Alexis McKinnis, our local sex columnist and Girl Friday blogger, has been working hard over the past few weeks (and, yes, drinking can be very hard work sometimes) putting together her holiday drinks piece for Vita.mn in order to brighten our spirits. “This is the time of the year when twinkling colors are as much a requirement on the rim of your glass as they are on the glowing strands on your Christmas tree,” she writes, “when whiskey isn’t mandated for a hot toddy, and tequila turns into an affair you’ll actually remember.” (If I recall, which I really don’t, I may have had one or two of these affairs myself recently.)
“The holiday season is full of festive flavors and smells that professional and home bartenders are blending together in inventive, potable ways — and bestowing them with appropriately punny names,” writes McKinnis before introducing us to five exemplary cocktails from La Belle Vie, Om, The Strip Club, Azia, and Clubhouse Jäger. The best part — recipes included! But don’t feel limited by the list; if you have a favorite holiday cocktail, please share it with us here!
Looking for some eats to accompany your holiday drinking?
Here are a few solid articles on dining in the Twin Cities and beyond.
Stephanie March tells us her first visit to Subo, the newest restaurant to occupy the old Hell’s Kitchen space, was full of “good food with impressive flavors.”
Rick Nelson reviews Il Gatto, claiming “the reincarnation of Figlio in Uptown is decidedly feline, but quite feisty.”
Tom Horgan tells us a little bit more about the new NE hotspots Honey and Ginger Hop.
David, of Minneapolis MetBlogs, informs us that Duluth’s Hell’s Kitchen will be reopening as Hellburgers.
Philip Dorwart serves up some beef jerky tips for deer hunting season.
And Steve Marsh introduces us to Jim Christiansen, Corrine Sherbert, and Landon Schoenefeld, three of the area’s hottest up-and-coming chefs.
36 Reader Comments
9:31 am
Hellburgers is a great name.
9:34 am
They make a damned good burger, Jane.
9:34 am
Hey, so that’s what Steve Marsh was doing on the line at Nick & Eddie last summer. Looks like a good read.
9:40 am
Here’s one of Mrs. Lungs’ favorite winter cocktails. It tastes better than you would expect:
http://tinyurl.com/ye9pcg5
10:03 am
I thought a hamburger was a hamburger was a hamburger until I went here last month and found out it was indeed possible to screw them up.
10:25 am
That’s the first good opinion of Il Gato I’ve heard. We tried to go there last week and I think the layout is horrible – rather than creating an open space with a prominent bar and featuring the view of the street they’ve made it a dark, claustrophobic series of rooms. The bar is quite small and with any kind of crowd it becomes impossible to stand, much less move while waiting for a table. Everyone I’ve talked to about it agrees it sucks. Just sayin.
10:39 am
steve marsh doing lines @ Nick & Eddie is hardly news, Jane.
11:35 am
I thought a hamburger was a hamburger was a hamburger until I went here last month and found out it was indeed possible to screw them up.
What would you expect otherwise? Or maybe they just hate America.
12:10 pm
I’m nearly positive what I was eating was beef.
12:26 pm
Or mutton? There is a large contingent of foreign workers in Dubai (85% of the total population are expatriate workers), and 51% of that is Indian. If a majority of them are Hindi, well, then, what you ate obviously wasn’t beef.
12:29 pm
Oops. That should read “71% of the total population are expatriate …”
12:38 pm
“Or maybe they just hate America.”
I don’t think so. But even if they do they probably don’t get the “cred” with the right people by doing it and sounding fashionable, like the home folks do.
12:42 pm
“If a majority of them are Hindi, well, then, what you ate obviously wasn’t beef.”
Given what they are paid, and their poor working conditions, I doubt many can afford to eat at the Rock Bottom Cafe, so there’s not much of a need to cater to them. No, just loudmouth Brits and people passing through on business, mostly.
12:59 pm
Still might be mutton. Even the Brits eat it:
In Northern Europe, mutton and lamb feaure in many traditional dishes, including those of the North Atlantic islands and of the United Kingdom, particularly in the western and northern uplands, Scotland and Wales).
