Guess Who Came To Dinner?

That's right. John Waters came in to Range last night.

Famous for being infamous, Mr. Waters has equally delighted and horrified the world with trash films and kitsch for decades now, but it turns out that he's a really personable, friendly guy in person. Range server, Max, is a big enough fan that he knew the fact that Mr. Waters is the proud owner of the world's largest collection of plastic food. That's funny enough that I don't even care to fact-check.

Oh, and he drinks Ketel One Martinis, up with olives.

Vin D'orange

Anyone who knows me knows I love Lillet. It's a delicious aperitif on it's own (on the rocks with a slice of orange), and it is a versatile ingredient in cocktails. You might remember it in such drinks as:

The Third Rail

• 1.5 oz Bulleit Bourbon
• 0.75 oz Lillet Blanc
• 0.5 oz honey
• 0.5 oz lemon juice
• 5 dashes Fee's Brothers orange bitters
• small chunk of orange
• Shake, fine strain, serve up. Garnish with a lemon twist.

Lillet is essentially a commercially made Vin D'orange, which is an aperitif made by fortifying white wine with some sort of spirit, and infusing it with orange, vanilla, and other botanicals. Making this and other aperitifs is common throughout France, and each region has it's own specialty. It's a tradition that I want to push here, too, so I have started my own batch of Vin D'orange, using a simple recipe I found in a book called Aperitif, by Georgeanne Brennan. I altered it slightly due to container constraints, and because I can't help but mess with recipes (see Ramos Gin Fizz: Parts 1-4 below). Here's the actual recipe:

6 2/3 bottles French-style rose or white wine
1/2 quart vodka
2 cups granulated sugar
2 vanilla beans
1 lemon, cut into several pieces
peels from 6 Seville or other bitter oranges

Combine the ingredients in a glass jar. Cover and store in a cool, dark place for one month, stirring each day for a week, or until the sugar has dissolved. At the end of the month, using a fine-mesh sieve lined with several layers of cheesecloth, strain the wine into another container. The wine is ready to serve in two months.

At the beginning of September I plan to take half of my Vin D'orange, and begin aging it in a small oak barrel I have at home. After a month or two I will combine the oaked wine with the non-oaked wine and it will be ready to drink. Even after just a week it's pretty tasty, so let's cross our fingers that it'll only get better.

Ramos Gin Fizz: Part 4

This weekend I continued indulging my Ramos obsession, and I decided to do something crazy: I followed the actual recipe to a tee. The results were so good that I'm afraid that I'll be making them for my girlfriend and myself every weekend, and will certainly get "Ramos Elbow". She insists that she won't put me through the shake-o-rama too often, but I can tell that we both enjoyed them way too much for this to be the end of it. The powdered sugar helped with the frothiness, the heavy cream somehow became light, and the orange-citrus-vanilla balance was complex and refreshing.

Lessons learned:

1. I suggest using club soda rather than mineral water. The sodium in most mineral water can make your fizz have an slight Alka-Seltzer aftertaste which competes with the more delicate citrus-orange flower combo.
2. I also cannot overemphasize the importance of going light on both the vanilla and the orange flower water (see Ramos Gin Fizz: Part 3 below).
3. Use tall glasses so you can have room for plenty of soda water.

Once again, I encourage you to check out the Fizz, as made by legendary New Orleans bartender, Chris McMillian.

Comments?

We have had enough people ask us to enable the "comments" feature that we decided to go for it. Comment to your heart's content, but remember what your mom always said: "If you can't say something nice, don't complain anonymously on someone else's blog" ... or something to that effect. Oh, and we also enabled a feature that allows you to easily email a link to this blog to your friends. It's the little white envelope icon just below each post. Spread the word!

Ramos Gin Fizz: Part 3

This weekend I had a few people over to my place for brunch. They were all excited about my Ramos Gin-thusiasm, so I broke out my gear, cut up some citrus, and got my shake on. Since my last attempt (see post below) I had purchased some orange flower water, and I decided to substitute half & half for the heavy cream. I shook that thing for five minutes after a two minute dry-shake, and the results were visually impressive. The contents expanded by about 75%, and were practically bursting from the shaker... my guests were on the edge of their seats. Sadly, that's where the improvements over my last fizz ended. These cocktails were a little gritty, and that impressive froth died down after a minute or two. The taste? Let's just say, we were not impressed.

This is what I concluded:

1. Half & half is no good. It just doesn't have high enough fat content to remain properly whipped up, nor does it seem to fully emulsify.
2. Orange flower water is potent stuff. Use sparingly! A few too many drops of this stuff and you're drinking grandma's perfume.

One of my guests also mentioned that using powdered sugar (as listed in the original recipe) would help improve the frothiness, so I think I'll try that next time. I suppose I shouldn't be too surprised that I haven't achieved the perfect fizz, considering I have consistently altered the recipe with each attempt. Silly me.

Oh well. Back to the cutting board.

Sungold Zinger

It's back, kids! That savory-sweet glass of perfection that you know and love. This drink has to be one of the most requested drinks we've ever had on the list, and we all have Carlos Yturria to thank. Carlos was our original bar manager, and is responsible for finding our beloved Blood Bank fridge. Here's what's in the Zinger:

Sungold Zinger cherry tomatoes

No. 209 gin

lemon

agave

salt

You could try it at home, but why not let us do the measuring for you?

Vandals thwarted!

Saturday night was Range's fourth year anniversary, and we celebrated with champagne, margaritas, and peanut butter chocolate ice cream cake. Many of our much beloved regulars were there to whoop it up until late into the evening, and we all patted ourselves on our collective backs for once again offering up some of the finest food, beverages and good cheer in the city. Four years is a significant milestone in this fiercely competitive San Francisco restaurant scene, and we want to thank every person who has come through our doors.

So things were winding down and we were finishing the clean-up, when Patrick noticed the silhouettes of some naughty late night ne'er-do-wells messing with our Google statue (see post below). Without hesitation, the entire staff got up, rushed out the door and confronted these guys, who nervously mumbled some sort of excuse about "checking to see how heavy it was".

Silly vandals... you shouldn't mess with the Rangers.