Lets see here…Dimpled chin? Check. Over six feet? Check. Mega wealthy? Check. Insanely muscular but in a wholesome, beefy way? Check. Yes, the Henry is question is Mr. Cavill himself, one of the many winners of the genetic lottery that you and I were never part of. He’s also Denise’s main squeeze…At least in her dreams. To her he represents the pinnacle of male achievement and what she strives for in her endless quest for a man. I mean, hey, may as well go all the way right? If your’e going to dream then fucking dream, don’t pussyfoot around. Sort of reminds me of the old joke about the dumb, deaf woman who owns a liquor store…

This recipe comes from Denise’s Delphinium, the first cocktail she created while at Rustic in an attempt to get rid of the really awful St. George’s Pear Brandy (sorry Lance). She did all the prep for this one, all I did was add a little lacto-blueberry-whey sauce, A.K.A. kvass…Ish…To the mix. It’s one of those weird on paper but utterly delicious drinks. Well, maybe not that weird on paper…

Denise Loves Henry

1.5 oz. Brown Butter Bourbon

1 oz. Lemon Juice

.5 oz. Blueberry Kvass Syrup

.25 oz. Walnut Orgeat

.25 oz. Meletti Amaro

2 Dashes Denise’s Gingerbread Bitters

The gingerbread bitters were also a waste product. Pretty sure these were scraps from an Uncle Rico dessert back in the day…So the presence is still felt after all these years…And it makes the cocktail work in the patented Rustic way…That is, something seasonal, something fermented and some sort of utilized waste product. In this case, the waste product is minor, but it still counts…Oh shit, wait, the whey is also a waste product. Ha!

In other, less important but more geeky news, David Corenswet (whoever the fuck that is) is taking over as Superman for Mr. Cavill. If you don’t know who the guy is, try not to sweat it. He’s basically the poor man’s Cavill and yes, they’re making another Superman movie. It’ll never stop at this point. The superhero thing and the Superman thing. As we age into the cinematic CGI era we’ll be privy to more of this stuff because it’s always entertaining to see a guy in blue spandex shoot laser beams out of his eyes and save Lois Lane…Yada, yada. The formula is pretty old at this point but it’s obvious Hollywood has run out of ideas and are just milking the old teat of nostalgia. I just wanted to be able to say teat.

I’m a little behind on posting for new cocktails. We’ve had some good stone fruit ones this year. Those always seem to be the most fun once you figure them out.

The restaurant has been a little slow as of late so there’s been more time to whip up new stuff. Not gonna lie, it’s depressing to see less butts in seats. I wrote about this last year in a post called Slow Nights Force you to Contemplate your Terrible Life Choices. Yes, if you’re anything like me you’ve got some issues and ended up working in a restaurant because it was fun and you craved the chaos and instability from your childhood. Yeah, I just went there. Well…It’s just something I’ve noticed over the years. Many front of house people (less so back of house these days) had a less than ideal home situation. Yes, there are some that find themselves waiting tables or tending bar on the way to something else, but I would say 95% of the lifers are there because they’re afraid of success or are just hiding out. I say this because even today the restaurant lifestyle is brutal and unforgiving. You receive very few benefits and life can be stressful if you don’t have something else to strive for. Your life is entirely dependent upon the kindness of others as well as getting the butts in seats and the butts in seats thing is harder than you may think. A lot of restaurants are closing down as of late. Rising minimum wage but also the rising cost of doing business has caused menu prices to skyrocket which makes it harder for people to dine out at a nice place. Rustic buys mostly organic from farmers and that costs more, a lot more, even though it shouldn’t (why does it cost so much to eat healthy and not have pesticides and other crap in your food? Gee thanks, America). Shit man, I hate to use this blog as a soapbox but goddam, life just ain’t easy at the moment. I’m grateful for all I have, as the old saying goes, “The secret to life is wanting what you already have” or something to that effect. I have it all and am one lucky son of a bitch but always want more. Is that a symptom of capitalism or just wanting to do better and making life just a little easier? I feel I was very comfortable for many years and then 2023 came around and just drove a train through my skull. We lost our Michelin Star in November of 2022 and it all kind of went slowly downhill. Young people no longer frequent the restaurant. I think they’re afraid of the prices. I mean, I was forced to raise cocktail prices to $19 even though my COG numbers are quite impressive. To me, it’s absurd. Anyway, I could go on and on here…Maybe just venting a bit…I never thought I’d be this old and working in a restaurant but I never really had much of a plan except for writing books and living an easy life, getting my black belt in BJJ someday…Shit man, anywhere but behind a bar in L.A. of all places…What a crazy goddam ride…