Review: Seattle’s best cocktails

When I was in Seattle recently meeting Gary Vaynerchuk, I got to talking to my bartender. We talked cocktails, as is my wont, and he told me about this little place that I’d never heard of before. Called the ZigZag Cafe, it was apparently the place in Seattle for cocktails.

He told the story that these two young bartenders opened this place so that their friend, this older, rockstar bartender would have a place to shine. He told me that the ZigZag Cafe had, hands down, the most well stocked bar in the city.

I stopped in to check them out, and wow. I was stunned. Seriously stunned, and that’s not an easy feat.

Murray, the bartender, really is a rockstar. He moves so very fast that trying to capture a picture of him is nearly impossible.

I sat down at the bar, and Murray stopped moving, briefly, to ask me what kind spirits I liked. Clear or dark?

I told him that one of my favourite spirits was a good bourbon, and that I favoured Gentleman Jack over regular Jack Daniel’s. He nodded once, held up one finger and off he went.

He created a drink for me that I’ve never even heard of before – one that he knew from an out of print book called “The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks” by David A. Embury. He even showed me his copy of the book, that I didn’t want to handle too much for fear of it falling apart.

The Toronto, not on the ZigZag Cafe menu, is a classic 1950’s cocktail, and one that the girl beside me called “not a girly drink”. (To which I replied, I’m not a girly girl. She grinned and agreed.)

A Toronto is a sipping cocktail for sure… it’s not a quick drink by any means. The next one he made me, which was another Murray creation, was the same. Another sipping cocktail, designed to be savoured.

He called it “Maria’s Manhattan” (Maria being the not a girly girl beside me), and brought out three shot glasses, poured about 1/2 an ounce of each ingredient into each glass and then proceeded to mix the drink.

It was fascinating to me to taste the separate flavours come together in the drink. I’d never had someone sit me down and show me the kind of thing Murray was showing me.

Murray is a true mixologist, one who understands the flavours he’s putting into your glass, and truly wants to offer you something you won’t forget,or get anywhere else. I’ve already told pretty much everyone I know that the next time they go to Seattle, they have GOT to make time to stop at the ZigZag Cafe. I’m trying to figure out exactly when I’ll be able to go back down, just so I can visit Murray. A trip to Seattle used to be for the outlet malls or Nordstroms. Yeah, not anymore. Now, a trip to Seattle won’t be the same without hitting the ZigZag Cafe for a snack and a Toronto, which may just have become my new favourite drink.

Toronto

1 3/4 oz Bourbon
1/2 oz Fernet
1/4 oz simple syrup
2 dashes Angostura Bitters

Shake over ice and strain into a chilled martini glass

Maria’s Manhattan

2 oz Woodford Reserve Bourbon
1/2 oz Antica Formula Sweet Vermouth
2 dashes Fee’s Whiskey Bitters

Shake over ice and strain into a chilled martini glass

(image credit: me!)