Last summer, OC got you Tipsy and Tan. Now, we're just getting you tipsy. Meet Fridays at Five, our cocktail series where mixologists at New York City’s white-hot new restaurants create OC-exclusive drinks for our readers. Drinking on the job? Don't mind if we do...
Is it just us, or is Wall Street actually happening? Leonardo DiCaprio made banker parties seem sexy (the coke and sexism, though, not so much), Condé Nast now lives in the Freedom Tower, and even Hood By Air moved its show down to 23 Wall Street during the most recent NYFW.
When it comes to post-work drinks, then, it’s not surprising that Wall Street has major game. The latest FiDi digs? Cedar Local, where “Old Money” drinks (negronis, Old Fashioneds) mingle alongside “New Money” concoctions like the warm sipper, the Rum Diggity. For your early-spring shenanigans, bartender John D. McCarthy created a variation on the house drink.
Name: John D. McCarthy
If this drink had a soundtrack, what would it be? "No Diggity” by Blackstreet
Drink of choice: I’m shots. Shots and a beer guy, except I don’t drink beer because I’m allergic to it, so I’m a shot and a cider.
Hangover cure: Ice cold Coca-Cola. If you just chug an ice-cold Coca Cola to where the CO2 burns your throat, it hurts so good. I don’t know if it’s because I was raised Catholic. And then mimosas. You just slam it down, and it hurts a little bit, but you slam it down and move on.
Best date advice: Be on time. I remember one time this guy was waiting forever by himself, and this woman shows up 45 minutes late, and she’s one of those girls where it’s, like, supposed to be okay. I wanted to be like, bro, move on. She’s 45 minutes late she couldn’t give a shit about you. So yeah, be on time, on both sides. And if you’re there first, have two glasses of something with bubbles to start off the date. And dude, pay the bill! She makes 70 cents to every dollar of yours. Pay the bill, bro.
Worst pick-up: This is when I was at Highlands, and my very beautiful, blond blue eyed cousin came to visit me. And this guy, who thought he was the smoothest dude around, comes up and starts whispering in her ear, right in front of me. She was kinda like, go away, and I look at her and she looks at me, and I see him put his hand on the small of her back. So I yell, “Hey! Get your hands off my cousin!” And he was shocked, he’s like “Dude, it’s cool, I know Andre.” and I was like “You still have your hand on my cousin!” Like, keep your hands to yourself, buddy. Like if you don’t know them? Don’t touch.
What not to do to your bartender: Do not try to have us make a recipe on your smart phone that you’ve had at some place. They’re not having a conversation with me. Dude, just make a conversation with me and we’ll make something together. But when they just hand me a recipe on the phone, it’s like being treated like a waiter. I’m a bartender, goddammit.
Exclusive Recipe: The Dark Diggity
OC Alcohol Scale*: 10
“It’s all booze.”
½ oz. Bacardí Añejo rum
½ oz Highland Park Dark Origins whisky
2 dashes Angostura bitters
¼ oz. wa
Is it just us, or is Wall Street actually happening? Leonardo DiCaprio made banker parties seem sexy (the coke and sexism, though, not so much), Condé Nast now lives in the Freedom Tower, and even Hood By Air moved its show down to 23 Wall Street during the most recent NYFW.
When it comes to post-work drinks, then, it’s not surprising that Wall Street has major game. The latest FiDi digs? Cedar Local, where “Old Money” drinks (negronis, Old Fashioneds) mingle alongside “New Money” concoctions like the warm sipper, the Rum Diggity. For your early-spring shenanigans, bartender John D. McCarthy created a variation on the house drink.
Name: John D. McCarthy
If this drink had a soundtrack, what would it be? "No Diggity” by Blackstreet
Drink of choice: I’m shots. Shots and a beer guy, except I don’t drink beer because I’m allergic to it, so I’m a shot and a cider.
Hangover cure: Ice cold Coca-Cola. If you just chug an ice-cold Coca Cola to where the CO2 burns your throat, it hurts so good. I don’t know if it’s because I was raised Catholic. And then mimosas. You just slam it down, and it hurts a little bit, but you slam it down and move on.
Best date advice: Be on time. I remember one time this guy was waiting forever by himself, and this woman shows up 45 minutes late, and she’s one of those girls where it’s, like, supposed to be okay. I wanted to be like, bro, move on. She’s 45 minutes late she couldn’t give a shit about you. So yeah, be on time, on both sides. And if you’re there first, have two glasses of something with bubbles to start off the date. And dude, pay the bill! She makes 70 cents to every dollar of yours. Pay the bill, bro.
Worst pick-up: This is when I was at Highlands, and my very beautiful, blond blue eyed cousin came to visit me. And this guy, who thought he was the smoothest dude around, comes up and starts whispering in her ear, right in front of me. She was kinda like, go away, and I look at her and she looks at me, and I see him put his hand on the small of her back. So I yell, “Hey! Get your hands off my cousin!” And he was shocked, he’s like “Dude, it’s cool, I know Andre.” and I was like “You still have your hand on my cousin!” Like, keep your hands to yourself, buddy. Like if you don’t know them? Don’t touch.
What not to do to your bartender: Do not try to have us make a recipe on your smart phone that you’ve had at some place. They’re not having a conversation with me. Dude, just make a conversation with me and we’ll make something together. But when they just hand me a recipe on the phone, it’s like being treated like a waiter. I’m a bartender, goddammit.
Exclusive Recipe: The Dark Diggity
OC Alcohol Scale*: 10
“It’s all booze.”
½ oz. Bacardí Añejo rum
½ oz Highland Park Dark Origins whisky
2 dashes Angostura bitters
¼ oz. wa