66 LONGISLANDPRESS.COM • FEBRUARY 2018 66 LONGISLANDPRESS.COM • SEPTEMBER 2017 66 LONGISLANDPRESS.CO M • SEPTEMBER 201-----------TUTU111
Classic feel with a modern touch
By CJ ARLOTTA
Capturing the flavors, scents and
feels of a stiff drink served in a
Prohibition-era speakeasy is Thyme
to Smoke, a Left Coast Kitchen &
Cocktails concoction that would
get Al Capone’s approval.
The popular gastropub in Merrick
uses gin as the base spirit for its
“classic feel” and green tea-infused
white rum to modernize the
cocktail. Just mix in sweetener,
citrus, its namesake herb and add
fire.
“The Thyme to Smoke has actually
been on the menu now for a
few months because it is wildly
popular,” says Matt Klapper, the
bar manager at Left Coast. “People
have been really responding well to
it. Part of it is also because there’s a
little bit of a show involved.”
Gin, which derives its predominant
flavor from juniper berries, peaked
in popularity during the ’20s since
it masked the flavor of poorly
distilled alcohol. The green teainfused
white rum is prepared
in-house.
“We’ll cold infuse for a few hours,”
he says. “You don’t want to let it go
too long because then you’re going
to get the tannic flavor from the
green tea. You don’t want to get the
tannins.”
When time’s up, he removes the
tea bags and pours the liquid into
another bottle. There’s no need
to “go too crazy or craft with an
infusion,” he says.
Next, the freshly squeezed lemon
juice “brightens everything
up,” pulling Thyme to Smoke’s
ingredients together within the
cocktail shaker’s walls.
Of course, Thyme to Smoke would
be missing a key ingredient without
thyme. Sprigs are dropped into
the shaker with everything but a
sweetener.
Adding turbinado syrup sweetens
up the drink a bit. For him, the
added sweetness helps the boozy
cocktail with maintaining its
overall equilibrium.
Despite his initial idea of adding
absinthe to the recipe, he settled on
green chartreuse, which has “a very
unique flavor,” and it’s absolutely
delicious.
“I was considering absinthe,” he
says, but he ruled it out. “I think
that’s kind of overdone these days
with a lot of craft cocktail bars.”
To him, the addition of green
chartreuse gives the drink the same
effect (the same feel, to be exact) he
sought.
“You go to the green chartreuse
to add an element of, again,
something that’s a little more off
the beaten path that maybe not
everybody knows,” he says. “But
if they’re adventurous, willing try
it, they’re going to be pleasantly
surprised that something they
never saw before or are familiar
with winds up being as delicious as
it is.”
The French liqueur is flammable,
which Left Coast’s bar manager
took into consideration, not for the
“wow” factor, but as a way to fortify
the cocktail.
“You got to make sure that
everything you do is improving
the cocktail,” he says. “I figured,
let’s throw some thyme in there…
for the sake of adding flavor to the
cocktail, enhancing it, creating a
little more depth and complexity
— and set it on fire with the green
chartreuse.”
What happens next: The fire, set by
a wooden match, continues to char
the thyme sprigs until the contents
from within the shaker are poured
out over the fire to extinguish the
flame. To catch thyme chunks, the
glass is then strained over ice into a
highball glass. The smoked thyme
is used as garnish.
“That way when you’re bringing the
cocktail to your lips you also get
the aromatic of that smoked
thyme,” he says. “You
can just smell it in
the whole
restaurant.
It’s a really,
really
wonderful
ambiance
creator.”
PRESS MAIN DISH
Matt Klapper, the bar manager at Left Coast, warms up one of his signature cocktails. (Photo by Dan Igneri)
Smoke & Thyme is
best sipped, not inhaled.
Left Coast on fire with Thyme to Smoke