Raising the bar

High-profile bartenders and their fancy cocktails step in to the culinary spotlight

 

Get in the mix

Depending on how well-stocked your liquor cabinet is, you can whip up Katie Loeb’s winning drink, “Dr. Hadley’s Root Restorative,” at home. Don’t have any Aztec chocolate bitters on hand? Pay her a visit at Oyster House — or just throw a couple shots of Root into some ginger ale.
• .5 oz. Demerara simple syrup

•  6 large mint leaves

• 1.25 oz. Lairds Bonded (100 proof) Applejack

• 1.0 oz. Root Liqueur

•  .5 oz. Benedictine

•  .5 oz. fresh lime juice

•  2 dashes Fee Brothers’ Aztec Chocolate bitters

•  2 dashes Angostura bitters
 
Muddle mint in simple syrup. Add ice and other ingredients. Shake vigorously and strain into a cocktail glass. Top with a spanked mint sprig.

 

Bartenders seem poised for some of the stardom chefs now bask in. To a growing number of Philadelphia cocktail crazies, single names like Anders, Christian and Katie are as identifiable as Jose, Georges and Morimoto.

Last week’s Root Cocktail Contest at Silk City (435 Spring Garden St.) hosted 14 bartenders concocting the best drink they could make with the liqueur. The standing-room-only crowd spoke to the interest in the drinks and the personalities.

Among the bartenders competing was Christian Gaal, whose wax mustache instantly made him recognizable when he came on the scene along with Apothecary, now APO Bar + Lounge (102 S. 13th St.).

Katie Loeb — who was crowned the contest’s winner — left Chick’s Cafe & Wine Bar (614 S. Seventh St.) to open the refurbished Oyster House (1516 Sansom St.). Not wanting to lose any luster after her departure, Chick’s hosted a dinner to introduce Loeb’s handpicked successor — yes, a dinner to introduce a bartender.

Even a bar like the 700 Club (700 N. Second St.)  — known more for its pulsing dance floor — has gotten in the act. Barkeep Anders Larson is doing a twice-monthly event complete with a flyer of drinks that looks more akin to a DJ night.

It’s clear — the bartender and his or her drinks have become stars.