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The Liquid Chef Junior Merino lands at Tequilas
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The Liquid Chef Junior Merino lands at Tequilas
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| Junior Merino and his Alma Blanca |
| Photo l Felicia D'Ambrosio |
Junior Merino doesn't drink much. And before he became The Liquid Chef, he often wondered what made liquor so special. Nine years ago, when Junior was beverage manager at New York's Roth's Westside Steakhouse, flavored vodkas were exploding in popularity. Though the trend added dozens of new mixed drinks to bartenders' repertoires, Merino was disappointed in the bottled liquors. "They didn't taste fresh," he says. "Cocktails were really good in America before Prohibition, because all the ingredients were fresh."
With his knowledge increasing as he took on the role of sommelier, Junior found himself wondering what aspects of wine make people enjoy it so much alongside food. "Chefs never recommend cocktails paired with their food," he says. "The high alcohol burns the tastebuds and people cannot perceive all of the elements in the food." It was then he began developing cocktails designed to be paired with food, that would enhance, instead of dull, the flavors chefs work so hard to create.
The Liquid Chef was born. Junior's idea was to mix cocktails that would imitate the qualities of wine. "Wine has residual sugar, and acidity," he says. It has complex, subtle flavors." Merino's cocktails aimed to add flavor elements back into liquor drinks, controlling the proportions to dim the burn of straight alcohol while making subtle flavors more pronounced. "We add a little bit of acidity to the cocktail, with citrus juice, or champagne or ice wine," he says. "Since wine has sugar left, we add sweetness, with sweet liqueurs or fruits."
I recently observed Merino as he assembled one of his new cocktails, developed for Tequilas Restaurant and Bar (1602 Locust St.) in Center City. The Alma Blanca, or white soul, starts with a handful of sweet corn kernels muddled with dried leaves of herb saint, which Merino described as a cross between mint and basil. A splash of aloe vera syrup, a dash of pineapple, a squeeze lemon juice, Domaine de Canton ginger liqueur and habanero-infused Siembra Azul blanco tequila all went into the tin for a hearty shake. The double-strained potion was then poured, over three one-inch Kold Draft ice cubes (critical to keeping the cocktail chilly but not watery), into a glass rimmed with homemade hibiscus salt.
The resulting pale butter-colored drink tasted of fresh sweet corn, with a balancing acidity from the lemon juice and ginger, all riding a wave of tingly habanero-spiced tequila.Merino 's new cocktail menu at the restaurant will feature five drinks made from Siembra Azul, the distillery operated by Tequilas owner David Suro-Piñera.
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| Cooked agave from Siembra Azul |
| Photo l Felicia D'Ambrosio |
Suro-Piñera grew up cheek-to-jowl with agave fields and tequila distilleries in the Mexican state of Jalisco. Siembra Azul (blue harvest) uses mature 12-year-old agave, cooked at low temperatures for a much longer time than competitors. "Other distilleries, they cook the agave for two, three hours at a high temperature," says Suro-Piñera. "We cook it three days. It keeps all of the flavors in the agave for extraction nice and complex." The tequila don let me taste a piece of cooked agave from a basket he had displayed on the bar of his restaurant. I slowly chewed the sticky, fibrous strands, which gave off a complex, sweet liquid with hints of flowers and sugarcane.
Merino's ethos calls for nothing but the best and freshest ingredients to create cocktails worthy of great food. Eying that basket heaped with agave cooked yesterday in Jalisco, it's no wonder Siembra Azul makes a fine base for his efforts.
The Liquid Chef's new cocktail menu is available now at Tequilas Restaurant and Bar, 1602 Locust St., 215-546-0181, tequilasphilly.com. Junior will be mixing drinks in person at Tequilas on Thu., Jan 15, Fri., Jan. 16 and Sat., Jan. 23.
I like siembra azul but my favorites are Tesoro, Casa Noble and Abuelos.
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