Anvil Bar & Refuge, has released a list of 100 classic cocktails they believe everyone should try.  The fun part? Once you begin working your way down the List, you get a stamp card on which you can track which cocktails you’ve gotten through.  Although I’ve just begun, I’m pleased to have found quite a few new and wonderful drinks.  Now, hopefully I’ll remember them all through the end.

Anvil’s 100 classic cocktails you must try, or “the List”

1. Absinthe Drip – absinthe, water, sugar
2. Air Mail – rhum, lime, honey, champagne
3. Alexander – spirit, creme de cacao, cream
4. Algonquin – rye, french vermouth, pineapple
5. Americano – campari, italian vermouth, soda
6. Aperol Spritz – aperol, sparkling wine
7. Aviation – gin, lemon, maraschino, creme de violette
8. Bijou – gin, italian vermouth, green chartreuse, orange bitters
9. Blackthorn – irish whiskey, french vermouth, absinthe, angostura bitters
10. Blinker – rye, grapefruit, raspberry syrup
11. Blood & Sand – scotch, orange juice, italian vermouth, cherry heering
12. Bramble – gin, lemon, creme de mure
13. Brandy Crusta – cognac, cointreau, lemon, maraschino, peychaud’s bitters
14. Caipirinha – cachaca, sugar, lime
15. Champagne Cocktail – brut, sugar, angostura bitters
16. Champs Elysees – cognac, lemon, sugar, yellow chartreuse, angostura bitters
17. Chrysanthemum – french vermouth, absinthe, benedictine
18. Cocktail a la Louisiane – rye, benedictine, italian vermouth, absinthe, peychaud’s bitters
19. Coffee Cocktail – cognac, ruby port, egg
20. Collins – spirit, lemon, sugar, soda
21. Corn ‘N Oil – blackstrap rum, falernum, angostura bitters
22. Corpse Reviver #2 – gin, lemon, cointreau, lillet blanc, absinthe
23. Cuba Libre – rum, coca cola, lime
24. Daiquiri – rum, lime, sugar
25. Daisy – bourbon, yellow chartreuse, lemon, lime
26. the Darb – gin, french vermouth, lemon, apricot brandy
27. Death in the Afternoon – champagne, absinthe
28. Dulchin – pisco, apricot brandy, curacao, lime, grenadine
29. East India Cocktail – cognac, curacao, pineapple gomme, maraschino, angostura bitters
30. El Diablo – tequila, creme de cassis, lime, ginger beer
31. Fernet-Branca – it’s a shot of fernet-branca
32. Fourth Degree – gin, french & italian vermouth, absinthe
33. French 75 – gin, lemon, sugar, brut champagne
34. Gimlet – gin, lime, turbinado
35. Gin & Tonic – gin, tonic water, lime
36. Gin Gin Mule – gin, lime, ginger beer, mint
37. Gin Rickey – gin, lime, soda
38. Hemingway Daiquiri – rum, lime, grapefruit, maraschino
39. Hot Buttered Rum – rum, butter, sugar, water
40. Improved Cocktail – spirit, maraschino, peychaud’s & angostura bitters
41. Jack Rose – applejack, lemon, grenadine
42. Japanese – brandy, orgeat, angostura bitters
43. Jasmine – gin, cointreau, campari, lemon
44. Knickerbocker – rum, raspberry syrup, curacao, lime
45. Last Word – gin, lime, green chartreuse, maraschino
46. Mai Tai – rum, curacao, lime, orgeat
