[ WEEKEND ]
Raising the bar
Home bars come in all shapes
and sizes and should be stocked
with good booze
Kentia palm in the corner next to a classic rattan chaise, flat-screen television pumping the digital world into the living room, koa dining table and matching chairs arrayed on a sisal rug.
What next?
Your own bar, of course.
Home bars, though not as prevalent as when Samantha would greet Darren at the door with a kiss and his martini in the '60s hit television series "Bewitched," are swank again. Home improvement and cooking shows run rampant on cable TV and have opened more people up to trying their hand at home entertaining; a good host is ready with fixings for a toast with family and friends.
Bar areas come in all shapes and sizes. They can be as sophisticated as anyone would want, literally mixing and pouring drinks for you, or as simple as you want, such as a few shelves in the pantry reserved for liquor.
This writer's favorite cheapo home bar unit was one of those old, large cabinet television units handed down by Grandma that had been gutted for its new task. Lights and shelving were added to enhance the presentation. On top of that sat the new television, poetically merging our culture's favorite escapes.
But no bar is any good without some hooch, and not just any hooch.
Taking stock
As one who poured (and drank) his way through college as a bartender, here are my suggestions with advice from two pros."What's really good is to make Nuts and Berries at home," Longhi's bartender David Yadao said.
Yadao has been mixing drinks in Honolulu for 15 years and still pours with pride.
"A Nuts and Berries is Frangelico, Chambord and Bailey's blended over ice," Yadao said. "You can substitute cream for the Bailey's if you like."
For starters, Yadao said get the basics: gin, vodka, bourbon, scotch, tequila and, of course, rum. In a bar these liquors would be called the well. The well is the row of liquor nearest the ice bin and usually directly in front of the bartender when he's mixing drinks.
Longhi's has a particularly nice array in its well lineup, high-quality brand names.
Unfortunately, from my experience, well liquors are mostly hidden from a customer's view. The placement allows the bar to stock the well with what could only be considered wino offerings. So when a bartender pours a shot of $3 Junk-a-lunk Gin or some similar fare for a martini, the customer doesn't gag, at least not until he tastes the martini.
For home bars, Yadao suggests using high-quality brand-name liquor. What makes or breaks a home bar, though, are the extras.
"You'll want a good drink shaker and strainer," Yadao said.
Other necessaries are proper stemware like real margarita glasses, red and white wine glasses, quality snifters and aperitif glasses. In addition, you'll need both up (shot), highball and tall glasses and a blender.
This bar from Hawaii Antique Center has a counter made of nara, a wood from the Philippines that resembles koa.
The budget home barkeep should start with a set of four quality high-ball glasses because you can use them for serving all your up shots, mixed drinks and specialties.
To add to the presentation, get pour spouts, bar naps (napkins), toothpicks, a measuring jigger and black straws, available in bulk through Triple F Distributing in Mapunapuna.
Also, a bar will usually have both dry and sweet vermouth, sweetened and concentrated lime juice, orgate, triple sec, tomato juice, sugar and sweet-and-sour mix. You will also need tonic water, soda water and coconut syrup for pina coladas. Also, orange, lemon, lime and pineapple slices and juices as well as maraschino cherries and olives, plus pickled onions for Gibsons and Tabasco, Worcestershire and pepper for the obligatory morning-after Bloody Mary.
The list goes on and on, but that's just a basic for starters that you'll find yourself adding to.
When buying your liquors, remember that bourbon only comes from Kentucky. Everything else is either whiskey or scotch.
Some higher-end additions that add flair to any bar are Galliano, a green liqueur which comes in a picturesque tall bottle, Pernod, Amaretto Di Serrano, Ouzo, B&B and Dulce dessert wine. Don't forget Yadao's suggestion for Nuts and Berries (Frangelico, Bailey's Irish Cream and Chambord). Chambord also goes great on vanilla ice cream. A hidden fine scotch or bourbon will always win favors, too. As will a small humidor for cigars.
Eddie Lindstrom, manager of the Shack in Kailua, suggests purchasing compatible liquors and mixers.
"In a Surfer on Acid you use Jagermeister, Malibu coconut rum, Chambord and cranberry and pineapple juice over ice. It's a strong, fruity, fun drink," Lindstrom said. "You also want to keep flavored liquors for special martinis like apple and watermelon. Pucker makes a whole bunch of different flavors."
If all this seems a bit much or you want occasional advice from a real pro, you can always appeal to Lindstrom or Yadao directly.
C.R. Dudley is a Hawaii freelance writer. Contact him at chrisrushdudley@yahoo.com.
If you're still saving up for that bar or just prefer to be served rather than serve:The Shack in Hawaii Kai offers happy hour from 3 to 6 p.m. daily. Every single-shot drink and beer is $2.50. Tuesday nights are happy all night.
Longhi's offers a large selection of top-shelf martinis for $3.50 and other happy-hour goodies from 4 to 7 p.m. daily.
