Wednesday, December 21, 2011

GQ Honors Aviary, Ignores Other Chicago Bars

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Aviary Old Fashioned photo via slowcocktails.squarespace.com.

It's cool that Grant Achatz's The Aviary has garnered props left and right since opening earlier this year.

So, I'm not shocked at all that GQ included the molecular-minded, mixology-focused lounge in its Guide to the Next Wave of Cocktails in the January issue:

"At Aviary, boozy brother of Alinea—the fun house of culinary alchemy founded by Grant Achatz—you can't just order a drink. That'd be too easy. Achatz and head bartender Craig Schoettler have painstakingly assembled every cocktail to maximize the theater of it all.

"The Ginger arrives as a solid, garnished with ingredients like micro shiso and finger-lime cells. Pour in a sidecar of Karlsson's vodka, stir with a stick of lemongrass ice, and sip on the spicy-sweet refreshment. Think of it as drinks and a show."

Congratulations, that's awesome, but this makes one wonder did the writer visit any other cocktail-oriented bars while he was in Chicago?! There's a whole slate of bars beyond The Aviary doing similar and even more offbeat techniques with ingredients.

I'm just sayin' . . .

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