Drink of the Month
By Raven Burnett
The search for March’s coveted “Drink of the Month” award took me on a long journey to several clubs at various parts of Manhattan. After having my mouth turned inside out by the ridiculously tart bing-cherry Mojito at Agave and then having first my wallet throttled by Nerveana’s $20 cover fee and then my memory unpleasantly jolted by the return of Ricky Martin (this time as the hideous Ricky Martini), March’s prospects were not looking good at all.
At one in the morning, I still hadn’t found my Drink of the Month and I was getting tired, and desperate. At the behest of one my cohorts I allowed myself to be abducted uptown to a posh little club called AVA located at the top of the newly launched Dream Hotel on West 55 th St. Here dim lighting and “artistic” portraits of naked starlets formed a suitable distraction for when one was not staring slack-jawed at the 360 degree panoramic view of the New York City skyline.
Already dizzy from the elevator ride up I approached the bar and spoke with the rather severe looking bar manager named Mitchell Merl who recommended either the Key Lime Martini or a drink which I assumed had been named in his honor: The Blue Merl.
Having been burned once already that evening from the Ricky Martini, I went for the Merl, a dreamy concoction of Stoli Oranj, Blue Curacao, pineapple juice and ginger ale. At $15 a glass it should have tasted like the very spittle of God in an iced stem. Luckily, it did and I’m pleased to say that The Blue Merl, made by the good people at AVA, receives the prestigious title of Drink of the Month for March 2005.
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