Thursday, December 21, 2023

#196: Tiki 311

The Bar


Tiki 311. 311 E 6th St, Austin, TX 78701

Visited 12/21/2023 @ 6pm.

The Drink



Mai Tai. Appleton Estate Signature rum, Kuleana Huihui rum, Grand Marnier, almond orgeat, lime juice. $12.

Now this is a Mai Tai. Part of the drink's charm is that Trader Vic's didn't publish its recipe for several decades in an attempt to prevent knockoffs, thus ironically guaranteeing that all of the inevitable knockoffs would be a little bit different and potentially even more popular than their own. One good way to make a cocktail popular is make it strong; all of the Sixth Street versions of the Mai Tai I've been served have had multiple rums, and Tiki 311's rendition is no different. Appleton Estate Signature rum gets solid reviews for its mild smoothness, while Kuleana Huihui is a higher-proof mix of several different rums, making it the rum equivalent of a blended whiskey. Toss in some Grand Marnier, and this was an excellent Mai Tai, especially for the price, although as always I would have preferred a tiny bit less ice. This was either the 3rd or the 5th Mai Tai that I've been served so far, depending on how you count some similar drinks, and my favorite of the lot.

We also had a round of their Zombie cocktail to accompany our garlic shrimp plates, both of which were also delicious. I think I actually slightly preferred the Zombie over the Mai Tai, but both were great.

The Crew


Kason, Misty, Aaron, Travis (not pictured).


Notes


A dive bar to tiki bar conversion would ordinarily be a generally regarded as yet another sad step on the relentless road of gentrification, but not this time! Not to dance on a bar's grave, but I will shed no tears for the closure of The 311 Club, given their habit of putting bugs in my whiskey, although according to the comments on their later posts the employees may have gotten screwed by some sort of sudden sale and closure way back in 2017. The building itself appears to have lain fallow until earlier this year, when it became the newest member of the Bucks bar family (they evidently had trouble fitting the name into the established naming scheme of Two Bucks, Buck Wild, Buck Shot; oh well). It is a vast improvement on the previous occupant even aside from the lack of bugs in my drink; the decor is better, the vibe is more welcoming, the staff is MUCH friendlier, and they even have some awesome food (don't miss the garlic shrimp plate). Their sole blemish might be that they're a Dolphins bar for some reason, but no matter - this is a dramatic upgrade no matter how you look at it.

Friday, November 3, 2023

#195: Daydreamer

The Bar


Daydreamer. 1708 E 6th St, Austin, TX 78702

Visited 11/3/2023 @ 9pm.

The Drink



Gemini Rising. Tromba tequila, Union mezcal, passion fruit, almond, lemon, cherry. $12.

According to market research, the average price of a cocktail in Q2 2023 was $12.50. Now that we're well into the era where a $12 cocktail counts as reasonably priced, it's worth reflecting on what you get for your money. I discovered Tromba tequila, one of Canada's finest, at Second Bar, and while I don't think I've ever had Union mezcal before (it's evidently a common cocktail mezcal under the Diageo umbrella), it was a good addition here along with the fruit ingredients. I'm mostly unhappy about the amount of ice here. The glass is cute, and I'm sure the straw is a big hit on Instagram, but a little ice goes a long way, and I prefer to drink at my leisure without having to worry about the Sonic-sized quantity of ice melting and diluting it too quickly. This drink is fine and I would recommend it (although Rome got a Gin Fizz which I preferred), but this volume of ice just looks bad to me. 

