What do I like best about the Caesar? Is it that I can have a savory beverage with a meal? Yes. Is it the saltiness? Yes. Is the garnish? YES! It is also that. What is a good garnish? What's a bad garnish? What's a pathetic attempt to mask a bad version of a classic drink? Let's explore the finer points of garnishes today. I'll use two case studies: the Bin 4 Caesar and the SüLT Caesar. Ladies and gentlemen, I present the two case studies. Are you drooling yet? Oh yeah. These are two exceptional garnishes and kind of unexpected.
I'm going to talk about the Bin 4 garnish first because this is the one that got me thinking. The waitress put that down on my table and the part of my brain that loves this drink was like "YASS QUEEN!" You can't see the complete garnish in the picture above, but it featured two short slices of bacon, a hot pickled pepper and two slices of dill pickle with a wedge of lime on the side. The rim was classic celery salt. I pulled off the bacon and nibbled, then took a bite of the hot pepper. Delicious. I took a sip of the Caesar ... hmm. Very traditional. Nothing special or unique going on, but a solid classic Caesar. I dropped the other half of the pepper into the drink to spice it up a little. I was a little bummed by the fact the dill pickles were a little wilty, which is death for pickled garnishes. Then I thought about the interplay here between the garnish and the drink. This is a very basic Caesar, with a fancy hat on. 1 - Does it work? 2 - What does a flamboyant garnish need to achieve? 1. It almost worked here. If the dill pickles hadn't been wilty, I wouldn't have had time to think about developing a new field of thought that I'm calling Garnish Theory. (You're welcome world) I wouldn't have turned the tiny clear pick that held the garnish together over and over between my fingers wondering what was bugging me about this drink. 2. The garnish needs to connect to the drink in a meaningful way, or say something unique. Here the garnish-drink connection didn't make total sense to me. At a passing glance I'd give it an A+, but WHY was it dill pickles, a pickled pepper and bacon? Was there a smoky alcohol in the drink or a jalapeno infused vodka? Not to bring up a Caesar from the past, but Mo:Le gets it. Their pickled cabbage etc.. spills down from the top of the glass into the drink. It mixes together in a celebration of all things salty. Which brings me to the SüLT Caesar. While the garnish-drink interplay here is not strong, what the garnish on the SüLT version does well is bring home the whole point of the restaurant. The place is worth checking out. It's Victoria's newest (only?) pierogi bar. I don't eat pierogis often, but I was totally sold on what SüLT had to offer when I ate there. Back to the Caesar. Maybe you notice that little lump at the end of the plastic sword supporting the garnish. That's a little deep fried pierogi. Yeah, that's right. A tiny deep fried pierogi. It explodes with potato/cheesy goodness in your mouth. (Sidenote, it's hot...) No one else in Victoria is putting pierogis on their garnishes, so right off the bat they have something that stands out as unique. The drink itself is a pretty standard balance of balance of tomato, salt and sweet, but the garnish is really bringing a new element to the table. And it comes on one of those little plastic swords which I have a soft spot for. Garnishes: they matter. I love them. I love the pierogi garnish from SüLT. I liked the Bin 4 garnish. I just want crispy pickles. I will note that I had a vodka Caesar and a gin Caesar at Bin 4 and the pickles were the same. Speaking of garnishes, I've been informed by a source that I need to try the Jacob de Goede Caesar at Heron Rock. It was billed as "a meal in a cup!" But I'll leave you with this, which is apparently in Vancouver, so maybe I'll track it down and try it. I don't want to dwell on drinks I didn't love, so I'll try to make this quick.
The Grad Lounge Caesar at Uvic I drank a week ago was not great. I asked if I could have a gin Caesar, but not the Victoria gin Caesar on the menu which seemed a lot more expensive than a regular Caesar and was told that it was not possible to make a gin Caesar with cheap gin. So, whatever. I mean, I was being a cheap bastard by asking in the first place. ALSO, I manage a blog about Caesars, so why wouldn't I go for the interesting twist? Moving on. In the end I received a Caesar made with Victoria Gin. The one on the menu. I am sorry to report that the drink was a let-down. It was your basic Caesar in a pint glass -- the sheer volume of the drink is certainly a plus in my book -- with a pickled bean garnish. However, I don't think additional seasoning was added to the drink. It was dominated by a spicy, overwhelming clove flavour. The lack of extra seasoning, like the standard Worcestershire Sauce, Tabasco etc... made for a watery, one-dimensional drink. The Grad House Caesar did not pass the oral examination. Graduate degree denied! That said, I'll definitely give it another shot at some point. I feel like horseradish with the clove taste would be an interesting way to make this version really stand out.
I have returned to the world of Caesars. Last weekend I dove back into the Clamato at Molé. This weekend I tasted the Wheelies Chipotle Caesar for the first time.
The drink comes in a Mason jar, which I like because that means there's a lot of it. This is a delicious play on the traditional Caesar, with smoky tomato flavours at the forefront of the drink. The chipotle is present but not overpowering, more smoky than spicy. The drink comes topped with a large helping of house-made garlic pickles that taste like the refrigerator pickles my grandparents used to make when I was a kid. The nostalgia factor of this drink is high. And Wheelies is a great place to hang out on a sunny September weekend. As I sat with my friend chatting over grilled cheese sandwiches and mac and cheese, a group of people on motorcycles rolled up and filled up the establishment. All in all, a great way to get back into the blog. |
AuthorI live in Victoria, BC and I love Caesars, which are the sole focus of this blog. Archive
December 2016
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