An Absinthe Abomination in New York

 

Recently I was fortunate to visit the fair city of New York. Ah, what a city. I found a lovely little apartment in the West Village where I could fall into the remaining Bohemian chic of a community rapidly undergoing gentrification.  But true treasures remain, like Bonnie Slotnicks Cook Book Store for instance. I picked up a nice little volume of recipes for the starving artist & poet. How cool is that?

Naturally, I was curious as to how the absinthe revival had taken root in the Big Apple. Consulting the Google Oracle, it provided me a list of bars that were making themselves known for serving absinthe – the closest to me was the Dove Parlour. It certainly looked a refined setting for absinthe imbibing amongst gentile local company, as I think you will agree from the promo photos.  So after an evening of Caribbean beats and jerked chicken to die for at Miss Lily’s  , I descended the stairs into the parlour to get an insight as to how NYC takes its absinthe.

Perusing the menu I spy “Absinthe – Traditional Style” on the menu. Aha!

Upon giving my order to the bar-mistress I enquire as to what range of absinthe they have.

“We have Lucid”

“And…..”

“Just Lucid.”  Ok.  We’ll go with Lucid then I guess. Eyebrow now arched in concern.

I then watched her perform what can only be described as unholy desecration.

 

 

 

Into a glass slightly smaller than a wine glass, but larger than a shot glass, she poured in water (sugared water?) – room temperature.

My stomach is now dropping.

She then pours a shot of Lucid into a measuring cups and dumps it straight into the water.

My jaw is now hitting the counter.

Then, she gets the piped soda water tap and gives it a good shot just to circulate the louche.

I am now close to tears.

She hands it over with a smile, with all the elegance being reserved for the paper doily.  And I am sitting there staring, trying to decide whether I start a scene or just drink it and walk away. I decided on the latter.

If that was Traditional, I nearly would have preferred the burning sugar routine. Nearly.

I stuck to wine from that evening forward.