, The Jones, which opens June 20. Full credit goes to KSHB Channel 41 for breaking it down: Corporate- $3000 (The membership card will have the Company name instead of a single person, making it accessible to any of the employees.)Up to 12 guests no line no cover (with cabana reservations)4 guest no line no cover (without cabana reservations)Towel service

  June 9, 2009

• Kona Grill

  June 18, 2009

• Dos Hombres

  June 18, 2009

• Happy Hour at Pierpont's

  June 25, 2009

• Mission Bowl

  October 30, 2008

• Tanner's Bar and Grill

  October 23, 2008

• Thai Place

  September 18, 2008

• Dos Hombres

  August 21, 2008

• Happy Hour at the Velvet Dog

  June 19, 2008

• Ratios for the best margaritas

  If there's anybody who knows a good cocktail, it's Brian Flavin. Before he became an IT officer for the PB&J Restaurant Group he was a bartender at the Grand St. Cafe. He still bar-tends there on Wednesday nights because, as two regulars told me, "We won't let him leave." While the restaurant is known for its classic American pork chops, Grand St. also features an extensive list of margaritas which Flavin has been shaking for 15 years. "That's the thing -- a margarita should always been

  June 25, 2009

• I'll have a Strawberry daiquiri, hold the glass

  ​You might have thought you were too old for popsicles -- but a new wave of liquor-filled icy treats could likely change your mind.LiQ is a new frozen cocktail on a stick. The poptails (the other term Fat City thought about using was genuinely dirty) are available in two flavors -- Strawberry daiquiri and margarita -- made with rum and tequila respectively. For now, the drinks are being test-marketed in Las Vegas, Phoenix and Miami. At 6 percent alcohol by volume and a suggested retail price o

  July 30, 2009

• Happy-Hour Hit list: Margaritas

  August 13, 2009

• Thoughts on molecular mixology

  ​The concept of molecular mixology is not as well known as molecular gastronomy -- likely because of some combination of a non-equivalent marketing push (think what Top Chef did for molecular gastronomy), the public's resistance to double-digit prices on cocktails and a bunch of bartenders who choose to make drinks without labeling the process. Tales of the Cocktail 2009 explores a lecture on how influential molecular mixology is in relation to the history of cocktails. It's an interesting bre

  September 9, 2009

• The splendiferous ham daiquiri

  The list of meat-based cocktails grew a bit fatter last week, as the team behind the McNuggetini decided to collaborate on a Ham Daiquiri. It's nice to know that creators Alie Ward and Georgia Hardstark weren't just offering a pithy joke at the end of their first video and have delivered on the promise of a ham-inspired cocktail."I'm going to go on record that this is a bad idea .... the ham is blended," warns Hardstark at the beginning of the video. Of course, this only makes you want to see

  November 16, 2009

• 10 cocktails enter, one cocktail wins

  ​Ten local bartenders put their cocktail knowledge and mixology skills to the test this Sunday on-stage at the Uptown Theater during the third annual Greater Kansas City Bartending Competition. "We're working really hard to showcase bartending as a serious profession and elevate bartenders in Kansas City to that level," says Ryan Maybee, the event organizer and partner in Manifesto. The group of 10 finalists was selected based on an original cocktail, with the ingredients ranging from ginger b

  November 18, 2009