If you're curious about the drink's name, it's an astrology thing. According to the astrophysics journal Cosmo, having Gemini as your rising sign is good news:
Gemini is one of the most dynamic and inviting Rising signs a person can have. As a mutable sign (meaning their sign falls in the middle of a season and they're particularly adaptable and flexible), Gemini Risings have the ability to change their appearance, attitude, and aptitude to best adapt to those around them. And as an air sign, Gemini Risings are naturally intellectual and quick-witted. Leading with a curious and excitable front, Gemini Risings have the gift of gab and will talk your ear off if you let them!
Interestingly, a Gemini Rising is the counterpart of a Sagittarius Rising, which according to a calculator I found, I am. Returning to Cosmo, we learn:
These cosmic archers are natural jokesters who bring so much joy to any room they walk into. Having Sagittarius energy does make them a bit overwhelming and rather blunt—which can be considered a strength if you like outspoken honesty. At best, Sagittarius Risings are people who value the truth. They may not realize this about themselves, but they can be rather gossipy as a means to attain information. They don't like being in the dark, which makes them feel inferior and uncertain. And if they're proved incorrect, they're enveloped by extreme embarrassment. You don’t want to be on the receiving end of a Sagittarius Rising's bad mood. They need to be in the know, so make sure you help them out.
Where's my cocktail?
 

The Crew


Rome, Aaron.


Notes


Daydreamer is the newest member of the same bar family as High Noon & Kitty Cohen's, two other excellent East Austin bars, with plenty of other connections to the broader Austin nightlife scene as well. I am a big fan of the "upscale house with giant backyard patio" bar template that you see so much of around town, and Daydreamer does it well. The repurpose house bar model is tailor-made for sitting and talking, and to that end they have multiple different sections: seating out front that's shielded from the noise of the street, small tables in the wings to the sides of the bar, and an excellent patio out back with an Allday pizza trailer, which is a nearly impossible amenity to resist. It could not have been a more pleasant contrast to Brooklyn Dumpling Shop, which we had just left, and it was easy to sit back under the sheltering sky and savor how nice the Austin bar experience can be at its peak.

#194: Brooklyn Dumpling Shop

The Bar


Brooklyn Dumpling Shop. 1401 E 6th St, Austin, TX 78702

Visited 11/3/2023 @ 7:30pm.

The Drink



Red velvet frosé. Red wine, rosé wine, blackberry, blueberry, raspberry, strawberry. $5.

Brooklyn Dumpling Shop's automat-style alcohol service meant that there was no bartender to ask for a recommendation, so Rome and I had to puzzle out our decision ourselves; we were in a frosé mood, which turned out to be a major tactical error. The ordering process is fairly simple: after you walk in there's a kiosk where you punch in your food and drink order, and once you've paid you take your printed ticket and wait for your number to display and your order to appear in a matching cubby. The alternative to frosé was a beer from the brief selection in the display cooler next to the kiosk. This is a setup meant for high-trust environments, as there is nothing to stop an underage person from grabbing a beer instead of a Coke from the cooler or simply drinking without paying. But if you love abiding laws as much as we do, there is also a lychee frosé option available for ordering if red velvet isn't your thing, as well as many beer options, though only Montucky, Sapporo, and Yuengling were available in the cooler at the time. 

The beer options came in handy because we had a to wait a really long time for our drinks to be poured from the frosé machine in the back amid what seemed like a general operational crisis situation, judging by the number of unhappy people who were also waiting for their orders. We ordered at 7:22pm, had a waiting Montucky after 15 minutes, had another waiting Sapporo after another 15 minutes, and then finally received our drinks at 8:02pm. At one point a server came out with a tray of free apology frosés, but those ran out before we could get ours. That might have been a blessing in disguise, as our eventual reward for our patience was two half-melted draughts of vaguely fruit-flavored burgundy mush in cheap plastic cups. The only thing worse than most frozen drinks are melted frozen drinks, as the sickly flavors and harsh alcohols disguised by the ice are revealed by the thaw; this wasn't the worst frozen drink I've ever had, but I still wouldn't recommend seeking it out. It's certainly no Violet Crown Iron Whip, the best frozen drink on Sixth Street.

