2017: First Blood to the Lorien Alexandria
January 12, 2017
If the Lorien sounds familiar to you, dear reader, that’s because we stayed here just a few short weeks ago in a last minute mad dash to the Kimpton inner circle finish line. We made it across by the skin of our teeth! But we also got a great meal in old town as a fabulous side effect. Read all about that here.
We’re back, this time in the city on a keynote talk gig. Of course the conference is being held at some awful Hilton or other where NPS would not be caught dead staying. So Kimpton it is!
This time we’re in room(s) 611 and 615. I am here first for an evening and then the rest of the posse comes later. Plenty of room in this set of rooms! And a balcony to boot, which on a 68 degree day in January is awesome.
The balcony would be a great place for breakfast!
68 degrees. Perfect balcony weather @kimpton lorian pic.twitter.com/mQFfbLLNFj
— noplasticshower (@noplasticshower) January 12, 2017
Sadly, the weather promises to turn to snow by Saturday morning. We might even get stuck here in the mosquito!
Looking in, French doors.
Living room
Living room
The bedroom is tucked away in the corner, but is very nice with doors that open to the outside. It is basically the penthouse corner of the 6th floor.
Bedroom 611
With all of the adjoining rooms, we need a huge shower to fit everyone. Fortunately, that’s all set.
A glass shower big enough for everyone!
The shower barely fits in the mirror.
After settling in, it was time for a drink in the great cocktail bar downstairs with Steph Vogel. NPS recommends highly the practice of having a drink with the big boss. Inner circle karma all around as barman Phil Clark and chef Wiedmaier made cocktail hour special.
Hey @mmadou it is full tiki in 2017 pic.twitter.com/rtXip1fpIA
— noplasticshower (@noplasticshower) January 12, 2017
Phil runs a superb bar @kimpton lorien. Drinks with @stephaski pic.twitter.com/ERfHMLxqyX
— noplasticshower (@noplasticshower) January 13, 2017
Crudo from chef @Kimpton lorien brabo bar @stephaski. Delish. @thedapperdiner pic.twitter.com/9j44xis2jS
— noplasticshower (@noplasticshower) January 13, 2017
The Apples to Apples
1.5 oz appleton VX rum
1 oz laird’s apple brandy
.5 oz cynar
.5 oz demerara syrup
4 dashes bittermen’s tiki bitters
Shake. Serve on large rocks in a whiskey glass.
After driving off for dinner with an actual sibling, we returned for a midnight snack. The charcuterie plate was remarkable.
Wine, notes, meat, cheese, dessert, sparking water? What more is there in an amenity. Thanks you guys.
Those black sesame things, just wow.
Out of this world charcuterie
Five showerheads for the Lorien. Can’t wait to see the style evolve at this hotel. We’ll be back as often as we can.
Lafayette Park (Lafayette, CA) Slightly Dated French Style
December 13, 2016
Lafayette, CA is tucked away in the hills behind Berkeley, CA, through the tunnel and into an HO Railroad time warp. This cute little town is a classic Bay area amalgam of chic and blue collar in only the way that California can be. Lafayette Park fancies itself an upscale destination resort designed like a French Châteaux. In reality it is more like a local wedding location just off the highway next to a row of car detailing places.
All decked out for Santa
Lafayette Park is part of the family-owned Woodside hotel group that includes the Plaza Hotel in Monterey. Frankly, the Plaza Hotel is a notch or three farther up the food chain (and we’re not just saying this because we were in the Presidential Suite last time we were there). That said, Lafayette has a few things going for it and a few things to fix.
For example, the food is remarkably good for hotel food. But the meeting rooms are dated and stuffy. The staff is gracious and well trained. But the same staff has a hard time going off script (as an example, try having the front desk deal with your car valet because the valet line is four deep and there is no time. No really, I am going to want you to do that.) The common rooms have interesting design. But the bathrooms (even in the superior class rooms) need serious redesign.
So it’s hit and miss.
NPS was assigned 354 (not the Presidential Suite sadly). The room has a fantastic ceiling and a real wood burning fireplace (sans wood of course since this is California but rather stocked with a walmart grade fire log?!). But (there it is again that proverbial “but”) who decided to keep the circa 1974 mirrored closet. At least the hangers are real hangers (but you can see on the pole back to the time when they were not).
