She seemed appalled but intrigued by my idea for a truffle I christened the Tijuana Bender, blending tequila, red chili flakes and Lay's potato chips.
Among the alchemistic standouts: the Shu Jam Fizz, a vivid mixture of gin, apricot jam and fennel seed-infused syrup, and the Ground to Glass (a riff on "farm to bar"), in which the piquant flavors of tequila, red pepper purée and cucumber are mellowed with a rim of hickory-smoked salt.
("It's called chemo brain," he said Monday. "A combination tequila-red-wine-beer hangover").
A cocktail called Ground to Glass ($10) includes Corralejo blanco tequila, cucumber, red pepper puree, housemade orange bitters, some fresh lime and hickory-smoked salt.
When I said something to this effect to Mr. Sontag, he didn't break into a long disquisition about its provenance (an Indian market on Lexington Avenue, as Mr. Seider later revealed) or launch into a wine-speak analysis of why it marries so well with tequila and red peppers.
You might start out, as I did, with a drink at the Cove, a bar that appears unassuming from the outside but serves inventive cocktails like the Vampire, a take on the Bloody Mary, with tequila, tomato juice, red chili salt and balsamic vinegar.
But no one managed to make drinking look as dignified as when Helen Mirren slammed a shot of tequila on the red carpet to kick off the night.
This original cocktail puts honey in the role of lion tamer (the lions being the tequila and the red-wine reduction).
Whether you've got vodka, bourbon, gin, tequila, rum, sparkling wine, red or white on hand, there are plenty of options for you here.
I wish I could say I feel more powerful having immersed myself so heavily in tequila and the color red, but I think this stuff really only works for Sammy Hagar.
I wish I could say I feel more powerful having immersed myself so heavily in tequila and the colour red, but I think this stuff really only works for Sammy Hagar.