However, it turns out that if you love waiting a long time for flavored slush, you can ignore me and simulate my experience from the comfort of your own home, as for some reason Brooklyn Dumpling Shop allows you to buy this frosé for yourself online (hilariously, they faithfully replicate the honor system of the in-store experience by only allowing you to select the Yes option under the Are You Over 21 Year Old? question). Buy the single-serving size, forget about it in the freezer for a while, take it out and dump it in a solo cup, let it sit out and sludgify for an appropriately infuriating amount of time, and enjoy: you've got yourself an authentic BDS frosé! 

The Crew


Rome, Aaron.


Notes


This location of the national chain Brooklyn Dumpling Shop had been open for about two months when we stopped by. The automat concept, where you minimize interaction with other people by ordering via machine and picking up your own food from a receptacle after it's been made, goes back over a hundred years. It was never all that common, but it faded away in popularity in the US over the 20th century for a variety of reasons: abundant cheap labor, our preference for customizing our orders, and how nice table service is. Automats experienced a minor revival after the pandemic since the appeal of minimizing both labor costs and human contact became more salient, and you can imagine the owners figuring that a restaurant targeted at introverts would find a niche in this neighborhood of new construction. Unfortunately the obvious downsides of this model are all still present, namely that it's really annoying to have a simple issue with a simple order but not be able to flag down a waiter to get it fixed, instead having to sit at a table in an exceptionally bland and no-frills restaurant interior trading sympathetic eye contact and drink clinks with other similarly frustrated clientele until the culinary gears get unstuck. I don't like to completely judge a new restaurant before they've finished working out all the kinks, but given that evidently the actual food is nothing to write home about, I feel comfortable in officially Not Recommending this establishment. As a Texan, I should have known better than to trust anything from New York City, right?

Friday, October 27, 2023

#193: Eden Cocktail Room

The Bar


Eden Cocktail Room. 214 E 6th St, Austin, TX 78701

Visited 10/27/2023 @ 10:30pm.

The Drink



Water of Life. Jefferson's bourbon, coffee, demerara, salted caramel, chocolate cream. $18.

All of the cocktails here have a "Biblical/sin" naming theme, and while "water of life" is a Biblical metaphor for the Holy Spirit, it also happens to be the literal translation of the word "whiskey" from the original Irish. Indeed, this cocktail is basically a high-end Irish coffee, the conceptual counterpart to the espresso martini, which has been having a moment recently. The basic distinction between an Irish coffee and an espresso martini is that the former is coffee with liquor in it rather than a cocktail with coffee in it, but even if the humble Irish coffee isn't quite as popular as its buzzier sibling, it also benefits from the upscale cocktail treatment. They used basic drip coffee for the base (although unfortunately not my beloved HEB crème brûlée coffee). I had not had the pleasure of trying Jefferson's bourbon before; they also have some funny experimental bourbons, like the ones they age at sea to increase the interactions with the wood or something like that. Where the cocktail really got elevated was in the sugar/caramel/chocolate ingredients, which did a spectacular job of sweeting the drink without tipping it over the line into espresso martini territory. This was a really great drink, truly the classiest way to "Irish up" a coffee. While the Erin Rose frozen Irish coffee in New Orleans will always be my #1 Irish coffee, this was right behind it. I was sorely tempted to order another immediately before I remembered: oh yeah, $18. Worth it though.

The Crew


Aaron, Ishani, Elijah.

Notes


Eden Cocktail Lounge has been open for longer than I thought, having replaced the previous occupant J Stephens all the way back in 2021. I'm not sure what happened to J. Stephens, but given the haunted history of its namesake, perhaps a silent ethereal exit was only appropriate. In my defense, I couldn't have noticed the change from the street, because despite its Sixth Street address the entrance is still via the alley in the rear. This makes Eden Cocktail Lounge one of the rare speakeasies that even comes close to justifying the name (they prefer that you call for a reservation but we simply walked on up, taking advantage of the limited foot traffic on this dreary Friday night). There are not many major changes to the interior from the J Stephens incarnation, the main one being that the space is a bit brighter, which is nice, as well as less red, which is a curious choice given how well it would have worked with Eden's "Biblical/sin" theme. But there's still the same wall decor (and the low-seeming ceiling), so if you liked the cozy expensive speakeasy vibe of J Stephens, you will still find it at Eden.