Excellent ceiling
Dated, but at the same time classic design in 354
A solid wooden writing table
But really, WTF?!
The real drawback as far as this blog and its particular hangups goes is the bathroom design. Just start over.
Nope
So much tile ruined by obesity bar
Why all hotel bathrooms in properties grasping to be upscale still have shower curtains over bathtubs is beyond us here at NPS. We travel for glass showers.
Apparently somebody got some kind of memo WRT NPS arrival, because there was fruit and san pellegrino. Whoever brought this stuff up forgot to remove the default “upsell water” (an NPS pet peeve) and management seems to have overlooked the idea of writing a note. Oh well. So close and so “but.”
Fruit and sparkling water, a nice touch
no
One last quibble or two and we’ll shut up. Outlets by the bed. Get some. Delete the clock radio from a previous decade. And conjur up some espresso to avoid the 5am walk to Starbucks just down the street (past all those car detailing places and Ace hardware).
In lafayette, ca your reasonable coffee supply amounts to @Starbucksnews pic.twitter.com/s1ZksZAVoF
— noplasticshower (@noplasticshower) December 13, 2016
All in all Lafayette Park earns four showerheads and best wishes for “but”-eradication. I guess we get surly when we travel during no fly noël. Can’t be helped.
Dressed up for Christmas at Lafayette Park
The cocktail scene in Lafayette was surprisingly decent. After dinner at Postino one evening, we went around the corner to The Cooperage for a cocktail or two.
We were ably served by Ryan Wehrenberg who played along nicely with our gin range shenanigans.
Gin range in lafayette pic.twitter.com/GUe9ApLc3v
— noplasticshower (@noplasticshower) December 14, 2016
Ryan also happens to be a local distillery rep for Bay Area Distilling company.
Lafayette, CA locally distilled pic.twitter.com/Ehu61KhomF
— noplasticshower (@noplasticshower) December 14, 2016
He mixed us up a cocktail called the chimneysweep which was interesting but not quite ready for prime time.
1.5 oz vodka
.5 oz orgeat
.5 oz lo-fi gentian amer
.5 oz fernet
.5 oz lemon juice
2 dashes bitter girl orange bitters
dash activated charcoal
shake. double strain into glass atomized with laphroig
The drink looked better than it tasted.
The cooperage makes stuff up in lafayette ca pic.twitter.com/pqTHulLqLz
— noplasticshower (@noplasticshower) December 14, 2016
Back at the Lafayette Park hotel bar, we proceeded to get into the William Larue Weller (2016 edition)
Actual bourbon @LafayettePark. Including an amusing billing mixup. also decent gin. pic.twitter.com/T32MRRMabe
— noplasticshower (@noplasticshower) December 14, 2016
The next evening we shlepped into San Fran for a business meeting at Forgery. They still have the bottle of Amer Picon that NPS dropped there before opening night.
The bitter liberals were here @forgerysf pic.twitter.com/oS2EvTUVAD
— noplasticshower (@noplasticshower) December 15, 2016
We were served by a delightful server who dutifully made us a Liberal and then moved on to this “so darn close” cocktail Experiment Fifty-seven
.75 oz tio pepe palomino fino sherry
.5 oz amer picon
.25 oz agave syrup
1 oz partida añejo
.5 oz lemon juice
2 dashes bitter truth grapefruit
shake. serve up with lemon peel.
The concensus at our table was that the grapefruit bitters were overkill. Anyway, we’ll play with that one back at Coal Stove Sink Bar.
And guess who showed up? Our great friend Jacques Bezuidenhout himself. What a delight. And CONGRATULATIONS!
Engaged (with special christmas hat and extra love) @LoveTequila @alexisdoc pic.twitter.com/flQeQsDPLs
— noplasticshower (@noplasticshower) December 15, 2016
Hotel Marlowe in Boston: NPS Home Away from Home
October 7, 2016
Not only is the Hotel Marlowe (in Cambridge, MA really) a beautiful property, it is a well-oiled hospitality machine. GM Joe Capalbo always treats NPS as a friend and colleague. One of the highlights of any Boston visit is catching up with Joe.
