Macondo NYC

This past Saturday, my wife and I stopped at Macondo after seeing Chan-Wook Park's amazing new movie, THIRST. Macondo is a Latin restaurant/bar, with interesting mixed drinks created by Junior Merino. Merino worked at Rayuela, which is from the same owners. Incidentally, he also created the drinks menu at Tequilas in my hometown Philly. I didn't go there often, even though it was a block away. I wasn't into tequila back then, and it was always too crowded. And, I was never impressed with their drinks. Junior must have helped them out since I moved to the NY area.

Too cut a long story short, I had an interesting drink at Macondo.

Maiz + Aguardiente (proportions unknown)

Corn and Sage, muddled

Scorpion Mezcal

Aguardiente Antioqueño

Pineapple juice

Lime juice

Shaken, and poured over ice.

The flavor was fascinating, and unique. Almost a perfect Brazilian-style drink. Except in execution. The bartender seemed to half know his trade. His shake was no more than 3 seconds, and rather than straining the drink over fresh ice, he dumped it all into the old fashioned glass. He was a nice guy, and the food looks good, so I will definitely go back.

Today, by chance, when picking up a bottle of Gin, I noticed a bottle of the Antioqueño, along with other Aguardente, on the shelf.

I tried to recreate the drink this evening, and got about 70% there. I need to work on the ratio.