www.cheersonline.com
20
|
MARCH 2014
SPOON / GRIT & GRACE
is duo of dining options owned by
Richard Stern and chef Brian Pekarcik
oer decidedly dierent experiences.
According to Spoon general manager/
beverage director John Wabeck (who also
serves as beverage consultant for Grit &
Grace), Spoon features traditional cuisine
with air, while the dim sum-focused
Grit & Grace is "a perfect spot to grab a
shot and a beer."
e 10 libations on Spoon's drinks
menu (priced $9 to $16) are categorized as
Invigorating, Intoxicating, or Indulging.
e list changes frequently, and often
includes a Gin & Tonic variation.
One Gin & Tonic, for instance, mixes
delicate Bombay Sapphire East with a
lemongrass-, kar lime leaf- and juniper-
based, house-made tonic, garnished with
a lime leaf and lime wedge ($12).
"We build the tonic around the gin,"
Wabeck says.
Whiskey drinks are popular, including
the Apple Manhattan ($11), made with
Laird's Applejack, Crown Royal, red
vermouth and Peychaud's bitters. Wabeck
uses a melon baller to shape apple pieces,
stains them with grenadine, compresses
them, and poaches them in a cryovac to
resemble a booze-soaked cherry garnish.
Wabeck, who moved to Pittsburgh
about a year ago after stints in
Washington, D.C., has seen the city's
cocktail scene continue to ourish. At the
recently opened Grit & Grace, the drinks
list spans 12 cocktails with a denitive
classic Tiki slant. For example, it includes
a Mai Tai ($10) and Scorpion ($15/two
servings, $25/four servings).
Other sips are a bit more eclectic,
like Duck Sauce ($12), with Canadian
whiskey, white rum, ginger liqueur, dark
rum, house-made plum sauce and duck-
liver mousse on a spoon.
e "sweet spot" for bottles of wines at
Spoon is $50 to $80, while Grit & Grace
strives to keep its higher-end bottles
under $60. But Wabeck says he buys
whatever high-quality wines he can get
his hands on.
Cure does classics like the Negroni, top, as well as its own concoctions, but it doesn't
name its drinks—they just go by the base spirit. The rum cocktail shown directly above
also includes fino sherry, paw paw liqueur, and orange bitters.
ADAM
MILLIRON
SCENE
16-22 scene pittsburg CH0314.indd 20 3/6/2014 8:06:50 PM
