Duggan McDonnell, Co-Founder and Master Blender of the award-winning Campo de Encanto Pisco, is giving every bartender in the United States the chance to join him and his colleagues in Peru this April by launching the Search for the Distiller’s Apprentice.
To be included in the search, bartenders across the country are invited to submit a video of themselves by February 15th (see below for contest rules). From this pool of entries, a small group of bartenders will be selected to travel with McDonnell and Encanto’s Master Distiller Carlos Romero to Ica, Peru and experience the grape harvest, fermentation and distillation, and learn firsthand the art of blending Encanto Pisco.
McDonnell said, “Making Encanto, working in Peru has changed my life in an amazing way. I want to share this with my fellow bartenders.” Check out his video invitation:
Search for the Distiller’s Apprentice Rules
Be an actively employed Bartender in the United States at a Bar or Restaurant.
Your Bar/Restaurant of employment must feature Campo de Encanto Pisco.
Film a 2-3 minute video of yourself.
In the video, first introduce yourself and then take a minute to sincerely tell us why you want to learn more about distillation, Pisco and making Campo de Encanto. We’re looking for Bartenders with honesty and integrity as much as those with great culinary technique.
In the video, demonstrate how to make the Campo de Encanto Pisco cocktail (a Pisco Punch, a Pisco Sour, or a signature drink of your own creation, etc.) featured on your Bar/Restaurant’s Cocktail Menu. (Please show the printed menu within the video.)
Post the 2-3 minute video on YouTube. Please label your video according to our format of last name, the city in which you live, and the name of your featured cocktail. (EX: LASTNAME_CITY_NAMEOFCOCKTAIL)
Send an email to apprentice@liquidthinktank.com with the link to your video informing us that your video has been uploaded and that you’d like to be considered, as well as an attachment of your cocktail menu.
Now in its fifth year, dineLA Restaurant Week is a citywide celebration of the vibrant Los Angeles dining scene, with over 300 restaurants offering specially priced three-course meals for lunch and dinner. The January-February 2012 edition of the foodie fortnight includes newcomers such as Mercato di Vetro and Ray’s & Stark Bar, as well as charter participants like Chinois on Main, Lawry’s the Prime Rib and Valentino. Diners can choose from a dizzying array of restaurants from Manhattan Beach to Pasadena, spanning a wide range of cuisines and price points.
For the first time, dozens of restaurants are also offering selected cocktails along with their Restaurant Week menus. Although they aren’t included in the prix fixe menus, many of these drinks will be discounted from their regular prices throughout Restaurant Week. After the jump, check out a few of the cocktails that will be featured at participating restaurants.
To help you navigate the Restaurant Week list, Caroline on Crack has a great roundup of restaurants with top notch cocktail menus. For a full list of restaurants, menus, and to make reservations, visit the dineLA Restaurant Week website.
Bar | Kitchen is already one of downtown LA’s best dining and drinking bargains. And its dineLA menu is hard to beat: at the Premier Dining ($34) level, Executive Chef Vahan Tokmadjian is featuring dinner options such as roasted veal sweetbread, rabbit and butterscotch pot de crème. To pair with dinner, B|K has a flight of three mini-cocktails:
New Escobar: reposado tequila, Amaro Zucca, lime, grenadine, dash of ginger ale.
Dead Meridian Punch: rye, arrack, lime, grapefruit, celery bitters, seltzer.
Bar | Kitchen
O Hotel
819 S. Flower St.
Los Angeles, CA 90017
(213) 623-9904 www.barandkitchenla.com
Mezcal Paloma
Border Grill has been a Restaurant Week participant since the program’s inception, and both of its Los Angeles locations are offering a specially-priced signature cocktail for $9. Border Grill Downtown LA is featuring the Mezcal Paloma: reposado mezcal, freshly squeezed grapefruit, spiced salt rim. Border Grill Santa Monica is featuring its Cucumber Margarita: 1800 silver, cucumber, jalapeño, fresh lime.
Border Grill Downtown
445 South Figueroa St.
Los Angeles, CA 90071
(213) 486-5171
Border Grill Santa Monica
1445 4th St.
Santa Monica, CA 90401
(310) 451-1655
Charlie Brown
With five restaurant bar programs under his watch, the odds were favorable that Julian Cox would have a cocktail or two featured during Restaurant Week.
Picca will be offering a cocktail created especially for Restaurant Week, the Viceroy Old Fashioned: Pisco Acholado, Dolin Blanc, Bittermens Hiver Amer Liqueur, Peruvian Bitters. The Viceroy Old Fashioned will be specially priced at $10 (cocktails are regularly priced at $12).
Playa is offering three drink specials that are “meant to complete your Playa experience.”
Short Order is offering an optional “dessert” course, the Charlie Brown: vanilla custard, roasted Spanish peanut infused bourbon, chocolate ganache ($8, regular price $12).
Picca
9575 W. Pico Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90035
(310) 277-0133 www.piccaperu.com
Playa
7360 Beverly Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90036
(323) 933-5300 www.playarivera.com
Short Order
The Original Farmers Market
6333 W. 3rd St. Stall #110
Los Angeles, CA 90036
(323) 761-7970 www.shortorderla.com
El Guerro | Photo by Gabriella Mlynarczyk
EvaRestaurant mixologist Gabriella Mlynarczyk is showcasing several cocktails for Restaurant Week:
Mlynarczyk’s take on the classic French 75, the Spirit of 75: house made orange blossom gin, Lillet Blanc, sugar, lemon, bubbles ($12).
El Guerro: Mezcal, blended Scotch, agave, Dolin Blanc Vermouth, lime, cucumber, grey salt ($14).
Mlynarczyk pays tribute to chef Mark Gold’s family with her Manhattan variation, the Sheepshead Bay: bourbon, house made kummel, benedictine, Cocchi Americano ($14).
Eva Restaurant
7458 Beverly Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90036
(323) 634-0700 www.evarestaurantla.com
Fleur de Lis | Photo by David Guilburt
In Venice, Joe’s Beverage Director Jennifer Zerboni is featuring the Fleur de Lis: Luksusowa Vodka, lemon, grapefruit, St. Germain Elderflower Liqueur, muddled basil ($12).
The Raymond offers a selection from the 1886 Bar’s Winter Menu, a Manhattan variation by Danny Cymbal that gives a nod to Pasadena. His Oak Knoll Manhattan uses housemade mulled wine vermouth crafted with locally-grown spices and botanicals, bonded bourbon, dry vermouth, and dried sugar garnish ($12).
The Raymond
1250 S. Fair Oaks Ave. (at Columbia)
Pasadena, CA 91105
(626) 441-3136 www.theraymond.com
Garden Collins
In what may be a first, Sadie is opening during Restaurant Week, on Tuesday, January 24th. Giovanni Martinez, who oversaw the bar program at Sadie in its previous incarnation as Les Deux Estate, is featuring a cocktail made especially for Restaurant Week, the Garden Collins: Old Tom Gin, cucumber, celery, simple syrup, fresh lime ($6).
Sadie 1638 N. Las Palmas Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90028
(323) 467-0200 sadiela.com
While Bar | Kitchen Executive Chef Vahan Tokmadjian presented delectable selections from his latest menu, bartender Daniel Zacharczuk was behind the stick mixing cocktails from the new list of seasonal drinks. [...]
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