47. Maiden’s Prayer – gin, cointreau, orange, lemon
48. Manhattan – rye, italian vermouth, angostura
49. Maple Leaf – bourbon, lemon, maple syrup
50. Margarita – tequila, lime, cointreau
51. Martinez – italian vermouth, gin, maraschino, orange bitters
52. Martini – gin, french vermouth, orange bitters
53. Metropole – cognac, french vermouth, peychaud’s & angostura bitters
54. Milk Punch – spirit, sugar, milk
55. Mint Julep – bourbon, mint, sugar
56. Mojito – rum, lime, mint, turbinado, soda
57. Monkey Gland – gin, orange, grenadine, absinthe
58. Monte Carlo – rye, benedictine, angostura bitters
59. Morning Glory – scotch, lemon, egg white, absinthe
60. Navy Grog – rum, honey, lime
61. Negroni – gin, campari, italian vermouth
62. Old Fashioned – spirit, sugar, angostura bitters
63. Old Pal – rye, campari, french vermouth
64. Opera – gin, dubonnet, maraschino
65. Oriental – rye, italian vermouth, curacao, lime
66. Paradise – gin, apricot brady, orange, lemon
67. Pegu Club – gin, curacao, lime, angostura & orange bitters
68. Pimm’s Cup – pimm’s no. 1, gin, lemon, soda, cucumber
69. Pink Gin – gin, angostura bitters
70. Pink Lady – gin, applejack, lemon, grenadine, egg white
71. Pisco Punch – pisco, pineapple gomme, lemon
72. Pisco Sour – piso, lemon, egg white
73. Port Flip – ruby port, sugar, whole egg
74. Punch – jerry thomas’ special punch recipe
75. Ramos Gin Fizz – gin, cream, lemon, lime, egg white, soda, orange flower water
76. Red Hook – rye, punt e mes, maraschino, angostura & orange bitters
77. Rum Swizzle – rum, lime, falernum
78. Rusty Nail – scotch, drambuie
79. Satan’s Whiskers – gin, french vermouth, italian vermouth, curacao, orange, orange bitters
80. Sazerac – rye, absinthe, peychaud’s bitters
81. Scofflaw – rye, french vermouth, lemon, grenadine, orange bitters
82. Seelbach – bourbon, cointreau, champagne, bitters
83. Sherry Cobbler – sherry, sugar, fruit, soda
84. Sidecar – cognac, cointreau, lemon
85. Silver Fizz – spirit, lemon, sugar, egg white, soda
86. Singapore Sling – gin, cherry heering, lime, pineapple, cointreau, benedictine, grenadine, angostura bitters
87. Smash – spirits, sugar, water, mint
88. Stinger – cognac, creme de menthe
89. Suffering Bastard – bourbon, gin, lemon, ginger beer, angostura bitters
90. Tailspin – gin, italian vermouth, green chartreause, campari
91. ‘Ti Punch – rhum agricole, lime, sugar
92. Toddy – spirit, sugar, hot water
93. Tom & Jerry – rum, brandy, egg, nutmeg
94. Twentieth Century Cocktail – gin, lemon, creme de cacao, lillet blanc
95. Vesper – gin, vodka, lillet
96. Vieux Carre – cognac, rye, italian vermouth, benedictine, angostura & peychaud’s bitters
97. Whiskey Skin – scotch, lemon, hot water
98. White Lady – gin, cointreau, lemon
99. Widow’s Kiss – calvados, benedictine, yellow chartreause, angostura bitters
100. Zombie – jamaican rum, lime, lemon, pineapple, passion fruit syrup, brown sugar, angostura bitters

