Blast From the Past Series: Fashion Menu

BY: JOSHUA GANDEE
Beverage Director, Watershed Kitchen & Bar

“Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable it must be altered every six months.” -- Oscar Wilde

At Watershed Kitchen & Bar, we took the above quote with a grain of salt, knowing full well that we change our cocktail menus every six months. We do it not out of ugliness or repetition of recipes, but because we consider ourselves the style makers and are often ready for change. The Fashion Menu was my first menu as Bar Manager, and I wanted to make a splash. Coming out of the gate with a look book-inspired menu was my way of melding my love for drink making with a subject of my inspiration: fashion. Much like my choice in clothes, the recipes and cocktails I lean into are often classically oriented, not of a vapid, fast creation, and will ultimately stand the test of time.

After a short stint in high school where I let my then taste in music dictate my choice in clothing, I vowed that never again would I don an article of clothing that would cause me to wince the way I do looking at photos of myself from that time. Moving forward, colors were to be muted, graphics to be removed, nothing too small, too oversized, and, for the sake of my sanity, we won’t even mention the hair. Cocktails for a menu lasting longer than an evening shouldn’t be contrived. Much like my stance on clothing, it is my belief that the creation of a cocktail should be done in a manner so it may live well beyond the page it is printed on. There is no better feeling than having a guest arrive at your bar and request a drink you had prescribed years earlier. The possibility that they’d traveled from that experience telling other people about the drink, or trying their damndest to recreate it at home, is one for the books.

The creation of the Fashion Menu was the result of yet another all-hands-on-deck approach, which means multiple teams coming together to share their expertise and create an awesome product. The drinks in this menu are among some of my favorite and most inventive, down to the color, glassware, and naming structures. This menu was printed to resemble a magazine, so putting it together required multiple viewings of The Devil Wears Prada to really nail the execution. It felt like a true editorial meeting as we assembled the cocktails by spirit, essentially giving a spread to each bottle and treating each cocktail as an accessory that paired with the main article.

We used old Vogue magazines as our inspiration, leafing through product launches, interviews with designers, and advertisements for perfume or jewelry, doing our best to infuse each detail in the finished product. The pages were flashy, bright, and made you want to circle your favorite items fresh off the runway. This menu took some serious time in the way of styling each cocktail shot. We intentionally styled each element, outfit and piece of jewelry included in a photo, we made careful fabric selections, and used some photoshop manipulation for added features sure to catch the eye.

Coming off a few menus that relied heavily on illustration or watercolor, we moved the Fashioned Menu in the direction of photography. Taking cues from runway shows and advertisements for watches, we played on angles and color to project an air of high fashion. Photographer Greg Davis was able to work the lens and use his editing skills in such a way that made you forget you were holding a menu and not a look book for spirits. It was playful approaches like this that kept the menu as approachable and fun as the iterations that came before it.

As much as this menu was an expression of all things new, it also served as a vehicle to issue a solemn goodbye to one of Columbus’ favorite long-standing cocktail bars, and to share in celebration with one of her bartenders winning “Most Imaginative” in the world. I’ll begin with the latter. Annie Williams-Pierce is an incredible talent who’s rooted her creations, and her newly opened bar, Law Bird, in the fare of the Midwest. Before opening the bar with her husband, Annie worked behind the stick at some cherished local haunts, all while honing her craft and working toward Most Imaginative Bartender, an international cocktail competition. Just before the launch of the Fashion Menu she entered again, and as they say in Major League, “won the whole f*cking thing.”