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BARRING OPTIONS
Savoy L-shaped bar ($2,295 plus delivery) from INspiration Furnitures has a modern flair and comes in two finishes, black, shown and topaz, which is silver. Made of glass and metal by Elite, it comes with a built in glass rack and storage shelves. Call INspirations at 484-0245.
The back of this 1950s era Tiki bar ($2,800), shown, is just as pretty as its front. Available at Hawaii Antique Center in Kapahulu, it features rattan accents, a nara wood counter and shelves, and comes with 3 swivel bar stools. Call them at 734-6222.
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Mastering the
margarita
You can get an excellent Rum Runner here, you can get a dazzling Mai Tai, Pina Colada, even -- at tonier joints -- a properly chilled and stirred Gibson served up in the correct glass. But I defy you to find a real, Mexican margarita.
Find a perfectly coifed, foamy margarita in Honolulu? Perhaps you can. I have had no such luck.
Cinco de Mayo approaches. It is not proper to suffer Hawaii's malignant margarita ineptitude while celebrating Mexico's liberation from Spain. So I'm here to save us all. I'd like to share a little of the magic I learned working my way through college as a bartender in New Mexico.
There is almost as big a gulf between the mainland of Mexico and the islands of Hawaii as there is between a real margarita and what is called a margarita in Hawaii.
When I first returned to the islands, I did a fair amount of searching for a Mexican-style 'rita, one properly proportioned, shaken, salted and presented with large lime wheel and two black straws. The straws are for effect. They must be black to contrast the margarita's golden green hue.
My credentials? I learned the proper way to make a margarita from a very old bartender named Max. He was a lifetime bartender, an old-timer from when bartending was a legitimate trade, not something you did because your degree in history qualified you as such.
Max mixed drinks in Albuquerque, N.M., when real cowboys still rode horses to town. That's how old Max was. And he was very emotionally connected to the proper margarita. Luckily, he passed the knowledge to me before he passed on, and so I am obliged to share it with you. Max would have wanted me to avenge margarita's honor.
Here are the tools you will need: A steel drink shaker; several bar spouts; an ice breaker (basically a large wooden dowel); a linen towel; regular-size black drinking straws; a large lime; large kernel salt; Tequila; Cointreau; Grand Marnier; good sweet-and-sour mix; sweetened, concentrated lime juice; and finally, two large-bowl up glasses, because margaritas are for socializing.
It takes finesse to mix a margarita correctly, but a perfectly dressed one, shown with a Mexican flag at top, will have a generously salted rim, a slice of lime and black straws (available from Triple F Distributing in Mapunapuna). David Yadao, above, of Longhi's at Ala Moana Center serves up a decent margarita.
First, gently place the glasses in the freezer. Next, add ice to a little more than two-thirds the shaker. Pour the ice in the linen hand towel, wrap it up and beat the ice a few times with the breaker. It adds surface space to the ice and increases the chill to the drink without watering it down. This step is that extra one you never see anymore. I guarantee you James Bond's martinis are shaken-not-stirred in properly beaten ice.
Return the ice to the shaker. Using the bar spouts, pour in by counting (in Mississippis -- or, maybe more appropriately, Cabo San Lucases) four seconds of Tequila, two seconds of Cointreau, one second of lime juice. Then add sweet-and-sour mix to just below the surface of the ice.
Max would not use a jigger. He considered them insulting and so do I. Especially since I buy drinks now. I don't make them or answer to a manager's spill sheet.
Cap the can and shake vigorously. Set aside, and take one glass out of the freezer. On two separate plates have poured lime juice and the salt. When you wet the rim of the glass in the lime juice, lean it over so the rim and sides get wet. Do the same with the salt. Be generous with the salt; it should be too much and on the outside of the glass so that it can be enjoyed or avoided at the drinker's pleasure.
Pour the entire shaker can's contents into the glass, make a fuss and let the ice clink so everyone knows you are moments from completing a masterpiece. If you've shaken properly, there should be a nice foam layer on top of the mixed drink.
Now float desired Grande Marnier for both taste and color. Do not add orange juice. Texans do that, not Mexicans or New Mexicans, and Texans aren't highly thought of come Cinco de Mayo. Did you happen to see that "Alamo" movie?
Now, with lime wheel slit and standing on the rim, two black straws opposite the lime, hand-deliver your creation to that special hottie and start making the next margarita.
By the way, it's a good idea to stay home or arrange for a designated driver if you're going to be drinking Max's Mexican Margaritas. This IS your momma's margarita; not that watery green stuff they serve nowadays.
Of the margarita's I've tried, David Yadao's creation at Longhi's in Ala Moana Center comes closest; the Shack in Kailua, a near second.
Remember, as you throw back one of your newly mixed fresh, full margaritas, the jubilant cry: Freedom from Spanish tyranny. Hip, hip, hooray! Freedom from Hawaiian marginal margaritas. Shake, salt and swallow away!
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