Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Opening Friday, Booker & Dax, where you can find a red hot poker in your drink

Diner's Journal has more information on what is taking over the former Milk Bar space attached to Momofuku Ssäm Bar on 13th Street at Second Avenue.

The place is called Booker & Dax, a collaboration between Momofuku's David Chang and David Arnold, the director of culinary technology at the French Culinary Institute. (The bar is named after Arnold's two sons.)

Here's a passage from the piece:

You may, however, want to put on a lab coat, and perhaps some goggles, when the bartender sticks a device called a Red Hot Poker, heated up to 1,500 degrees, into a mixing glass of Pernod, lime juice, sugar and water. This results in a libation called the French Colombian. “The burning takes the ingredients to a new place,” Mr. Arnold said. The poker, which he custom-made, is modeled after the hot irons early American innkeepers would stick into customers’ cups to heat up their drinks.

The place opens Friday. And, according to Diner's Journal, "the debut menu will feature 16 cocktails, each at $14."

10 comments:

  1. This is the stuff of parody, so patently, unapologetically douchetastic that you can't even make fun of it. Good luck with that 1500 degree hot poker guys.

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  2. Who names their sons Dax and Booker? And then names a BAR after them? I guess the same guy who gets a drink heating poker custom made.

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  3. What's the over-under on how long till somebody gets burned?

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  4. @Anonymous 2:33 PM: The first person to get burned will be the first customer that orders one of their 14 dollar drinks.

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  5. "The poker, which he custom-made..."

    Is this considered an artisanal poker?

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  6. Nice to make comments when you don't know what you are talking about guys. Heating liquids with a hot poker is as old as the hills, this is just a new way to do it. Prior to the civil war, the only way a barkeep could heat drinks was with a hot poker. The high heat creates flavors that can't be duplicated on a stovetop or with hot water. We all have deep fryers in our kitchens that are far more dangerous and used far more nonchalantly than the poker.

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  7. Marty - damn you're good.

    Anon @ 11:53 - damn you've made some absurd statements.
    "Heating liquids with a hot poker is as old as the hills, this is just a new way to do it" - if it's something old, what's new about it?
    "Prior to the civil war, the only way a barkeep could heat drinks was with a hot poker." - what?????
    "We all have deep fryers in our kitchens" - and Jacuzzis in our bathrooms.

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  8. These comments aren't really fair. Dave Arnold is a longtime Lower East Sider, and if you listen to his podcast or read his blog (both called Cooking Issues) you'll find that his thing is trying to de-exotify new food and drink techniques to make them more accessible to normal people. The point is to use science to make things taste better. $14 for a cocktail is obviously not something that everyone can have all the time, but I'm sure the place is not about gimmicky bullshit to get attention. There's a lot of time and skill invested in the drinks, and better spending $14 for that than for a vodka tonic in a plastic cup at some place that exists to prove how cool you are.

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  9. Sad. When it said "Milk bar space attached to Momofuku", the first thing I thought was, "What the hell are they talking about the Milk bar space was nowhere near Momofuku... it was on Avenue A"...


    ...

    ...ohhhhh.....

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