The perfect Bronx
It’s saturday evening and I find some spare oranges in the fruit bowl. It’s perfect for a Bronx (a.k.a martini with orange juice) and easing us into an evening watching one of Woody Allen’s finest - Bullets over Broadway - set in 1920s New York.
The Bronx was apparently the third most popular cocktail in the world in 1934 (with the martini and manhattan in top place), after having become wildly successful during the Prohibition era. Although I suspect that all the vermouth and orange juice also conveniently covered the taste of poor bootleg gin, the Bronx, like the martini, still retains a feeling of sophistication about it - despite this great clip from 1933.
The Bronx (perfect style)
- 1/4 oz vermouth rosso
- 1/4 oz dry vermouth
- 1 oz gin
- 1 1/2 oz orange juice
Shake with ice cubes and strain. If you like it drier, skip the vermouth rosso.
Tags: cocktails
June 1st, 2008 at 10:18 am
Excellent stuff a Bronx sounds much classier than a “gin and orange” , although I now feel short changed when ever I’ve had cocktails in town I’m seem to be surrounded by people sqwaking into their mobiles or falling off bar stools not tiller girls and juggling dogs, if only. But whats the guy with evil look up to?
June 3rd, 2008 at 7:07 pm
Martini cocktails are my fave. I had a nice one with melon on Saturday in The Social, just off Oxford St. I agree with BLTP though, so hard to find a classy establishment with which to indulge. Ronnie Scotts may be a good bet, a long time since I’ve been there.
June 4th, 2008 at 3:37 pm
Sadly, BLTP and RE, I think that the classiest venues are the most expensive i.e. the Savoy or the Library Bar at the Lanesborough. I tend not to drink cocktails out for the same reason and because I can’t bring myself to pay the inflated prices.
One place that does classic cocktails and 20s/30s ambience very well is Milk and Honey in Soho (and New York). It’s a private members club but they let plebby non-members into the downstairs bar. http://www.mlkhny.com/
Sadly don’t know anywhere that does juggling dogs though.
June 4th, 2008 at 4:37 pm
Great tip! Will check out said bar next time I’m wandering the streets there, trying to find a recognisable landmark (after 14 years in London that place still fuddles me from time to time).