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An Old Fashioned Visit

Posted by Ti Adelaide Martin on November 22nd, 2008

Lu recently men­tioned din­ner with myself, my mother Ella Bren­nan, and Dale DeGroff.  It was a “spir­ited” meal…com­plete with singing in the main din­ing room of Commander’s Palace.  But with the robust per­son­al­i­ties at the table, that was to be expected.  Not to men­tion Lally car­ry­ing on at the table next to us.

Mom was shar­ing sto­ries with Dale about her old friend Trader Vic.  Dale con­vinced that Trader Vic was one of the great “cock­tail­ians” and Mom assur­ing Dale that he was also a great restau­ra­teur.  The cre­ator of the orig­i­nal “theme restau­rant,” Trader Vic was also a pilot who flew my Mom around the whole coast of Cal­i­for­nia on his air­line TWA (that’s Teeny Wee­nie Air­line.)  Now folks, this was 1950-something and no one we knew of had their own air­plane.  Of course, the fact that the plane was unpres­sur­ized and every­one was smok­ing and drink­ing explains a lot about my brother.  Actu­ally, he’s smart and charm­ing – so there!

The lagniappe of the evening for me was three peo­ple all mak­ing Old Fash­ioneds for my mother to blind taste.  I said “Mom, you have  extra­or­di­nary bar­tenders mak­ing Old Fash­ioneds for you – Gina Lee, a top CP bar­tender who often makes your cock­tails, as well as our super­star Lu and America’s best bar­tender Dale DeGroff.”  Her response, “Well, they have to learn some­time.”  I can’t wait to be 83 so I can say what­ever I want.

So guess who won?  Easy money – Dale.  So this is how Dale DeGroff makes the Old Fash­ioned that Ella Bren­nan loves:

Old Fash­ioned
1 Tea­spoon sugar
2 Dashes Angos­tura bit­ters
2 Orange slices
2 Maraschino cher­ries
Water or soda water
2 Ounces Bourbon

In the bot­tom of an Old Fash­ioned glass, care­fully mud­dle the sugar, Angos­tura, one orange slice, one cherry and a splash of water or soda.
Remove the orange rind and add the Bour­bon, ice, and water or soda.
Gar­nish with the remain­ing orange slice and cherry.

3 Comments on “An Old Fashioned Visit”

  1. Rachel said:

    November 27th, 2008 @ 1:39 am

    I love these sto­ries! Wish I was there.

  2. Shari said:

    December 2nd, 2008 @ 3:58 pm

    I am hav­ing an Oscar de La Hoya box­ing party this Sat. night to watch the fight. This is a good manly drink to serve! Thanks for the heads up! Or rather, chin down, hands up!

  3. Felix Tito Trinidad said:

    December 18th, 2009 @ 1:54 pm

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