Good Taste is the Worst Vice

The Aviary

After a year of anticipation, I finally went to the Aviary this week (twice!).  The best way I can describe it?  A cocktail party at Alinea, complete with re-imagined drinks, more-than-meets-the-eye hors d’oeuvres, playful interactivity, and most importantly – fun.
Clearly, a lot of thought has gone into the concept.  As soon as we stepped inside on Sunday evening, we were led to a small, high-top table for an “amuse” – a shot glass-sized rhubarb cocktail served with ice cubes the size of ball bearings, nestled like an Easter egg atop lush, green grass.  Just beyond these tables, the bartender chefs were working in their kitchen, separated from the rest of the room behind a wall of wire mesh.  At this point, it became clear that Aviary is an experience, not just a place to get a few drinks.


After finishing the amuse, we were led into the lounge itself and seated in a small curved booth.  One of the many friendly servers came by immediately with water (and hand-chiseled ice blocks) and menus.  If you’ve seen the Alinea menu, the Aviary menu concept will be somewhat familiar – drinks are listed from sweet to dry, and the bird flying out to the left signifies how complex the flavors are.  Not surprisingly, the truffle “Negroni” takes the prize for most complex/most savory.


In the course of about three hours, we managed to sample eight cocktails between us. The presentation ranged from over-the-top dramatic to deceptively simple; all were inventive, most were delicious, and I’m still thinking about one in particular…

First up: Blueberry and Ginger

The Blueberry is an early contender for most iconic Aviary presentation – a colorful assortment of blueberries, strawberries, orange peel, and mint arranged inside a circular “porthole” flask, where they infuse into verjus, rye, and vermouth.  As the drink sits, the color becomes darker and darker; it tastes a bit like tea.

Blueberry

Ginger proved to be one of my favorites.  At first glance, it looks like a glass filled with crushed ice (and perfectly placed garnishes – I’m sure that tweezers were involved) that you pour vodka over.  But in fact, the ice is flavored with ginger and lime, and the addition of the vodka mixture melts some of the ice and transforms the drink into its final form.  Sweet, tangy, refreshing.

Ginger

Round 2: Sassafras and Truffle
When my Sassafras cocktail arrived, I was momentarily confused about why I was getting a large glass of water.  In fact, the clear liquid is the result of a multi-hour process during which a root beer-colored stock of sassafras, sarsaparilla, vanilla, star anise and lots of other flavors meets something called a rotary evaporator.  The perfectly cubic ice cubes are made with vanilla, so that they infuse even more flavor into the drink as they melt.  As our server described it, this is “an adult root beer float.”  It’s wonderful.  I’d buy it in bottles if I could.
Sassafras

The aforementioned Truffle cocktail proved to be one of the more challenging drinks of the evening.  D and I both love truffles, and D enjoys gin.  In this case, it seemed that the flavors were battling each other for dominance.  Personally, I found the piney aroma of gin to be too strong.

Round 3: Pineapple and Hot Chocolate
Admittedly, these are not exactly complementary cocktails, but our judgment on flavor pairings was becoming a bit fuzzy at this point.  The Pineapple was unexpectedly pink, and served in a glass coated with ice on the inside.
As for the Hot Chocolate, I wish I could have one (or three) of these next time I’m skiing.  It was warm, rich, and perfectly smooth with tequila.

Hot Chocolate


Final round: Rooibos and In the Rocks, for the knockout
The Rooibos arrives at the table with its own apparatus – some sort of Japanese vacuum system with a Bunsen burner underneath.  The gin mixture in the lower glass pot rises into the upper section, where it’s infused with the Rooibos tea, herbs, and spices, then flows back down.  Definitely interesting to watch.

Rooibos

There was no way I’d leave Aviary without ordering In the Rocks, the much talked about version of an Old Fashioned served inside an egg made of ice.  When the drink arrived, I was given a fancy rubber band with an inch-long steel cylinder in the middle of it.  With some gentle instruction (a la Alinea), I stretched the rubber band between my index finger and thumb, drew back the steel cylinder, and let it snap against the ice, cracking it so that the drink flowed out.

In the Rocks, post-cracking

Along the way, we’d also sampled every bite on the food side of the menu, which is what enabled me to sample all these cocktails.  The food definitely seemed to come straight from the Alinea kitchen, with unexpected twists and the occasional exploding liquid center.

I especially loved the Potato, which looked like a cubic tater tot but had a warm, custardy center, and the Crab, a tempura-fried morsel with an unexpected, crunchy pickle tucked inside.  The Pork Belly reminded me of a dish at Alinea in which you assemble your own pork belly summer roll.  Very similar flavors, but this was a single bite served in a postage stamp-sized cup of iceberg lettuce.

Pork Belly


Cantaloupe

Lobster, Foie Gras, Crab

The Foie Gras could serve as dessert, vaguely sweet and rich, but it wasn’t my favorite.  The Brioche, on the other hand, was a perfect ending to the evening – liquid brioche surrounded by dark chocolate, with a touch of salt.

The Aviary was better than I’d even imagined, with setting and service to match the quality of the drinks and bites.  Everyone there is clearly proud of what they’re doing, knowledgeable, and very welcoming.  I went back last night, and I’m sure I’ll be spending many more evenings there.


Other posts about the Aviary:
Tasting menu
Kitchen Table experience
The Office
Gin and tonic
Kitchen Table revisited


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