Hotel Marlowe
NPS visits do seem to coincide with visits by the owners of the hotel. That keeps Joe pretty busy. It also tends to occupy the presidential suite, but that’s OK because room 621 is fantastic all on its own.
621 Executive Suite
621 Natural Light
Outstanding
Check out this cool decanter.
Barrel aged Boulevardier
The only minor detail left out was still water versus sparkling. But you know, all those blue bottles look the same! The oversight was easily remedied.
621 has a fine bathroom situation. Glass showers!
Dinner at Sportello was very nice. It’s always great to catch up with old friends. Afterwards, our plan was to sneak down to drink by the back stairs. Our plan failed when we were told we would have to stand around for 20 minutes before getting a seat. Things used to be much smoother between drink and sportello three years ago! Ezra was in London anyway.
Fortunately the manager at sportello detected our disappointment and ushered us right next door to Menton’s Gold Bar.
Grappa based cocktails from @MentonBoston pic.twitter.com/2eZr7GkgOH
— noplasticshower (@noplasticshower) October 6, 2016
Cap’n Cook
.75 oz chamomile syrup (2:1)
.25 oz luxardo lemoncello
.5 oz salers
1.5 oz grappa
1 dash Dr. Adam Elmegirab’s spanish bitters
1 gram olive oil powder
Stir down. Serve over large cube. Spoon powder on cube.
Spectre
1 oz grappa
.25 ransom old tom gin
1.5 oz barolo chinato
The barrel aged Boulevardier that Patrick made was so good that we had to go down to Bambara and get another!
The aged boulevardier was so good, NPS needed another @Kimpton Patrick says hi @LoveTequila pic.twitter.com/K969exDgT0
— noplasticshower (@noplasticshower) October 6, 2016
Dinner at Craigie on Main was spectacular as always. Whole roasted chicken, great wine, and superior cocktails makes Craigie a top destination.
Nice back bar @craigieonmain pic.twitter.com/IFL861YTox
— noplasticshower (@noplasticshower) October 6, 2016
A final nightcap or two at Journeyman backbar included house made milk punch and a Liberal made with real Amer Picon. Somebody has been to France!
Backbar @eatatjourneyman has Picon. So liberal. pic.twitter.com/FDTp6XpWl8
— noplasticshower (@noplasticshower) October 7, 2016
All told this was a five showerhead visit to Boston hands down. Lets do it again!
The Dean to the Rescue: Providence, RI
September 7, 2016
Ever had one of those trips where you arrived just to find out that the arrangements that you thought were made were not made? Like, you go to the hertz lot on the shuttle and they don’t have you in their system? Good thing for the Presidential level status at Hertz. And also good thing the Dean was able to find some room at the inn! (shew)
The news was not all good, though. Room 415 and its type were all booked up. But sometimes providence shines on you (who could resist that line?), and as it turns out room 401 is ever better than 415. Why? Because the bathroom is bigger and the shower is even more glassy! Hot damn.
401 has room for a bed
And a Morrocan bench (is that ivory?)
Plenty of light on a dreary day
Extra chair in the bathroom? OK
The glass cube shower is NPS approved
It’s nice to be back, and nice to discover a cheaper room category more suited to NPS. I think I have a new favorite room.
Next up, a drink or two at The Magdalenae Room and dinner at the recently James Beard adorned Persimmon.
The fabulous magdalanae room @thedeanhotel. Catherine mixes a mean cocktail. pic.twitter.com/UqVI2xqnLD
— noplasticshower (@noplasticshower) September 8, 2016
The 19th Century
1.5 oz Rye (old overholt)
.5 oz fernet
.5 oz maraschino liqueur
.5 oz dry curaçao
.5 oz lemon juice
Shake. Strain. Serve up. Lemon peel garnish.
Creative and outstanding dinner @PersimmonRI. Thanks chef. pic.twitter.com/XF8q6hw3Gj
— noplasticshower (@noplasticshower) September 8, 2016
A five shower head visit!
