In the Spirit For a number of recent years it was like prohibition all over again – the Ramos Fizz all but disappeared from restaurant menus, shelved along with properly made Caesar salads when the public grew fearful of consuming raw eggs after a couple of salmonella incidents brought media hype to a fevered pitch. When I became editor of the Marina Times in 2002, I started a column called “In the Spirit” to celebrate liquor and cocktails. But when the “mixology” craze hit, I became bored quickly with self-indulgent $20 specialty concoctions (“We grow the basil in the restaurant garden; infuse our house-distilled vodka with essence of heirloom tomatoes; muddle the basil with Antimo Caputo 00 flour; and coat the rim of the glass with mozzarella di bufala dust – we call it the Margheritini. ...”). Though “mixologists” still abound, among the many trends I like lately at some of the City’s hottest restaurants (including menus that fit on one page, doors staying open from lunch through dinner, and food served past midnight) is the return of real barkeeps, and along with them, real cocktails. Restaurants like the Marina’s Café Des Amis (2000 Union Street) are bringing back some rare libations with long histories in San Francisco (Picon Punch) and, much to my delight, true classics like the Ramos gin fizz. This back-to-basics approach has inspired me to bring back “In the Spirit.” Not that I don’t enjoy an occasional Margheritini – we’ll present some wildly whipped up originals here, too – but for this first column, I am sharing the recipe for the Café Des Amis Ramos gin fizz, which barkeep Stephen Garcia made for me during a recent brunch date there. I enjoyed my Café Des Amis Fizz with one of my favorite brunch dishes, eggs Benedict, with a San Francisco twist: fresh Dungeness crab. This is also one my favorite things to make at home during crab season – it’s great when you have a group of friends over because you can do much of the prep work ahead of time. The secret to a delicious crab Benedict is, of course, the freshest crab you can find – I buy mine at the Fishermen’s Grotto crab pots on the wharf, where the Geraldi family has been stirring the pots since 1935; it’s worth the drive and a couple extra bucks per pound to get crab caught that day and scooped right out of the boiling water – the sweetness and firmness is incomparable (I find supermarket crabs to be bland, and many times they are previously frozen or arrived at the store a day or more ago). Ask for a heavy crab – contrary to popular belief, the best meat is not in the claws, but in the body. A heavy crab means large, rich hunks of body meat. The expert team will crack and clean your crab, but I prefer to bring mine home whole. As the granddaughter of a Sicilian fisherman and the daughter of a certified crab fiend father, I learned to crack and clean crustaceans standing on a stool over the sink when I was 8 years old. I like doing it myself because I use the hepatopancreas, or “butter” (the yellow, mushy digestive gland found inside the back – basically crab foie gras) in my hollandaise sauce; if you have someone else crack and clean the crab, you lose all that creamy goodness. For the gin in my Ramos Fizz, I prefer Tanqueray No. Ten, which counts among its numerous awards “Best White Spirit” three times in a row at the San Francisco World Spirits competition. Hand crafted in small batches, it is the only gin in the world distilled with handpicked, fresh, whole-fruit botanicals, which adds citrus notes to the juniper for a crisp, bright finish. Café Des Amis Ramos Gin Fizz 1½ ounces gin Dungeness crab eggs Benedict Water Fill a large, wide nonstick or stainless steel pot or a round enameled cast iron Dutch oven (I prefer the Dutch oven; my favorite brands are Le Creuset and Staub) with 6–8 inches of water; add vinegar. Hollandaise Sauce 1 cup European-style butter In a small saucepan, melt butter over medium-low heat until bubbling but not brown. |
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