There’s a great photo gallery of Sacramento signs on Flickr, including this working animated neon sign for Gunthers ice cream shop. I’m in the mood for a gristly steak and a glass of cheap champagne at Lil’ Joe’s.
(via Boing Boing)
Lately I’ve been ordering the Perfect Manhattan as a change of pace from the regular (and often too-sweet) Manhattan. It’s basically a Manhattan with sweet and dry vermouth.
Perfect Manhattan
2 oz. Rye (if the bar doesn’t have it Bourbon will do but the Esquire Drinks book recommends Canadian Club because it has lots of Rye in the blend)
1/2 oz. Italian (sweet) vermouth (I like Cinzano)
1/2 oz. French (dry) vermouth (I like Noilly Prat)
2 dashes Angostura bitters or orange bitters
Stir with cracked ice and strain - never shake a Manhattan unless you like a foamy consistency. Garnish with lemon twist or cherry.
Recently I went to an excellent restaurant in San Francisco called Frisson. The food is very good, the decor is mid-century modern, and the Perfect Manhattan was outstanding. They make it with Hirsch 8-year Rye, Vya sweet and dry vermouths, and Angostura bitters. Their cocktail menu has many delicious drinks that made me want to return to the bar again - as did all the pretty girls hanging out there!
The Esquire Drinks book has some really good Manhattan alternatives:
Monahan Special - substitute a dash of Amer Picon for the bitters
Narragansett - substitute a splash of annisette for the bitters
McKinley’s Delight - substitute two dashes of cherry brandy and a dash of absinthe for the bitters
Sherman - made with three dashes of absinthe, one dash Angostura bitters, one dash orange bitters
Jumbo - equal parts rye, sweet vermouth, and dry vermouth, no bitters
Honolulu - equal parts bourbon, sweet vermouth, and dry vermouth, no bitters
Rosemary - equal parts bourbon and French vermouth
Brown University - equal parts bourbon and French vermouth with two dashes orange bitters
Brooklyn - a regular manhattan with French vermouth instead of Italian plus a dash of Amer Picon and a dash of maraschino
WFMU in New Jersey is the best radio station in the country. Lately there have been some great special shows that are available online. They are archived so you can play them anytime.
- Dave the Spazz’s Roger Miller Birthday Salute Show with Roger Miller Biographer Lyle E. Style
- Joe Belock’s Three Chord Monte Best of 2005 Show - Part One - Part Two
- Rex’s Fools Paradise Booze Songs Special from December 31, 2005
- Guest DJ Tom Verlaine on Gaylord Fields Show on Jan. 8th. 2006
What would jab do?
WFMU.org offers a large selection of high quality streaming audio formats. And for a couple of weeks after they air many shows are archived in near CD-quality 128K mp3 format. So here’s what you do: Download and install a program that can capture audio. I use the inexpensive TotalRecorder for Windows PCs. It has a scheduler so it will start and stop when you want and automatically save the file in mp3 or other sound file formats. Then you can play them whenever you want, burn the mp3 files on a CD, or transfer them to your portable music player. Mac users try Audio Hijack.
Don’t forget to make a donation to WFMU. They are entirely listener supported.
WFMU’s Blog
1. Dine About Town
3 course lunches for $21.95 and 3 course dinners for $31.95 in some of the finest restaurants in San Francisco. Shake those winter blues off by enjoying a liesurely tasty meal. My advice is to check the menus on the web site before going otherwise you may be disappointed and have to order from the regular menu. Also, many of the restaurants offer the special price during limited hours so check that out as well.
Dine About Town
2. San Francisco Film Noir Festival
The annual San Francisco Film Noir Festival runs from January 13th through the 26th. This year promises to be better then ever as many of the screenings will be held at the beautiful Palace of Fine Arts. The lobby will become the Noir City Nightclub, with jazz peformances nightly, and Sazerac and Remy Martin will be pouring complementary bourbon, scotch, gin, and vodka. That’s right, free booze! There will be special guests Farley Granger, Coleen Gray, James Ellroy, Sean Penn, and Stanley Rubin discussing their work, a literary event, a Noir jazz concert, as well as all the great films, including several rare ones. The Jab says check it out if you know what’s good for you. See?
Noir City
3. I get older.
It’s not that I look forward to getting older, but I enjoy celebrating my birthday. I get to share cocktails and a meal (a thick juicy steak, of course) with friends. I was born in January 1961, 3 days after John F. Kennedy was inaugurated as President of the United States. Other notable events of 1961: the apartment building I live in (called the Tradewinds) was built, and the Tiki-Ti in Los Angeles opened for business.
Tiki-Ti
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