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NYE 2012 Events and Recipes

MEALS

31 (BISTRO 31, Highland Park Village)
Perks: Enjoy appetizers, cocktails and champagne before your dinner (6-9pm), fixed priced menu
Price: After 10p.m. $25, bottle packages include admission, bottle service, and a table reservation)
Reservations: (214)420-3906 or [email protected]

ASADOR (The Renaissance Dallas Hotel)
Price: tapas starting at $5
Reservations: (214)267-4815

BOLSA (Oak Cliff)
Time: Reservations 5-10pm
Price: A la carte menu prices on special menu
Reservations: (214)367-9367 or [email protected]

BOULEVARDIER (Bishop Arts District)
Price: a la carte pricing on special NYE menu
Reservations: (214)942-1828 or [email protected]

CAFE DES ARTISTS (One Arts Plaza)
Perks: Live music by Kent and Kay starting at 9pm, champagne toast, party favors
Price: NYE menu available starting at 9pm, $20 entrance after 9pm
Reservations: (214) 217-6888

CAFE PACIFIC (Highland Park Village)
Price: $95 4-course prix fixe menu
Reservations: (214)526-1170

California Pizza Kitchen
1/2 off select bottles of wine (11 a.m.- 9 p.m.)

CENTRAL 214 (Hotel Palomar, Midtown)
Perks: glass of prosecco
Time: Reservations 5-11pm
Price: $70 prix fixe menu (+ tax and gratuity)
Reservations: (214)443-9339

CHEF DAT’S NYE UNDERGROUND DINNER (Deep Ellum)
Perks: Moscow Mules upon arrival, champagne toast, music by DJ EZ Eddie D, professional photography, BYOB
Time: doors at 7pm, dinner at 8pm
Place: Deep Ellum (exact address to be released to attendees)
Price: $113/person + gratuity
Reservations: [email protected]

COOK HALL (W Dallas Victory, Victory Park)
Perks: Live jazz starting at 8pm
Price: regular menu items offered, bloody Mary kits ($15 small, $30 large + cost of liquor), $12 mimosas
Reservations: (214)397-4111 or wdallasvictory.com/cook-hall-dallas

DRAGONFLY (Hotel Zaza, Uptown)
Perks: admission to NYE celebration
Price: 5:30-6:45pm 3-course prix fixe meal, $75; 7-11pm 4-course prix fixe meal, $150Reservations: (214)550-9500

THE GRAPE
Perks: last seating will have a champagne toast and party favors
Price: Prix Fixe 3-course menu for $65, wine pairings +$20 (+tax and gratuity)
Time: dinner reservations starting at 5pm
Reservations: (214)828-1981

SAINT ANN RESTAURANT AND BAR
Price: $45 3-course price fixe menu (5-6pm seatings); $65 3-course prix fixe menu, includes glass of champagne (seatings after 6pm)
Reservations: 214-782-9807

EVENTS

BIG D NYE
Place: Victory Park
Time: 7pm
Price: FREE, VIP tickets available here
Perks: concerts by five bands, fireworks at midnight, food trucks

CENTRAL TRACK PARTY (Club Dada, Deep Ellum)
Time: 8pm
Price: $18 advance, $25 day of show — purchase tickets here: http://ticketf.ly/OlXiCF
Perks: Music by: BIG FREEDIA, Brain Gang Blue (feat. Brain Gang), Ynfynyt Scroll, Yeahdef, and Ocelot

LIBRARY BAR
Place: Warwick Melrose
Price: $20
Perks: midnight champagne toast, party favors, live music starting at 8pm
Reservations: (214)224-3152

Jonathan Tyler & the Northern Lights with Somebody’s Darling (Granada Theater)
Price: $24 (GA), $80 (VIP)

Cocktails Recipes

El Diablo
– 1 can (12 oz) frozen limeade concentrate
– 1 1/2 can (18 oz) tequila blanco
– 2/3 can (8 oz) creme de cassis
– 1/2 can (6 oz) water (still, not soda or tonic water)
– 1 1/2 can (18 oz) ginger beer

