Eats

Drink of the Day: Café V's Pontiac Point

by Elizabeth Rose

It's a seasonal and strong concoction. When the crew at Café Vermilionville was working on the restaurant's Mardi Gras cocktail menu, it went with names first. The king cake martini was an obvious choice, and then the restaurant's frontwoman, Andrea Veron, came up with a name that needed a cocktail to match: Pontiac Point, after the intersection of Jefferson, Surrey and Simcoe streets where the Mardi Gras parade route begins.

Photo by Elizabeth Rose

Café V's sous chef, Patout Waters, helped concoct the cocktail with an array of ingredients: mint leaves, rosemary, local kumquats, soda and fresh squeezed lime (fresh squeezed juices are the newest addition to the Café V bar) mixed with Stoli and Grand Marnier - with a little Courvoisier floated on top.

The mixture is a definite thirst-quencher and is sunny enough to brighten even the drab forecasted Fat Tuesday weather. The restaurant is open today for lunch 11 a.m. until 2 p.m. and dinner tonight and tomorrow night from 5:30 p.m. until 9 p.m. They're closed Tuesday, but open Monday for lunch and dinner.

If you want more than just drinks, the restaurant's Mardi Gras food menu also has some snacks for pre-parade, pre-ball or any ol' occasion. The Café V Carnival Sampler is available in plates for one, two or four people and comes stocked with a lobster BLT, oysters Rockefeller, crawfish beignets, bacon-wrapped shrimp, fried pickles and grilled andouille. The foie gras PB&J is also available in the same plate sizes with seared foie gras on brioche with cashew butter and Primo's Farmer's Daughter's pepper jelly.

Find Café Vermilionville online here and at 1304 W. Pinhook Road.