Episode 138

The Carmen San Diego of Food & Drink

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The Carmen San Diego of Food & Drink

Episode 138

What’s shakin, cocktail fans?

Welcome to Episode 138 of The Modern Bar Cart Podcast!

This time around, we catch up with renowned food and drink writer and critic, Virginia Miller at the American Distilling Institute annual judging of craft spirits, and together, we dissect some of the most exciting food and drink trends in the Bay Area and beyond. She’s the Western North America Academy Chair for The World’s 50 Best Restaurants, among many other roles and passions that we’ll cover during this interview.

Virginia is always so thrilled to make really close, intimate eye contact with food, drink, and the people who make it. Her career is almost impossible to summarize in less than five minutes, having contributed to outlets like Zagat, Liquor.com, Whisky Magazine, and dozens of other top-class publications. She’s is a polymath who – like all great thinkers and technicians – elevates both the medium and and artists who create it, and to us, that’s what makes her so special.

Some of the topics we discuss during this interview include:

How Virginia leveraged her innate curiosity to transition from a home schooled education to a career and food and drink writing at the highest level.
How to train your palate to like EVERYTHING – even those things that you might have grown up really hating (or even fearing).
What Virginia has learned from visiting over 11,000 restaurants (and more than twice that many bars) around the world.
Why she is still in love with her home city of San Francisco, including a review of some of the most beautiful and innovative programs in that city today.
What it means to elevate food and drink beyond local offerings – including a metaphor that involves taking apart an engine.
The simple, elegant appeal of rhubarb gimlets, kimchi oysters, and much, much more.

Upcoming Event: The Middleburg International Absinthe Festival

Before we jump in, let’s take a quick moment to hear from former podcast guest Peter Ahlf of Mt. Defiance Distilling in Middleburg, Virginia. He’s got an exciting event on tap called the Middleburg International Absinthe Festival, and he’s offering an exclusive discount for listeners of this podcast.

This is gonna be a great event. Eric will be there, along with some other great friends sampling and selling cocktail mixers. So come on out to Middleburg, VA in early June to chase the green fairy with me and a bunch of other folks who love flavorful, handcrafted products. And the most important piece of information is that if you purchase tickets, you can use the coupon code “MODERNBARCART” (all one word) at checkout, to receive 10% off your purchase.

Featured Cocktail: Death in the Afternoon

This episode’s featured cocktail is Death in the Afternoon. I got thinking about absinthe, and my west coast road trip, and my chat with St. George Spirits Distiller Lance Winters about Hemingway, and the Death in the Afternoon just popped straight into my head.

To make this refreshing cocktail, you’ll need:

¼ – ½ oz Absinthe. Use the real stuff. And if you’re here in the Mid-Atlantic, consider using some of the beautiful products from Mt. Defiance or Tenth Ward Distilling.
Dry, sparkling wine to top.

That’s it. Take your absinthe, pour it into a champagne flute or white wine glass, then slowly top with chilled, sparkling white wine. If you’re really ambitious, feel free to throw a dash of bitters in there. I’ve tried this drink variously with our Embitterment Aromatic, Orange, and Lavender bitters, and if you’re smart about your wine pairings, you can really come up with something special.

We love this drink because it’s a practice in elegance – not just simplicity. Because you have such a vibrant selection of dry, sparkling wines from around the world, and because the US has been experiencing a re-birth of absinthe culture since it was re-legalized, you’ve got some real choices on your hands. Yes – you can pick up the cheapest versions of these bottles, but if you’re,someone who cares deeply about flavor, you can put in a little thought and really push this elegant drink to the next level.

Show Notes

This interview was recorded at the American Distilling Institute (ADI) Annual Judging of Craft Spirits, where a panel of bartenders, distillers, and spirits experts evaluate craft products from around the world.

Some of the San Francisco hot spots we discuss include True Laurel (see oysters, cocktail below), Lazy Bear, Quince, and 15 Romolo.

To learn more about Chantal Tseng’s Literary Cocktail series, follow here on Instagram (@shinobipaws). You can find her interview here: Episode 052 – Sherry

You can follow Virginia on Instagram (@theperfectspot) and Facebook (@ThePerfectSpot), and you can subscribe to her newsletter by visiting ThePerfectSpotSF.com.

The Carmen San Diego of Food & Drink

Upcoming Event: The Middleburg International Absinthe Festival

Featured Cocktail: Death in the Afternoon

Show Notes

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