Hotel Marlowe and the Ungrateful Bast@%d
June 1, 2016
Spring Rose: Virginia
We left the Spring rose in Virginia for a short visit to Boston on Jet Blue and a quick overnight at our home away from home the Hotel Marlowe. All day meetings and dinner was interrupted by a quick cocktail with GM Joe Capalbo who runs a very tight ship. Joe was rewarded with slightly defrosted pork.
After a fantastic meal at the always great Cragie on Main we finally made it upstairs to 820, our very most favorite room on the property. Maybe we just like the word presidential??
Amenity in the presidential suite
But wait, what is this cocktail? The
Really?? LOL. Nobody suffers at the Marlowe. We can be ungrateful though!
This cocktail needs some adjustment into what we’ll call the Ungrateful Bast@%rd as follows:
1 oz cask strenth bourbon
1 oz Dolin’s dry vermouth
1 oz lemon
stir down. in an ice filled high ball, add Fever Tree ginger beer to the top.
Serve with a cheese plate.
No really, we’re actually very grateful!
820 has some new gear and some old gear. It is a gorgeous room.
Sleeping quarters
Sitting quarters
Bathing quarters
One of my favorite parts of visiting the Hotel Marlowe is the valet guys who I have come to know over the years. It is always nice to see them.
Marlowe circle art.
Is it green? Is it blue? who knows?
Fiver showerheads in perpetuity for the Hotel Marlowe (and some pork ribs xrayed by the TSA).
Eventi in the City: NY
March 11, 2016
The Eventi has done fantastic things to their lobby: new bar, open design, coffee shop, street level buzz. It is an important upgrade.
Who replaced the lobby??? Eventi @kimoton NYC pic.twitter.com/zJlDN1nHBK
— noplasticshower (@noplasticshower) March 10, 2016
Karma-wise, though, NY is much less personal than the Palomar in DC. It’s the people who make all the difference. Everyone was friendly enough, but NY has so much throughput and staff turnover that nobody recognizes anybody. Oh well.
I was in 1515
1515 Eventi mini-suite
The Eventi mini-suite design is compact, and spacious for NY, but pretty small by the rest of the world’s standards.
1515 sitting area
As always, it was nice to have a note and an amenity from Kimpton. Thanks you guys! The olives were particularly good at 1am after a visit to Lantern’s Keep for a 10:30 meeting.
A visit to @Lanternskeep (no more @thisfellow) for some conversation pic.twitter.com/4fdGCHwb3T
— noplasticshower (@noplasticshower) March 10, 2016
The Roman Highball
2 oz cynar
.75 ginger syrup
.5 lime
1/2 egg white
shake vigorously. pour in highball and add seltzer
1515 bed pod with view of empire state building
Blue today
The shower design at the Eventi is particularly fantastic.
Awesome glass and marble palace of a shower
With a bench, because you NEED a bench in the shower
One of those never used tubs
Dinner in tribeca at ROC was fantastic as usual and enhanced by the summer-like weather.
NY penn station @krispykreme fake red deliciousness pic.twitter.com/pVKuQRunC2
— noplasticshower (@noplasticshower) March 10, 2016
Five showerheads for the Eventi (highly recommended) but more wished for personal touch.
That’s How! Palomar DC
March 8, 2016
When Kimpton does it right, it knocks it out of the park. A quick visit to DC to see the astoundingly great Eighth Blackbird at the Kennedy Center was a perfect time to cash in a free reward night at the Palomar in DC. What a treat. More about the performance on apothecaryshed.
Not only were we greeted by the front desk staff and the valet guys who recognized us, we were upgraded to a killer room: 1024.
https://twitter.com/noplasticshower/status/706954693864497155
The new look in 1024 is bright and spacious. Excellent design.
1024 sitting room
And yes, there was sparkling water.
Hey look guys, the palomar has sparkling water! @kimpton karma. pic.twitter.com/eCkyitcmER
— noplasticshower (@noplasticshower) March 7, 2016
We had a cocktail and some oysters with our friend Steph Vogel who ran this hotel for a few years. Steph specializes in lifting a property to its potential, and his touch can still be seen here at the Palomar.
1024 lounge
The window treatments are SO much better!
Natural light on a bright spring-like day
1024 bedroom
What geometry
And yes, the bathroom is huge, with a great glass cube.