A hamburger doesn’t have to be made of ground beef. Only Merkins believe that.
Remember, too: those Brits also enjoy food like blood sausage and head cheese.
1:18 pm
Merkins? What do they have to do with hamburgers?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merkin
1:26 pm
“I’m nearly positive what I was eating was beef.”
can i get a “that’s what she said” from the congregation?!?!?
1:27 pm
The Rat has made it patently clear that he doesn’t believe in sacred cows.
1:43 pm
I really want to pick up some headcheese for Christmas. It sounds so good.
1:50 pm
Merkins? What do they have to do with hamburgers?
The hamburger was invented in Hamburg, New York, the United States of Merkins.
1:50 pm
Another great holiday cocktail is called the Naughty Elf. It’s a mix of TYKU liqueur, Canton, white cranberry juice, and a squeeze of lime. It’s definitely one worth trying!!!!!
1:52 pm
can i get a “that’s what she said” from the congregation?!?!?
Yeah, baby!
2:07 pm
Well, I think the Rat has offered a clue to Dubai’s recent financial crisis — they can’t make a decent hamburger. No wonder we are the world’s last superpower.
2:31 pm
“I really want to pick up some headcheese for Christmas. It sounds so good.”
We used to play the head cheese game at Willy’s in Morris. You slip a package of head cheese into someones cart and then watch their reaction when they unload their groceries. Yes there wasn’t much to do in Morris.
2:33 pm
Yahoo Health listed the worst burgers for you in America.
http://health.yahoo.com/experts/eatthis/39713/6-worst-fast-food-burgers-and-what-you-should-eat-instead/
The Triple Whopper with cheese and mayo from BK was the winner.
1250 Calories
84 Grams of fat
2:43 pm
United States of Merkins? Di you even look at that link? This place is weird.
3:11 pm
@Dougie_D: That’s nuffin compared to the Windows 7 burger in Japan, from Burger King. Also.
3:14 pm
Yeah but that’s not a normal menu item. It was just a special.
I’m sure the Hardee’s Monster Burger was fairly terrible also.
3:16 pm
When in Japan, you can also try the Double Quarter Pounder from McDonalds’ regular menu. (Why not just call it what it is: a Half-Pounder?) When I was in Nagano, in 2007, I spotted a four-patty Big Mac on the menu there, too: the Ultra Mac.
3:19 pm
@Dougie_D: Perhaps, but the article is dated 10/22 so that might mean it’s still on the menu. The article also said the introductory price was ¥777 but would later be raised to ¥1450 after the initial one-week introduction.
3:22 pm
The 2/3rds Pound Monster Thick Burger from Hardee’s has 1420 calories and 95 grams of fat. That with an order of onion rings and wash it down with a Chocolate Hand Dip Malt you are looking at 2610 calories and 167 grams of fat!
Damn you wouldn’t have to eat for days and probably shouldn’t.
3:25 pm
I didn’t see it on the normal menu.
http://www.mcdonalds.co.jp/menu/regular/index.html
3:28 pm
Oh Hardee’s has Bacon Ranch Fries! Much worse than the onion rings. Add on another 190 calories and 22 grams of fat!
3:56 pm
Hardee’s it is!
4:01 pm
@Dougie_D: Yes, it’s there. Top row, second picture on the left.
Daburu Kuo-ta- Paunda- Chi-zu [in katakana].
2:23 pm
Rather than spend ridiculous amounts some bars and restaurants charge for cocktails, you can make them at home. They taste just as good, are much cheaper, and you and your friends can experiment with flavors.I’m currently working on trying every recipe from my new Christmas present. The best cocktail book I got for Christmas was “Martini Madness: 380 recipes to tempt your taste buds”. Amazon currently has it for $14.99.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1441455558/
6:26 pm
You’ve got it all wrong. Seymour,Wi. is the home of the Hamburger,not NY.And every year they grill the worlds largest.