The hottest foodie craze to hit our little Houston foodie community is probably the Pho Binh trailer at I-45 south and Beltway 8.  Though it’s a good 30-40 minute drive from our house, we’ve made the trip down there for breakfast pho at least three times now.  Ok, you say, that’s nothing compared to the pho-natics who go every week, natch every day.  But may I remind you that I live with a (my mom calls him in a hushed voice, “very American”) stalwart who I have a difficult time dragging even to Houston chinatown?  And that’s at a reasonable hour for dinner.  For pho, I’m talking about a 40 minute drive for a foreign soup when we’re both hungover and cranky at 9 AM on a weekend.  When we’d both rather be sleeping in.  This stuff is good.

image courtesy of gary wise

My mom used to get pho all the time when I was growing up and I never understood the appeal.  Perhaps it was nostalgia, or maturing tastebuds, but as I got older I developed more of a taste for it.  Pho is a Vietnamese noodle soup based on a richly simmered broth, to which various meats and condiments are added.  Meats can include rare beef, brisket, fatty and lean flank, chicken, meatballs, tripe, tendon, and so forth.  The diner usually adds veggies to the hot broth to taste, which are softened and cooked in the broth.  These include mint, cilantro, basil, peppers, bean sprouts, and lime.  Of course, you can’t forget the siracha and oyster sauce that are also used to flavor the broth.

image courtesy of gary wise

Pho Binh does things a little differently, and until I went back to my usual pho places I didn’t fully appreciate the difference.  For starters, the broth is more flavorful, less salty.  Don’t get me wrong – there’s still a healthy dose of salt in the broth, but there’s also a developed flavor that comes from long simmering.  The noodles have been pre-rinsed so they don’t clump, something which I never appreciated until I had unclumpy noodles.  Now I can’t go back – all other noodles seem gummy and gross by comparison!  Finally, the quality of the meat here is stellar.  I can’t get enough of the meaty, toothsome brisket.  The only flaw might be that the rare beef cooks too quickly in the hot broth, but I’ve seen people solve that by ordering the beef on the side and adding it to the broth when it’s slightly cooled.  These too meats are so good I’ve yet to try the other offerings on the menu but I’ve heard nothing but praise for the rest.  What it all adds up to is a hangover cure even the most American of us will drive a long way for…

Below is a little video of Pho Binh I, done by Jay Francis (@JaypFrancis).  It’s a cash only, high turnover operation, as you can tell by the hustle and bustle in the kitchen.  And yes, it is located in a trailer.  Result? Pure awesomeness.

Pastry chef Plinio Sandalio has been called a mad scientist by Gourmet magazine for his forays into so-called molecular gastronomy.  All I know is that his pure, unadulterated pleasure in making joyful food results in desserts that will make you laugh out loud.  Here are photos of the last dessert tasting I had the pleasure of partaking under his care:

amuse-bouche: french fries and frosty

Plinio says: “why dip a french fry in a frosty? it sounded really absurd until the day I accidentally tried it.”  He’s captured the perfect french fry here with his awesome crispy potato cone.

savory

“corndog”

I think everyone is skeptical of this dessert when they hear of it for the first time. Corncake, yellow mustard ice cream and sweet hot dog ketchup?  What, not even fancy mustard?

Luckily, pretty much everyone is won over.  Hell, I don’t even like mustard and this dessert left me in fits of uncontrollable giggles.

funnel cake, spam ice cream

Plinio’s funnel cake is a delicately layered tangle of funnel fritters, light and airy compared to standard carnival fare.  The best part of this dessert was the lovely fresh pineapple and maple syrup compote.  I wanted to lick the plate.

chocolate & cherry float

Just like it sounds. Oh, but with pepper on top.  This wasn’t savory, exactly, just sort of thrown in before the cheese course.

cheese

taleggio pop tarts, apricot jam

The cheese in the center of these pop tarts was wonderfully pungent and melty, and oozed everywhere in a delightful manner when we cut into them.  I want this for breakfast.

sweet

tres leches

I requested the tres leches, having heard Plinio was legendary for it, and was not disappointed.  Tender, moist cake and dollops of bruleed fluff danced with playful white chocolate balls filled with milk.  The milk chocolate balls exploded in your mouth.  The mint was a perfect touch, as well.

milk chocolate ball from tres leches

I probably took this photo as a delay tactic, honestly, as I was getting really full by now.  But these were freaking awesome.

roasted peaches, buttermilk ice cream

The flavors in this dessert were incredible, alive, fruity, rich, like a bright painting.  The peaches were roasted in riesling and the ice cream tasted like straight up butter.

bittersweet chocolate “torchon,” liquid cherries

Can you tell the light is going down a little?  This dessert never fails to come at the worst time.  It’s one of the biggest, and it comes at the end when you’re almost full.  I think it’s a test of stamina to see if you can eat half of it.  The torchon is filled with liquid cherry, which spills out when you split it in half.  It’s beautiful, delicious… and very rich.

mignardises

almond cakes, alfajores, shortbread, hazelnut tart

I looked up mignardises and wikipedia says they are bite sized desserts that follow a meal at high end restaurants.  Oy I guess at this point I feel that I’ve certainly had a meal.  These are absolutely irresistable, though.  Plinio makes the most delightful shortbread, and the hazelnut tart is so delicious.  And they’re so tiny!