The NPS fantasy shower
A private reception at A Bar + Kitchen after the performance was very nice. Meeting the members of Eighth Blackbird was the highlight of course! The mac and cheese was also delish.
Bartender Alexandria Bianco mixed a mean cocktail or two, including the Potomac Bourbon
1.5 Bourbon
.75 St Germaine
.5 Lemon
.5 Honey/sage simple syrup
Blend in champagne flute. Top with prosecco.
As expected @eighthblackbird @kencen was out of this world. Thanks you guys. pic.twitter.com/bkK5NUXB9S
— noplasticshower (@noplasticshower) March 8, 2016
When it comes to hotels, management makes all the difference. Five plus mega showerheads for the Kimpton DC.
Catoctin Creek Distillery: Purcellville, VA
January 3, 2016
Less than two handfulls of miles from the apothecary shed itself is a home grown distillery called Catoctin Creek. Since 2009, Catoctin Creek has been distilling Rye into various award-winning products. We’re partial to the Watershed Gin ourselves.
Catoctin Creek in the old Case building
Baker Bob set up a long talked about distillery tour on a lazy Sunday afternoon. The tour was fantastic, carried out by Scott Harris himself. Excellent.
In between leading questions, Scott taught us some things.
Scott talked us through the process to make Rye, Gin (in run 2), and Brandy.
Step one: Cook the Rye (soon to be more local)
Step two is brewing a rye beer to about 10%.
Step three: transfer beer to still and a 6 hour run.
Gin takes a second distillation plus an infusion.
The bottling machine which caused a pizza party insurrection.
Shipment for Australia
Yeah
Catoctin Creek Tasting Room
Pouring flights
Custom flight: Gin and Two Ryes
The Catoctin product set is certainly made with love. I remain a big fan of the Watershed Gin. The Roundstone Rye is rough and thin at 80 proof. The 92 proof has more body (and less water) and is a better product. I guess around here we’re used to a sweeter mash bill with some corn and wheat and a higher proof. The Catoctin Creek mash is 100% rye.
What does Sammy think of the Brandy?
Aftermath
All told, the afternoon was very well spent with a gracious and committed host doing excellent work. Keep it up Catoctin Creek. We’re damn proud to have you here just over the river.
The fellers say, “Thanks Scott and Becky!”
Back home again with some new stuff to add to the bar.
Watershed Gin always in stock here
Brick and Mortar in Washington DC
December 31, 2015
After an exciting and very fun evening with the Neo-Futurists at the Woolly Mammoth watching (and participating in) “Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind,” we headed out for an after theater cocktail or two.
Souvenir
Our attempt to drop in at barmini was thwarted by their pretentious attitude. Fuck that place.
Fortunately, that meant we ended up at Brick and Mortar for a stellar post show time. We were served (mostly) by Marvin Zaldana who made some classics, played around with a drink or two of ours, and made two cocktails of particular note.
Fall Manhattan
2 oz Rye (Rittenhouse 100)
.5 oz dry port wine
several dashes of angostura
some drops of fresh lemon juice
Modern Vespa
1 oz vodka (pittsburgh’s Boyd and Blair)
1 oz dry gin (london style)
.5 oz cocchi americano
3 drops orange bitters
splash of fresh ginger beer (fever tree)
As you can see, Brick and Mortar has strong roots in great cocktails from the old days with interesting little twists. Delightful.
We were joined by two living neo-futurists.
Can you spot the actors?
Glassaholic: Old Fashioned
November 15, 2015
The Old Fashioned is a classic cocktail ruined by many a bad bar. There are two schools of Old Fashioned making out there. Here at NPS, we’re from the muddling school as you will see. This is a fantastic drink for a Fall day. You’ll need a muddling stick.
The Old Fashioned
2 oz bourbon (we’re using Bowman’s Small Batch here)
orange wheel slice
2 luxardo cherries
4 dashes Fee Brothers Old Fashioned bitters
2 t simple syrup
soda water
Slice an orange wheel and put it into your glass. Add two cherries, the bitters and the simple syrup. Muddle. Add 2 oz of bourbon. Stir. Add ice. Top with soda. Put in an extra cherry if you like cherries!
A delicious drink for the Fall in front of a fire.
RSS - Posts