"I have worked with the same machine for the last five years and developed an incredible sense of hearing for the annoying noise it makes when it spits out a cocktail ticket."

"I can hear it beckoning for me over a loud band, back in the kitchen, in the bathroom…in my sleep at home. On a slow night, when the Micros grows quiet, I will caress it with gentle words and pet it…hopefully it will start talking. On a busy night, when it clicks away seamlessly for hours on end…I curse at it and abuse it…yes, I beat my Micros."

(h/t: DJ Hawaiian Shirt)

Revisiting the Gin Rickey

July is Rickey month. Most cocktailians are thinking about the DC Craft Bartender's Guild's 5th annual Rickey Competition. Every year, competing barmen and barwomen buzz with excitement over the ingenious variations that they've come up with.

I, on the other hand, have decided to revisit the original for this blog post.

Many people know this simple cocktail as a glass filled with gin or bourbon, lime juice and soda water. Yet, lots of people don't know that the Rickey was originally crafted with sparkling mineral water. According to Wikipedia:

"In 1883, Colonel Joe Rickey was purported to have invented the 'Joe Rickey', after a bartender at Shoomaker's in Washington, D.C. added a lime to his 'mornin's morning', a daily dose of Bourbon with lump ice and Apollinaris sparkling mineral water."

Celebrity craft bartender and Rickey enthusiast Derek Brown (a friend whom I believe is a supertaster) seems to prefer the mineral water in the Rickey over the more neutral club soda. 

Either way, the inclusion of this particular ingredient is fascinating in that it gives us just a little window into the sensibilities of the nineteenth century imbiber.

The Rickey

- 2 oz gin or bourbon (I like Old Tom Gin or Bulliet Borbon)
- sparkling mineral water
- juice from 1/2 lime

Add the spirit into a glass with ice. Squeeze half a lime into the glass, leaving in the shell. Add sparkling mineral water and stir a few times.

For this post, I chose a mineral water that has just hit the Washington D.C. market called American Summits. They generate a really refreshing product.

A little about American Summits: until now, fine bottled table water has been more-or-less led by European companies, as explained in detail by Eat The District. 

When I met the owner, Philippe Lajaunie, at this year's RAMMY awards, he essentially told me it never made sense to him that we imported so much bottled water into the United States from Europe.

It especially didn't make sense when we have perfectly good water coming from (according to BevNet) the 12,000 foot snowy peaks of Northern Wyoming.

Oh, and by the way, you might know Lajaunie from the famed Brasserie Les Halles.

Anyway, enjoy Rickey month and take the opportunity to sip some "air conditioning in a glass" during these sweltering days in the District.

And don't forget to check out the winner of this year's Rickey Competition toward the end of July.

Note: This post has been revised since its original publication

What Happened to Radius Pizza?

So Radius Pizza is closed and nobody (not even PoP) seems to know why. 

Well, here's what I've learned: 

It appears that the owners, Todd and Nicole Wiss, have abandoned the restaurant without telling anyone. That's right. The owners are nowhere to be found.

In fact, the poor staff came to work only the find the doors locked. A sign was posted not long after notifying everyone that they are on vacation until July 2nd - but they are most definitely not.

Along with the ownership, Radius' Facebook page and Twitter account have also disappeared. There were already rumors that the restaurant was having financial troubles.

Unfortunately, it seems the Wisses decided they would rather recklessly forsake the whole endeavor. If true, it would be very strange indeed.

I guess we will all have to see what happens after July 2nd. Stay tuned.

(Full disclosure: I work for Last Exit whose ownership, District Restaurant Enterprises or DRE, has ties to Radius Pizza)

Note: This post has been revised since its original publication