It’s hard to go to a restaurant that’s been hyped up repeatedly as the best of anything, let alone fried chicken.

Fried chicken, that glorious, heavenly, lip smacking king of all things deliciously breaded and fried.  The holy grail of juicy, crunchy, and seasoned without being salty.  A crust you want to peel off and eat without gobs of fat lurking beneath.  Succulent meat that doesn’t get left behind due to dryness and lack of flavor.  In a recent fried chicken throwdown, our local celebrity chefs used every trick in the book to get the perfect combination of crispy and juicy: panko crumbs, injection, sous vide, brining, captain crunch, and so forth.

Their creations were innovative and delicious.  But sometimes, you just want a simple fried chicken.  And that is what BBQ Inn delivers.

The chicken comes out heaped on a platter so high it’s hard to believe you’re supposed to eat it all.  It’s hot and quietly sizzles, straight from the fryer.  Within moments of getting it, our table had settled into a contented silence punctuated only by lip smacking and slightly muted groans of pleasure.  The outside was perfectly crispy and seasoned, the flesh (even white meat pieces) juicy and tender.

Though the fries are mediocre, the chicken is well worth the 20 minute wait of the fry.  Next time I’ll substitute a side.  I’ve heard their other fried things (chicken fried steak? fried shrimp?) are also excellent but I couldn’t imagine going and not having the chicken.  I’m getting hungry just thinking about it…

My expat Dallas friend, Joni (@jabuck1979, website here), paid me a long awaited visit last weekend.  I miss having her in Houston so much, and took the opportunity to take her to all my favorite haunts (as well as discover a few new ones).  One of the things she lamented was a complete lack of coffee shops near her house, even a Starbucks, so of course I had to take her to the coffee places near my neighborhood in the Heights.  And since David Buehrer (@greenwaybarista, blog here) isn’t open on weekends, we went to Catalina Coffee on Washington.

Joni got a mocha and I got a latte.  The cozy, dark cafe was the perfect setting in which to sit and slowly savor our beautiful, smooth and soothing beverages.  As we sat and caught up I wished we could meet and chat every weekend, but if only once in a while, over these delicious coffees was the best way.

It’s a good day when you can have an early cocktail at Anvil Bar & Refuge.

I must really love this place.  It’s my third blog post on it.  But as you’ll see from my last one, I utterly failed to get a photo of their scrumptious shrimp po-boy last time.

Lankford’s shrimp po-boy is only served as a lunch special on Fridays and Saturdays (if they have it at all).  I would dare to call it the best shrimp po-boy in town except for the hue and cry I know that will cause, and for the fact that I certainly do not purport to be a po-boy connoisseur by any means.  Therefore I will content myself with a listing of its merits:

First, the roll.  It is fine.  It could be a Sysco roll for all I know.

The shrimp.  They are amazing.  Plump, juicy, crunchy, large, deliciously fried and generously portioned.

The sauce.  It is dressed with both a tangy, creamy, slightly spicy mayo on the bun and a vinagrette drizzled over the whole mess.

The toppings.  Chopped onions, tomatoes, and lettuce.

Really, it’s the shrimp and the sauce that make the whole thing.  They’re fantastic.

I am hunting a photo of the shrimp & oyster po-boy from Beaver’s as well.  That sandwich is easily twice the size of this, huge hunks of golden fried crustaceans balanced on half a delicious buttered roll.  My only beef with the Beaver’s po-boy is that it is literally impossible to eat.  But well worth the attempt!