Mix the limeade, tequila, cassis, and water together in a large pitcher. Immediately before serving, add the ginger beer. Serve over ice. Feeling fancy? Garnish with blackberries. (Makes 12 cocktails)

Sparkling Lemon Lime Margarita
– 3 oz Lemon Lime Sparkling ICE
– 1 ½ oz Tequila
– Splash of fresh squeezed orange
– Fresh squeezed lime

Shake and pour into a chilled rocks glass rimmed in salt. Garnish with a lime slice. Total Calories: 100

Classic Champagne Cocktail
1 sugar cube
4 to 6 dashes
Angostura or other aromatic bitters
Chilled Champagne
Garnish: lemon twist

Place the sugar cube on the bottom of a Champagne flute or coupe glass. Douse the sugar cube with the bitters and fill the glass with Champagne. Garnish with the lemon twist.

Blackberry Apple HINT Martini
– 1.5 oz Green Apple Vodka
– 3 oz Sparkling Apple Cider
– 2 oz HINT Blackberry Water

In a cocktail shaker, combine green apple vodka, sparkling apple cider, Blackberry HINT, and ice; shake until well combined. Strain into chilled glass. Garnish with an apple wedge; serve immediately. Total Calories: 145 calories

The Gold Rush
– 3 tablespoons honey
– 2 tablespoons boiling water
– 1/2 cup (4 ounces) bourbon
– 1 1/2 lemons, juiced, about 4 tablespoons

Pour honey into a small jar or mixing bowl. Pour in the boiling water and whisk vigorously until they form a thin syrup. Whisk in the bourbon and lemon juice. Mixture can be refrigerated until ready to serve.

To serve, shake vigorously with ice in a cocktail shaker. Strain over a big ice cube in a rocks glass. (Makes 2 drinks)

Strawberry-Kiwi HINT Mojito
– 1.5 oz Rum
– 2 oz Club Soda
– 3 oz Strawberry-Kiwi HINT Water
– 10 mint leaves
– 1 lime

In a cool tall glass, gently crush mint leaves and add lime juice from one lime. Fill glass with ice. Add rum, club soda, and Strawberry-Kiwi HINT water. Stir well. Garnish with a lime wedge, a few sprigs of mint and enjoy! Total Calories: 103 calories

Sparkling Raspberry Vanilla Dreamsicle
– 1 ½ oz Vanilla Vodka
– 4 oz Black Raspberry Sparkling ICE

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled martini glass. Garnish with fresh berries. Total Calories: 115

Crown Maple and Bunnies of the Playboy Persuasion

This past Sunday, while I was busy spending the afternoon with my (lovely) grandmother who was visiting from PA, people with less responsibility were seen at Sfuzzi … with free Crown Royal Maple flowing .. and a Playboy Bunny. Jealous? More so about the CR Maple, but yes, I was jealous.

Apparently they all had a blast, and the drink below was the hit. I’d like to say I got to try the CR Maple that was (so kindly) sent to me, but cousin decided that it should be his … I only got a taste … but that’s all I needed. I may or may not be planning to buy a handle of it this evening.

MANITOBA
1 1/2 oz Crown Royal Maple Whisky
3/4 oz Lemon Juice
1/2 oz Simple Syrup
top with Ginger Beer

Shake ingredients and strain into a highball glass. Garnish with a lemon wedge.

Holiday Drink Recipes

Peppermint HINT Martini
2 ounces HINT Peppermint water
1.5 ounces vodka
1 ounce 100% cranberry juice
Approximately, 1 ounce seltzer water
Ice cubes
1 lime

Fresh fruit In a cocktail shaker, combine vodka, Peppermint HINT, cranberry juice, and ice; shake until well combined. Strain into chilled glass and top with seltzer water. Squeeze lime into mixture and use as a garnish, along with some fresh fruits!