Columbus couldn’t have been prouder of her, and as a way of commending her creativity, we placed a bottled 50/50 martini (one of her favorites, and the inspiration for her winning cocktail) on the menu aptly named the, “Williams-Pierce.” A mix of chamomile gin, blanc vermouth, bitters, and castelvetrano olive brine; this premixed cocktail came served in a bottle straight from the freezer, set in ice with a chilled coupe and olives for snacking. To make this homage cocktail at home, follow this simple recipe:

THE WILLIAMS-PIERCE

1.5oz Watershed Guild Gin

1.5oz Blanc Vermouth

.5oz Castelvetrano Olive Brine

3 dash Orange Bitters

Mix all ingredients in a stirring vessel and mix with a bar spoon until well chilled. Strain into a coupe that you had stored in your freezer and garnish with two castelvetrano olives.

On June 30, 2018, Curio, the German Village craft cocktail bar and mainstay, closed its doors. Proprietor Travis Owens helped lay the groundwork for what would become the future of drink making and hospitality in Columbus, for all bars that would follow. Some of us, myself included, were lucky enough to work there. Others simply relished in sensory experience when lucky enough to find a place to sit in the small establishment, watching bartenders adding fire and smoke to perfectly garnished drinks, taking orders from a guest pinned to the wall awaiting their claim of a seat in front of the maestro.

Curio is where I cut my teeth. It’s part of my story and made me who I am today because I was able to learn there, to ask questions, and to make mistakes in front of people who knew what they were doing. My interest for the cocktail, for service, and my style of hospitality were all formed behind that bar, so, in a way, I owe it everything. With a simple “goodbye old friend” and a nod to one of the more simplistic yet wildly popular cocktails there, we offered the “Solid Wall of Sound”. Named for the A Tribe Called Quest tracks that played during the end of service each night, this blend of aperitivo, Watershed Bourbon Barrel Four Peel Gin, lemon, and bitters created a refreshing and bright homage to the heyday. Mix one up to show the world that legends never die.

SOLID WALL OF SOUND

1.5oz Watershed Bourbon Barrel Four Peel Gin

1.5oz Aperol

.25oz Fresh Lemon Juice

.25oz Rich Simple Syrup

4 dash Angostura Bitters

Shake all ingredients until well chilled while listening to A Tribe Called Quest. Strain over three 1x1 ice cubes in an old fashioned glass, and garnish with an expressed orange peel lit aflame.

One page of the Fashion Menu was set to resemble advertisements from the late sixties. It featured Apple Brandy cocktails that mimicked standout flavors of the time utilizing smokiness, ice cream, and coffee. The cocktails featured on this page became fan favorites and served as a way to introduce guests into exciting ways of drinking brandy. The “Coffee and Cigarettes”, named for the supermodel diet, was a cocktail created by bartender David Yee as a refreshing way of enjoying brandy, and a means of highlighting the raw apple flavors found in the aged spirit. This cocktail called for falernum, often found in island inspired quenchers as a way of adding sweetness and spice, bittersweet Campari gently mellowed by an infusion of Ramble Coffee beans, fresh lime juice, and Watershed Apple Brandy. The Coffee and Cigarettes was served in the iconic NYC Greek Coffee cup with crushed ice. It became an Instagram hit.

COFFEE AND CIGARETTES

1.5oz Watershed Apple Brandy

.75oz Coffee Infused Campari

To make at home, simply place whole coffee beans in a bottle of Campari for 30 minutes for the desired effect of softening the bitterness and adding complex coffee flavors to the mix.

.75oz Fresh Lime Juice

.5oz Falernum

Shake all ingredients until well chilled, and strain over crushed ice in an old fashioned glass. Garnish with a lime wheel.

What we were able to create within these pages is something to be proud of. We don’t have to worry, years from now, about coming across this menu after we find it in our mom’s basement and wondering what the heck we were thinking. The outfit of cocktails we selected are classic, handsome, definitive, true expressions of who we were at that time. Each cocktail represented the spirit of its creator – their personality flowing from the strainer, their background plunging the bar spoon forward, a true representation of the immense team we had at the time. Fast fashion makes some noise but will undoubtedly be silenced by principles of an item well thought out and well worn.

When we return to Watershed Kitchen and Bar, we will without a doubt make some noise.

Until then,

Josh