Comet Cocktails - GEORGE BISHOP

Comet Cocktail No. 7 at Oxalis in the Bywater

January 12, 2023June 30, 2014

If you’re like me, you’ve probably been hankering for a good comet cocktail lately. The last one we had was, what, five months ago, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Feeling that it was high time for another high time, the indefatigable Nicola Wolf and I set out last night to visit Oxalis Restaurant and Bar, in the Bywater neighborhood of New Orleans.

Here’s a picture of the place:

Nicola pointed out that before it opened as Oxalis half a year ago, the location was used as the restaurant setting in the HBO show Treme. Now it’s a real restaurant, with real good food.

(Oxalis, Nicola also told me, is a plant that grows like crazy in New Orleans. Also known as wood sorrel, it was used by the Algonquin Indians as an aphrodisiac. See how much you can learn by drinking?)

I cornered the bartender and showed her a postcard image of my famous novel, THE NIGHT OF THE COMET:

“See here,” I said, following my usual routine. “Can you make a drink like this?”

“Let me think about it for a minute,” said the bartender, whose name was Jesi.

She turned around and peered at the wall of bottles, a finger on her lips. Then, inspired, she nabbed a barback and told him to go get some blueberries, quick.

Here she is at work:

She’s a little blurry because she moves so fast.

Jesi Goodwin, by the way, is a local gal who comes to New Orleans from Madisonville, near Mandeville. She’s been tending bar at Oxalis since it opened.

When she’s not working, she enjoys table tennis, roller skating, and bridge.

Her favorite music is classic rock of the 70s, and her favorite actor is Edward G. Robinson. Ah! Thank god, the drink’s ready:

It was an excellent comet cocktail. And look at the color! On top of a mash of fresh blueberries, she poured Corsair Triple Smoke Whiskey, lemon juice, chocolate mole bitters, and egg white. It’s a variation of “your basic blueberry scotch sour,” Jesi explained. Who even knew there was such a thing?

She said to be sure to take a picture of the whiskey, because that was the key to the whole drink.

When we finished that, she gave us, as a present, two frothy shots of nitrogen-infused Ramos Gin Fizz. Those were super good. If you never ate or drank anything else for the rest of your life but nitrogen-infused Ramos Gin Fizz, you’d be one very happy drunk.

And here, finally, is a picture of what the bar looks like when your face is on it:

Merci beaucoup, Jesi at Oxalis! See you again!

Comet Cocktail No. 6 at Bryant’s Cocktail Lounge, Milwaukee

January 12, 2023February 23, 2014

Comet Cocktail No. 6 comes from Milwaukee. My friends Laura Misco and Chris Screiber (who also happen to be husband and wife) took me out to Bryant’s Cocktail Lounge, named 2013’s Best Bar in America by Esquire magazine.

The bar was dim and ancient, as a good bar should be. Comet Cocktail No. 6, alas, was not one of the best. It involved, I think, Grand Marnier and Cointreau, and tasted a little like cough syrup. It’s the drink on the right in the photo:

The Pink Squirrel, on the other hand (the tall, frothy, pink one), made up for everything. I could drink a dozen of those. Cheers, Milwaukee! Cheers, Chris and Laura!

Laura (a fine writer) is always accompanied by that bright white light you see floating above her head. Very unusual.

Comet Cocktail No. 5 at Bouligny Tavern

January 12, 2023February 13, 2014

Denise at Bouligny Tavern, uptown on Magazine Street in New Orleans, whipped up the frothiest and tastiest comet cocktail yet. Here’s Denise and her drink:

It’s made with 1 oz. of Ron Zacapa dark rum, 1 oz. of ruby port, 1/2 oz. lemon juice, 1/2 oz. of simple syrup, 1 eqq white, and club soda. It tasted almost like a root beer float, only a very delicious one.

The froth represents the head of the comet, the lemon peel the tail, the white layer in the middle are clouds, and the dark ruby layer at the bottom is the New Orleans night sky.

Here’s what it looks like half gone:

Merci beaucoup, Denise!

One of the best things about Bouligny Tavern, by the way, besides the cool, dim, retro decor, is that the bartenders spin LPs on a stereo behind the bar. Tonight they played Paul Simon’s “Graceland,” Donovan’s “Greatest Hits,” and The Beatles “Rubber Soul.”

Comet Cocktail No. 4 at Maurepas Foods

January 12, 2023January 4, 2014

The intrepid Nicola Wolf and I set out again last night in search of Comet Cocktail No. 4. We found it at Maurepas Food, in the New Orleans Bywater neighborhood.

I proposed the cocktail challenge to bartenders Tony and Lauren, two very capable and friendly people.

“See this here picture,” said I and, following my usual routine, brandished a reproduction of the cover of my famous novel, THE NIGHT OF THE COMET. “Can you do something like that?”

Tony hesitated. He wanted to take the picture home and study it for a week.

“No, no, no,” I said. “We don’t have a week. You have to do this now.”

Tony conferred with Lauren. “We’ll do it!” they said.

First they warmed a brandy snifter with hot water. We ate cheese and waited. Then Tony did something secretive with Pisco, 151 Rum, and Blue Curacao. He held a lit match to the concoction:

Watch out! Fire!

Lauren grated cinnamon over the flames, a nifty bar trick that produced a sparkly golden meteor shower above the glass:

Here’s the finished drink. It was potent and delicious. Lifted me right up into space. I got lost on my way home.

Salut, Tony and Lauren at Maurepas!

Comet Cocktail No. 3 at Arnaud’s French 75

January 12, 2023December 24, 2013

Sorry to say I lost the napkin on which Nicola Wolf, record keeper, wrote the recipe for Comet Cocktail No. 3. But it was created by Vince of Arnaud’s French 75 Bar, and it contained gin, Campari, and, I think, creme de cassis. (This was actually his third version of the cocktail; Vince is such a perfectionist that he wouldn’t even let us taste the first two.)

Here, Vince seeks to recreate the Southern night sky in a glass. The lemon peel is the comet blazing through the sky. I can vouch that it tasted heavenly.

If you’ve never been to Arnaud’s French 75, by the way, too bad for you. Vince, the bartender has recently returned to New Orleans from San Francisco. He couldn’t stay away.