Total Calories: 122

Peppermint HINT Blueberry Blitzer Mocktail
3 ounces Peppermint HINT
2 ounces 100% cranberry juice
1 ounce seltzer water
Ice cubes
Approximately ¼ cup blueberries
1 mint leaf

Muddle blueberries and add to a chilled glass. In a cocktail shaker, combine Peppermint HINT, cranberry juice, seltzer water and ice; shake until well combined. Strain into chilled glass; serve immediately. Garnish with a mint leaf.

Total Calories: 46

Basil Hayden’s® Holiday Spice (Joaquín Simó)
2 parts Basil Hayden’s® Bourbon
3/4 parts Fresh Lemon Juice
1/2 part Maple Syrup
1/4 part Amaretto
3 dashes Angostura® bitters

Combine Basil Hayden¹s®, lemon juice, maple syrup, Amaretto and bitters in a mixing tin with ice and shake vigorously. Strain into a rocks glass over fresh ice. Grate a cinnamon stick over the top as garnish

Cali Wonderland
1 1/2 oz Caliche Rum
3/4 oz Lemon Juice
1 tsp Granulated Sugar
1 bar Spoon Maraschino Liqueur
1 dash Aromatic Bitters
1 Lemon slice for garnish
Additional lemon juice and granulated sugar for garnish

Rub the rim of a festive old-fashioned glass with lemon juice and then dip it into the sugar and set aside to dry. Stir all ingredients over ice in a mixing glass and strain into the crusted glass. Garnish with the lemon slice.

Cali Kiss
1 1/2 oz Caliche Rum
3/4 oz St Germaine elderflower liqueur
1/2 Lemon cut into quarters
1 oz chilled Prosecco (or any dry sparkling wine)

In a mixing glass muddle the lemon, Caliche and elderflower liqueur, fill with ice and shake until chilled. Strain into an ice-filled flute and top with sparkling wine.

Recipes from Bow & Truss restaurant in North Hollywood:

Un bon cocktail est un cocktail qui se boit sans soif!

A great cocktail is a cocktail one drinks without thirst! – Chef Philippe Schmit

December 5th marks the 79th anniversary since the Repeal of the Volstead Act which ended Prohibition. The Standard Pour will be hosting a party with classic libations, champagne fountain, music from the era, and more. Festivities begin around 9pm.

Dave & Busters Opens in Dallas

The new Dave and Busters opens to the public on Sunday, December 2!

Get into the VIP party on Saturday night by RSVPing to [email protected] to get on the list (space is limited).

An alcoholic has been lightly defined as a man who drinks more than his own doctor.

Alvan L. Barach

There’s a new kid in town. Well, not so much a new kid as a clone of a kid that goes to school across town. The owner of Pour House in Fort Worth, Eric Tschetter, brought his sports bar concept to Oak Cliff for the cliff dwellers and Kessler Theater goers. It’s the perfect place for you southies to hang out and watch a game on one of the many TVs while snacking and … well, drinking.

PhD is deceptively large with a patio, bar, and restaurant area. The patio has a lot of promise. It’s: a) huge, b) decked out with TVs, and c) going to be screened in. I can already imagine all of the great summer brunches I’ll be spending there with $1 mimosas in-hand.

The food (which we got to try a nice sampling of tonight), was great for bar food. I’d recommend the Red Pepper Penne Pasta, Baja Fish Tacos (oh muh guh), and the buffalo wings. Everything we had tasted like real food, not frozen fried things like most sports bars serve.

PhD’s drink options include local beers (think Deep Ellum Brewing Company, Rahr, and the brand new 4 Corners), the usual suspects (Bud, Blue Moon, etc.), a handful of wine options, and a full bar. I enjoyed a couple Jacks on the rocks and the pours were quite generous. Their cocktail menu hasn’t been finished yet, so stay tuned to hear about drink options.

Expect an update when their cocktail menu gets sussed out … but for now, head on down to Oak Cliff to catch a game if you’re tired of the crowded Uptown sports bars (because sometimes it’s nice to be able to order a beer and actually get it when you want it and not 20 minutes later).