• From the archives: June 6, 2008
April Dowd photo
Cocktails guru Tony Abou-Ganim (left) and drinks writer Bill Dowd work out behind the bar during a Lake Placid mixology workshop.
LAKE PLACID, NY — Tony Abou-Ganim, the celebrity mixologist who helped the cocktail culture return nationwide with a rush over the past decade or so, was in fine form during an hour-long cocktail-making workshop at T-Bar. The ritzy Adirondack-style cocktail lounge within chef/entrepreneur Charlie Levitz’s eponymous Charlie’s restaurant on Main Street, was briefly turned into the kind of classroom no one wants to avoid.
Abou-Ganim splits much of his time between Las Vegas and New York — he’s a partner in the recently-opened Manhattan spot Bar Milano — but pops up all over the country for trade shows, training events and special occasions. He’d just appeared at the annual Santé magazine industry trade show in Manchester, VT, and was returning to a place where he’d personally trained Levin’s bartending staff a year ago in the fine points of cocktail making.
This workshop preceded a cocktail-pairing dinner prepared by Charlie’s head chef Lendell Eaddy and Levitz, who oversees the Charlie’s kitchen but spends much of his time at his other Lake Placid restaurant, Chair 6, and with his extensive catering operations.
During the show-and-tell, Abou-Ganim invited several onlookers to step behind the bar to help him make some basic drinks — Cosmopolitans, Marqueritas, Martinis. He also challenged yours truly to a “Manhattan throwdown” since both of us are fans of the historic drink. I, in fact, consider it a food group.
He laid down the ground rules: The same recipe had to be followed — bourbon (we both liked the sweetness of Maker’s Mark), Martini & Rossi sweet vermouth, Angostura Bitters and a maraschino cherry. The catch was that Abou-Ganim preferred to shake his concoction over fresh ice — which I normally do for a straight-up cocktail — while insisting I stir mine with ice to properly chill each drink.
He shook.
I stirred.
We poured.
The audience voted on the cocktail with the most alluring appearance.
Modesty prohibits revealing the voters results. Let’s just say I won’t ask for a recount.
Here are a few more shots from the event:
Abou-Ganim discusses “feminine” (heavily botanical) vs. masculine gins.
Abou-Ganim and April Dowd of Troy, NY, whip up a Cosmopolitan.
As many fresh ingredients as possible help make cocktails work.
This shrimp/blue crab risotto with roasted leeks sauce was a dinner highlight.
Abou-Ganim shows the art of the pour.
Teddi Jones of Albany, NY, is about to build a mojito.
Abou-Ganim’s favorite, The Negroni:
1 oz. Bombay Sapphire Gin, 1 oz. Campari, 1 oz. Cinzano Rosso Sweet Vermouth, stir well
in an ice-filled glass, strain into a chilled cocktail glass, garnish with burnt orange twist and serve.
Abou-Ganim and Charlie Levitz.
Abou-Ganim flames a citrus peel.
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