Features
Seasonal Cocktails
By Eric Allen | photos by Erika Rich
May 6, 2008, 11:05

Spring Drinking
At Your Favorite Restaurant

It’s spring time, baby! Break out the fruity drinks and kick those hearty chocolate martinis and honey-laden glasses to the curb. It’s the first mojito with a brightly colored mini umbrella and a sprig of mint that is the true sign spring has sprung. Here are a few restaurants around the Detroit area that have choice spring drinks that are ripe for the picking.

Mon Jin Lau: Pineapple Saketini
In a packed room full of diners eating delicious looking food, it’s hard to take your eyes off the beautiful dishes of Pad Thai that fill the Mon Jin Lau restaurant. That is, until the Pineapple Saketini makes it appearance on the bar. With a mix of Grey Goose vodka, sake, passion fruit and a generous chunk of pineapple, Mon Jin Lau throws together a fantastic saketini that is as bright as the orange in the sun. No liquor is spared in this recipe, as the vodka is the preeminent ingredient tickling your taste buds. 

Vicentes Cuban Cuisine: Mojito
Oh, the mojito! This eternally classic drink of spring is a picture of perfection at Vicentes Cuban Cuisine on Library Street in downtown Detroit. Enjoy this bev in a lively atmosphere filled with Cuban music, people shouting and a ridiculously awesome fish tank. If you are looking for an amazing drink, ask the friendly staff at Vicentes for their famous mojito and be ready for a strong drink that goes down easy. Made with the traditional mojito accoutrements, such as rum, lime, carbonated water, mint and sugar, this is the essential spring drink.

Crave Lounge: Dragonfruit Saketini
Some like it sweet, some like it sour … but everyone likes it hot. Meet the Dragonfruit Saketini, a creative combo of these three terrific tastes. The fruit of the beverage moves you right away, it’s sweet and gets to the core of your soul. But the sugar is quickly cut by the sour snap of the sake, which brings the whole drink to life. The fresh mint bridges the two tastes with class and style. And you just gotta love Crave Lounge’s stout ‘n’ cute martini glasses, they’re easy to carry and perfect for a good toast. Raise your glass to blue skies and the delightful drinks they go so perfectly with.

Chen Chow: Chen Chow Martini
Englishman Riko Miller serves as Chen Chow’s Mixologist, a title that makes the job sound less fun than it actually is, though science and booze are a great team. The drink he served us, the new Chen Chow Martini, is a drink that only took two attempts to create its perfect formula. Featuring Plum sake and Pearl Plum vodka, the drink is shaken with elderflower and fresh cucumber. This martini may sound odd, but is refreshingly delicious and surprisingly reminiscent of freshly cut grass under a spring rain.

Gracie’s Underground: Sunburn
Take a look at that picture. Vision of beauty, isn’t she? From the pineapple slice and cherry on top, the creamy drink in between and the cherry at the bottom, Gracie’s Sunburn is a drink that one can hang their hat on. Orange in color, the ingredient list misleads you into thinking that you may have the drink’s taste backed into a corner. Yet, after only one swig of the elixer, it’s easy to realize the genius of Gracie’s bartenders, as they have developed a concoction that tastes like a creamsicle.  | RDW



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