Toast to Obama

Alex, Lil, and I watched the inauguration with tears in our eyes today.  We believe there is a lot of room for change in this country, and our hope is with Obama. This afternoon we toasted the new president with a Sazerac cocktail.  This is one of the oldest known traditionally American cocktails, reportedly predating the Civil War.

Alex's version:

Swirl 1/4 ounce pernod or absinthe in old fashioned glass.  Discard (or chug) the absinthe.

Mix 1/2 tsp raw sugar, 3 dashes bitters, 1/4 tsp lemon juice, ice and 2 ounces rye in cocktail shaker.

Shake, strain, and serve in prepared glass.

Cork flooring!

After a slow start due to last night's celebrating, Len and Alex began installing Expanko floating cork flooring. They struggled through the first third until they eventually decided to brace against a different wall. Then things moved more quickly and the whole room is now corked!

We each left marks in the room, our own 2009 time capsule of sort as pictured below.

New Local Spot - Details Lounge

Thanks to Lisa the waitress we went to the soft opening of Details Lounge last night.  Because we read the website ahead of time, we went straight upstairs to see if there were seats open at the chef-side bar.

Lucky us, there were two bar stools right in front of Drew Garms, the Chef de Cuisine (I think he's the shadowy figure at right, pretty hard to tell from this angle).  We introduced ourselves and ordered a Rye Smile and a Singapore Sling.  All mixers were house made and delicious.  Garnishes were  real maraschino cherries and fruits.  Later in the evening Alex had a Zombie and I had a Pim's Cup.

Drew presented a plate of snacks (ruben with house made pastrami, toast point with cherry compote and foie gras, and puff pastry with butternut squash puree, seared duck, and apple/squash garnish) that we devoured before remembering to take a picture.  Later in the evening we scored a basket of the paprika potato chips.  These were perfectly crunchy with that well fried bubbled texture I love!

Details was serving just a few things last night but their full menu will be available starting tonight.  Tapas style dishes are $4 - $11, cocktails range from $6 - $13. Lunch service begins Monday.  I enjoyed it so much I'll be there again Tuesday afternoon to check out full service.

Oh, and just because I'm so happy with them, here's a picture of my new shoes.  Vegan leather-like from j-41 ordered with Zappos new VIP service including free express shipping.  Woot!