jardiniere

Looking for a fun way to start the weekend? Might I recommend a delicious cocktail? It's called the YumSugar special, and it's a twist on the classic whiskey sour. The traditional recipe involves simple syrup and lemon juice, but our variation, created especially for us by the fabulous barmen at Jardiniere restaurant (we guest-bartended there!), uses honey and Meyer lemon juice. Any honey works, but if you can get your hands on honey that's infused with chestnuts or lavender, that will give the drink a subtle complexity. The libation is sweet but not overly so, and the strong flavor of the whiskey is balanced perfectly by the citrus.

It involves dry-shaking, so be prepared for an arm workout! Want the method to this delightful beverage? Keep reading.

Last night, Susannah and I rolled up our sleeves and kicked off our heels to guest-bartend at San Francisco's Jardiniere restaurant. While we were only mixing one drink, the YumSugar Special (a riff on the classic Whiskey Sour — recipe to come!), I learned a lot from the experience. It's not easy being behind a bar with thirsty customers waiting for a drink, and after doing it, I have a newfound respect for the precise, fast, and friendly bartenders in my life. To see what the world looks like from the inside of a bar, keep reading.

They say you never get a second chance to make a first impression, and based on my initial experience with Portuguese sparkling wine, I've been very impressed. Recently I sipped a truly wonderful sparkling, Luis Pato Bruto Espamante ($17), at a tasting led by Eugenio Jardim, sommelier at Traci Des Jardins's San Francisco restaurant Jardinière. "To me, it's inexplicable why Prosecco and Cava would be more popular than this," he commented. I couldn't have agreed more.

The brut bubbly isn't overly perfumed, but just aromatic enough, with fruity-floral notes of apricot and peach and a nice dry finish. With its feminine flavors and pale straw hue, it brought to mind a ballerina fluttering in a tulle dress. It's rare in Portugal to see single-varietal wines, and this is no exception. I didn't recognize the grapes (Maria Gomes is a muscat-like varietal, and Arinto, a lemon-tinged, high-acid grape), but that was irrelevant after one sip. Have you ever tried a Portuguese sparkling wine?