58 LONGISLANDPRESS.COM • JUNE 2018
PRESS MAIN DISH
THE BRIXTON:
FRIENDLY WITH UNAGI
By CJ ARLOTTA
Fans of the ’90s sitcom Friends don’t
have to study martial arts to get a
taste of unagi. Instead, they can hit
The Brixton in Babylon for its rumbased,
comically inspired cocktail.
The bar’s mixologists named
the creation after what David
Schwimmer’s character Ross
claimed to be a state of total
awareness he’d developed from
years of studying karate. In reality
and unknown to the character,
unagi is a Japanese word for
freshwater eel. But for The Brixton,
the word complemented the
cocktail because the combination of
Asian ingredients initially sparked
the creativity behind the finished
product.
“I was at a Japanese restaurant,
drinking a beer that had yuzu in
it, and I was eating miso soup —
something so simple,” says veteran
bartender Thomas Crawford, who
created the cocktail. “I was noticing
how you have that umami flavor
that’s cutting through the citrus
notes and vice versa. They were
really playing well with each other.
A style of cocktail I’m a big fan of
the sour style cocktail, so I took
that inspiration and put it to play in
unagi.”
The drink’s ingredients include
white rum, nori syrup, yuzu juice,
sansho, meringue, egg white and a
nori chip.
“It’s a balance between earthy,
grassy and bright citrus notes,”
he says. “You have the depth of
those earthy, grassy notes, but then
adding to the complexity, you have
the bright yuzu citrus.”
It can be found on the latest
themed seasonal cocktail menu at
The Brixton, which opened nearly a
year and a half ago. Their first menu
was hip-hop inspired, including
cocktails such as “Going Back
to Cali” and “Ride or Rye.” The
restaurant, which also puts a heavy
focus on concocting craft cocktails,
centered its second cocktail menu’s
theme around ’ 90s sitcom Seinfeld
with drink titles such as “Is that
Cashmere?” “Serenity Now!” and
“Del Boca Vista.”
The latest version is a nod to the
staff’s camaraderie.
“The reason why we actually chose
Friends is because we all have a
really good relationship with one
another behind the bar,” Crawford
says. “Ariana the bar manager
didn’t want to take this all on
by herself, so we all sat down
together, as friends ourselves,
and we put our heads together
and composed this new cocktail
program.”
The unagi was one of Crawford’s
contributions to the new cocktail list.
“I’m heavily inspired by Japanese
culture, in that I love their form of
service,” he says. “In the kitchen,
Phil has been playing with Asian
ingredients himself. We have a
ramen noodle night. We have a
steamed pork bun night, so I just
wanted to create a cocktail that I
think would be able to pair with
these foods.”
To make the cocktail, Crawford adds
the white rum, nori syrup, yuzu
juice and egg white into a cocktail
shaker tin. He then vigorously
shakes the tin without ice for 10
seconds. He then adds ice and goes
back to shaking the shaker with the
same strength as before for another
10 seconds. Afterward, he double
strains the cocktail into a coupe
glass. He then dusts the meringue
with sansho and adds a nori chip to
complete The Brixton’s Unagi.
“People have been loving it —
especially industry people,” he says.
“For those who want a really good
cocktail to pair with some of the
Asian-inspired offerings on our
menu, and are adventurous and like
to try new things, I think this is a
great cocktail.”
The Brixton is located at 111 Deer
Park Ave. in Babylon. They can
be reached at 631-587-2000 or
thebrixtonbabylon.com
Thomas Crawford, bartender at The Brixton in Babylon, drew from
Japanese influences when creating the Unagi.
No joke: The Brixton in Babylon
named the Unagi, pictured right,
after a bit on the sitcom Friends.