#192: Secret Society

The Bar


Secret Society. 101 W 6th St, Austin, TX 78701

Visited 10/27/2023 @ 10pm.

The Drink



Birch old-fashioned. Tin Cup whiskey, demerara, birch tincture, applewood smoke. $15.

This was the 13th old-fashioned I've been served so far. Bars just can't resist putting a spin on this classic cocktail, and Secret Society's twist on the standard was to do a birch infusion, using both smoke as some other places have done with theirs (e.g. Lonesome Dove's Manhattan) as well as a tincture. Floral liquors are not uncommon in Europe (we discussed biska, a liquor with mistletoe), but birch is an interesting choice, as despite being a good old American tree, it was beloved by JRR Tolkien himself (here's more than you probably wanted to know). The drink used Tin Cup whiskey (no relation to the classic 1998 Kevin Costner/Rene Russo romcom), which was amusingly described as a "butch, not feminine" whiskey; it went well with the smoke, the birch tincture, as well as the extra sweetness of the demerara. I really liked it. Either the old-fashioned is simply an un-ruinable cocktail, or its basic structure is so resilient as to support an unending number of creative variations.

The Crew


Aaron, Elijah, Ishani.


Notes


Secret Society is located in the bottom of the Scarbrough building, which was Austin's very first skyscraper but is lately more famous as the new home of the nascent University of Austin/UATX (as a tribute to their more famous neighbor a few blocks to the north I think they should brand this campus as the Forty Ounces). The setup is kind of unusual for a Sixth Street bar: by day, this floor space in the building's lobby is an unassuming cafe called The Scarbrough which closes at 2pm; at 7pm it reopens as Secret Society, a nice cocktail bar with an upscale bar food/snack menu. It honestly surprised me that there wasn't already some sort of bar here, given the building's venerable place in the city's history (it was the first building west of the Mississippi to have air conditioning), but such are the vagaries of occupancy over this many years. Regardless, there's a good vibe to this space; it somehow combines the relaxed openness of an atrium with the intimate lounge atmosphere you want from a cocktail bar. 

We were the only ones here on this somewhat dreary Friday night, so we got to chat at the bar with the owner, Marco, about his overall strategy for the space in light of the slumping market for the city's commercial real estate. Since Secret Society is tucked in between Velvet Taco and Ruth's Chris at the SW corner of Sixth and Congress, it is front and center to all of Austin's issues with declining foot traffic as work from home becomes ever more popular. While downtown itself is more populated than it's ever been, its inhabitants are simply not the high-end barflies of yesteryear, which will have long-term consequences for the bar sector. There's a lot to say about how Austin's ever-shifting demographics interact with the economic realities of bar proprietorship, and how the positives of having more young, single, high-earning patrons balance against the negative cost pressures faced by post-pandemic service industry establishments, but they would be best discussed over a drink, and here would be an excellent choice.

Friday, July 28, 2023

#191: IYKYK

The Bar


IYKYK. 1221 E 6th St., Austin, TX 78702

Visited 7/28/2023 @ 9pm.

The Drink



Pineau colada. Cognac, white Pineau de Charentes, pineapple, coconut + lemon. $14.

My personal gold standard for Sixth Street frozen drinks remains the Iron Whip at Violet Crown for its unbeatable combination of taste, strength, and price, but this was pretty good in its own right, avoiding the twin hazards of sickly sweetness and harsh alcohol bite that many lesser establishments frequently fall victim to when assembling their own frozen drinks while still being decently strong, although it is not as conveniently priced due to its fancier ingredients. An obvious pun on the trusty piña colada, the drink gets its booze from Pineau de Charentes, an aged fortified admixture of young cognac and unfermented grape juice, AKA must, that's a bit strong than ordinary wine. They used the white variant (which typically has notes of "honey, plum and cinnamon"), as well as coconut, which you often see used in frozen drinks since it's very sweet (although this one was not). Interestingly, this appears to be a standard cocktail, but most versions include some form of strawberry syrup, which this one did not. Then again none of those versions were frozen or premade, so perhaps they figured that they could get away without it here. An acceptable summer rooftop frozen cocktail.

