The Gingko Blues
Stepping into Gingko Blue, the new nightclub on the corner of Fore and Union streets, one is immediately struck by its swanky, downtown atmosphere. The room has a long and open layout. The bar is beautiful, with a translucent blue top and a wide back-shelf of liquors divided by brightly lit white columns. It seems like some liquors were chosen solely for the way they look (like the trumpet-shaped bottle of Jazz Trumpet Polish Vodka). Even the tap system is tasteful.
Lovely as the bar is, my drinking companion and I chose to sit in the lounge beyond, where jazz and blues acts play four or five nights a week. Though there’s no wall or curtain, the lounge feels distinctly detached from the bar. The manager, Nicole, said the room was designed so patrons at the bar can have conversations even when there’s live music in the lounge, and jazz-heads in the back can dig the musicians without being distracted by what’s happening in the front of the house.
Gingko Blue has two drink menus: one for beer and wine, and another for cocktails. The beer and wine list is thoughtful and reflects the classy atmosphere the place strives to create. Wine connoisseurs will be able to find something satisfying. The beer selection is dominated by high-end microbrews, mostly from away, and most priced between $5 and $8. The Beer Sampler is a good deal: four eight-ounce glasses of draft beer for $8.
The cocktail menu is divided into four sections: Jazzy Spirits, Sparklings, Blues Baby and Prohibition Era.
Notable among the Jazzy Spirits is the Muddled Pimm’s Cup ($12), which contains house-infused cucumber mint gin. The Sparklings include half a dozen drinks, most finished off with Prosecco, for those who like their cocktails crisp. The Blues Baby drinks all contain something “blue,” like the Gingko Blue Star Cosmo ($14), with its blend of Ultimate and Skyy pineapple-infused vodka, a bit of blue Curaçao, lime and cranberry juice.
As one interested in cocktail history, I was excited to see a section devoted to Prohibition-era drinks, though the selections don’t all date from that period. I was tempted by the Soul Kiss ($10), which combines Jim Beam Rye Whiskey with the 19th century aperitif Dubonnet, a blend of French and Italian vermouths, and orange juice. But ultimately I fell back to one of my standards: the French 75 ($10).
The French 75 is a good test of how a bartender reconstructs early cocktails. A simple drink, it requires only gin, lemon juice, sugar and champagne. It’s shaken and usually served straight up, the champagne added after the strain to retain its carbonation. Ginkgo Blue serves the drink in a martini glass. The bouquet was thin and citrus-y, just as it should be, but upon taking a sip, I found the cocktail unexciting. It had the right balance of sweetness and tartness, but lacked suitable carbonation, leaving it flat on the attack. It’s hard not to notice a fault like that in a drink known for its crisp punch. Perhaps the bartender was too light with the champagne, or shook the drink too long, diluting the base. Whatever the case, it was disappointing.
My next drink was the Muddled Pimm’s Cup. I have sympathy for any bartender who has to make more than one of these on a busy night. It takes some time to prepare, but it’s worth it. My drink was packed with ice and chunks of pulpy lemon, green apple and cucumber, and garnished with a cucumber slice. It tasted like it looked: thick and heavy. There’s a lot going on in this drink, all the flavors muscling in on one another, the botanicals of the gin wrestling with the citrus. The mint in the cucumber-mint-infused gin must have lost this fight. It was nonexistent. But the cucumber, helped by the muddle, shimmered at the top of the profile. Definitely recommended.
The Spun Luigi ($10), from the Prohibition Era section, is slightly more problematic. It’s a Bronx Cocktail at heart (a martini with orange juice), a true Prohibition-era drink profiled in Ted “Dr. Cocktail” Haigh’s excellent Vintage Spirits & Forgotten Cocktails. To give this version its “spin,” a measure of Sharkwater is added. Sharkwater is a tropical fruit liqueur with a taste that’s not comparable to anything made before the 1980s. It’s almost pungently sweet, like candy syrup that wraps around your tongue. When mixed into a Bronx, the gin works against that sweetness, creating a very palatable flavor. It also gives the cocktail a green hue — hence the reference to Luigi, Mario’s brother, who wears a green hat and shirt.
The Spun Luigi comes off more like an ’80s imitation than a tribute to a drink of the ’20s. It’s a good cocktail; it just seems misplaced and, like most of the cocktails here, overpriced by about $3.
It seems like Gingko Blue is trying to be two things at once: an ultra lounge for trendy twentysomethings and a jazz club for older professionals. The short-seated, high-backed chairs in the lounge, the wavy ceiling sculpture and the metallic gingko tree make the interior look like a cross between Alice in Wonderland and Miami Vice. I found the experience of drinking there rather vapid; more style than substance. If you miss Una, the upscale ultra lounge that formerly operated a block down the street, then Gingko Blue is the bar for you.
— Carl Currie
