Our final stop for Tuesday, July 23 on the Tales of the Cocktail tour around New Orleans was at Hotel St. Vincent, where members of Macchialina and Cafe Spaghetti, Italian restaurants located in Florida and New York, respectively, prepared a delicious dinner. The event was put on by spirit brands Pernod Ricard, Italicus, Malfy Gin, and Perrier-Jouët.
Pernod Ricard is a French company and the second-largest wine and spirits seller in the world. The company is best known for its anise-flavored spirits: Pernod Anise and Ricard Pastis. Italicus is a bergamot rosolio manufactured in Italy. They source their bergamot, flower varieties, and fruits from local Italian areas. Malfy Gin creates wine, spirits, and beer named after American socialite “The Unsinkable Molly Brown.” Lastly, Perrier-Jouët focuses on French made champagne that first became popular in French royal courts.
The menu was composed of Chef Bites, Grazing Station, and Handhelds. The main chef bite provided by Cafe Spaghetti was Whipped Ricotta Crostini with truffle honey, hazelnuts, and rosemary. Provided by Macchialina was Cicchetti, made with speck (smoked prosciutto), pecorino cheese, and tuscan kale.
At the grazing station, there was a selection of Formaggi, Antipasta, and Salumi being freshly cut off of the original chuck. For the handheld meal selection, someone was hand shucking fresh oysters and handing out cannolis.
This was by far our favorite event of the day. The crab pasta and speck cheese bites were fantastic. The greatness didn’t just stop at the food, there was even entertainment. An artist let guests sit in front of him as he drew caricature drawings of themselves on the back of a “Red Sauce Responsibly!” coaster that you could take home as a souvenir.
Red Sauce Responsibly had a loaded drink menu that featured Bambini ‘Tinis, cocktails, champagne, and a featured drink; the Manager Meeting made with Del Maguey Vida and Amaro Montenegro. They even offered a spirit free drink called Sauced, Responsibly that was a creamy mix of coconut milk, lemon juice, and simple syrup.
The Bambini ‘Tinis were Tell Michael Not To Let The Sauce Stick: made with Beefeater, tomato infused Lillet Blanc, and a pinch of salt, as well as Ay Bay Bay: a bay leaf infused Malfy Originale, Vermouth and onion brine. One of the featured cocktails was The Billy Wolter which was a creamy concoction of Redbreast 12, Ramazzotti, Espresso, Irish Cream Foam, and hazelnut. The second featured cocktail was Brooklyn in the Summer, made with Malfy Originale, Italicus, coconut milk, and lemon.
Nothing goes better together than pasta, spirits, and entertainment! We look forward to attending next year’s Red Sauce Responsibly event at Tales of the Cocktails and hope it will be just as great.
Words by Emily Cigan @emily.cigan and Amy Harris @thetraveladdictig