The Crew


Ishani, Elijah, Aaron, Cristy (not pictured), Louis (not pictured).


Notes


I would have preferred the name of this bar to have been a reference to Biggie or Pynchon, but instead it's an awkwardly winking reference to the fact that this bar is nominally a "speakeasy", that most misused of bar descriptors. An unhidden speakeasy is the "planned unplanned encore" of bars, a term that's been functionally meaningless for nearly a full hundred years and yet the glamour of the word is so strong that its appeal endures even though a modern speakeasy has essentially nothing in common with its ancestor. IYKYK is a perfect example of how a term can become its exact opposite; rather than a dingy collection of potentially lethal bathtub gins crammed into someone's basement, it's a rooftop bar with plenty of lounging space, a small DJ area/concert stage, and an excellent view of Sixth Street out towards downtown. And rather than being restricted to "those who know", we weren't even able to visit it last weekend since it was too crowded with tourists (they have a waitlist to manage demand). But, in fairness, IYKYK offers such a good rooftop experience that if it becomes the new type species for speakeasies, I wouldn't mind. I promise I will stop complaining about speakeasies someday.

Friday, July 21, 2023

#190: Bar Mischief

The Bar


Bar Mischief. 1221 E 6th St., Austin, TX 78702

Visited 7/21/2023 @ 10:30pm.

The Drink



Tom Kha. Gray Whale gin, Tito's vodka, Nigori sake, mushroom, lemongrass, lime, coconut cream foam. $16.

This was delicious, one of the tastiest cocktails I've had in a while on this trip. I had to press our server for a bit with the "what drink would you say best represents the bar?" question and the "no, please, I want what you recommend" followup until I finally cornered him into getting me this incredible drink off of the Originals section of their cocktail menu. Just like the name implies, it tastes almost exactly like tom kha except that it's a drink instead of a soup. Gray Whale gin is one those extremely eco-conscious California products, a "gin for good" that reserves a portion of its revenues for whale-focused charities (and see here for an interesting discussion of the contract distillation market). Tito's vodka of course needs no introduction to an Austinite; I did not ask which of the many nigori (AKA cloudy) sakes they use, but of course I hope it's the excellent Texas Sake, also from Austin. What really made this drink was the preparation and the finish; all the minor ingredients adding up to make a spectacular cocktail that almost had me ordering another one immediately after this one was done. Many times on this blog I have occasion to ponder why exactly it is that I'm paying so much for fancy booze in a cup; this is one of those cocktails that fully justifies its price. Here's a video by its creator talking about how good it is, and he's absolutely right!

The Crew


Aaron, Rome, Geoff.


Notes


The second of the three Inn Cahoots bars, this one had a bit of a waiting list due to it being opening day, but it was worth the wait. Every often you find a bar that really LOOKS like a bar, and this was one of them. I had just come back from a trip to NYC so I was reminded of The Campbell in terms of it being a destination bar, although this has its own distinct identity apart from the shared design elements of Art Deco (still the greatest architectural style). It has a great ornate interior, with well-crafted ceilings, cathedral-like liquor cabinets, elaborate chandeliers, and intricate artistic lighting. Jorge, the owner/operator, stopped by to chat with us for a while, and we talked about what he was trying to do with the bar, his drink passions, and where Bar Mischief fit in under the broader umbrella of the venue. He was a really nice guy and knew his stuff; one of those guys who has opinions about the history of cocktails, which is of course what you want out of a bar owner. Out of the three Inn Cahoots bars, I would rank this highest in terms of what a nice space it is; it just has that vibe that makes you want to stay and drink expensive cocktails for longer than you should.