Tea at Trianon: The Art of the Cocktail

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

The Art of the Cocktail

In New Orleans.

Alan has a Master of Fine Arts in directing, and once worked as a playwright, so he feels at home in a theatrical setting—and that's what he's created at Loa. His cocktails are clean, austere, and made with unusual spirits, fresh juices, homemade syrups, and an abundance of local ingredients. "A bar serves many purposes for many people," Alan says. "It's for romance and courtship, business meetings with colleagues, or a quiet moment for solitary reflection." Each drink on his hand-stamped Potations, Preparations, and Libations menus, printed on the back of vintage Keno cards, reads like a short story. There's the Francene (rum, fresh Muscadine juice, shiso) and Ten Years in a Day (a glass of Cabernet served with a hand mirror and smelling salts). Ordering a second cocktail, I started to wonder what it actually takes to create all that magic behind the bar. So, I asked Alan to take me along on a typical day. (Read entire post.)