“Being in Miami—where cocktailing and entertainment are foremost priorities—we became used to a lively bar scene on top of our dining crowd at Le Chick,” says co-owner Coco Coig. “Wynwood has been very good to us, and we saw an opportunity with the space next door to not just expand but to evolve more into the nightlife scene.”

The industrial-chic space (at 310 NW 24th St., Miami) features a retractable roof, a live DJ, and an exclusive cocktail list and bar bites menu by executive chef Nicole Votano. The 2,000-square-foot space also includes a large bar, communal seating and an additional 40 seats for dining.

“We see Le CoqTail as a continuation of what we started with Le Chick,” adds co-owner Jorge Sanchez. “We think it will be a unique addition to the Wynwood scene. You can literally have dinner then segue into a great bar scene by strolling outdoors after your meal.”

Behind the bar is Rebekah Stone, who is responsible for cocktails including the 305 Key Lime Pie, a vanilla vodka mashup with lime foam and a graham cracker rim; the Santeria, stirred up with Zacapa 23 Rum, blood orange liqueur, chocolate bitters and Palo Santo smoke; the Bangin’ Sangria, a red wine blend with blackberry brandy; and La Pelirroja (pictured above), made with blanco tequila, mezcal, lime guava nectar, lime and chili.

“The best-selling cocktail is definitely La Pelirroja,” Coig says. “The chili gives it some kick and the mezcal adds a little smokiness, which is balanced by the other ingredients. People really seem to enjoy the combination of flavors.”

As for a food and beverage pairing, Coig recommends the Bangin’ Sangria with the Royale with Cheese. “Our signature burger needs something on the lighter side to go along with it. The sangria is perfect.”

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“We base all of our recipes on classic cocktails but always add our own Southeast Asian riff to them,” co-owner Aniece Meinhold says. Cocktails call for unique mixes of freshly squeezed juices for sweetness and vibrancy, teas for floral notes and spices for warmth and complexity.

“The names are always ‘inspired,’ too,” she notes. “After all, diners are coming to a restaurant called Phuc Yea. We live in pun. It’s important for us to always make people laugh and smile. Quality and craft without pretense.”

Offerings include the Tear of a Tiger’s Eye, with bourbon, whiskey, tiki bitters and flaming lime; the Phuc It, Just Eat Me, a strawberry martini with jasmine-infused rum, sherry, basil and lime; and the Ladyboy from Hanoi, a cucumber martini with cucumber mint vodka, cilantro and lemon essence.

“The process [for making a cocktail] starts with an inspiration, something concrete and traditional,” Meinhold says. “Then we start to integrate the ingredients, such as what base spirit to use, as well as citrus and juices, and spices.”

On average, it takes Phuc Yea about four months to conceive a new cocktail program. As for the secret to creating the perfect drink, Meinhold says they’re still trying to figure it out.

“To me, the perfect cocktail has to be balanced, and I need to want to order a second one. It also depends on my mood and what I’m doing or eating. Sometimes you feel like a flip-flop, sometimes you feel like a stiletto. Same with a cocktail.”

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That’s because fourth-generation hospitality leaders, brothers Ignazio and Maggio Cipriani, are behind the operation, opening Florida’s first Mr. C property with a restaurant and bar, a rooftop pool and a lobby lounge. Miami’s Mr. C incorporates South Florida’s tropical flair into the property. The hotel also brings the brothers’ famed cocktail, the Mr. C, to the city, created at the first Mr. C hotel in Beverly Hills in 2011.

“I was looking for something refreshing, simple and perfect for the warm weather,” Ignazio Cipriani says.

The prosecco-based drink combines vodka, sweet mandarin purée and a squeeze of tart lemon juice. “Tangerine has that wonderful taste that everybody loves,” he says. “Personally, I think the drink pairs really well with any of our crudo options [at the hotel’s restaurant, Bellini].”

The drink is served everywhere on property, including the pool deck, the Il Giardino courtyard and even inside rooms, but the best spot to sip the cocktail is during a meal at the brothers’ restaurant, Bellini. Influenced by their travels throughout Italy, Bellini features a menu hand-selected by the brothers, featuring a mix of their favorite foods alongside items unique to their upbringing, including baked polenta, tuna carpaccio with avocado mousse, risotto and gnocchi of the day, and Italian charcuterie and cheese.

Il Giardino, a European-style garden patio, and the Bellini Bar follow suit, offering smaller menus of Italian classics as well as the Mr. C cocktail.

“[Our customers] love it,” Cipriani says. “It’s the perfect cocktail to sip while at the pool, in our Il Giardino garden, or accompanying some light dishes. It’s refreshing but with a kick.”

Mr. C

Ingredients

2 ounces mandarin purée

1½ ounces Yacht Club vodka

2½ ounces Cipriani Prosecco

½ ounce lemon juice

Directions

Combine ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake lightly and pour into a rocks glass. Top with additional Cipriani Prosecco to make it extra bubbly for summer nights.

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Guests can cozy up to the extensive bar to enjoy inventive cocktails, over 200 whiskeys and complimentary tapas. Behind the bar rests a 17-foot shelving unit housing the many bottles of whiskey and backlit by alluring red lights. Bartenders use a rolling ladder to reach each customer’s whiskey of choice.

The cocktail menu includes unique creations like the Jack D. Armstrong made with High West Double Rye, chocolate bitters, brown sugar, Filthy Black Cherry and smoked orange zest poured into a cedar-smoked glass. Ask for something sweet and you’ll get the Pink Lady with Tito’s Vodka, lemon juice, spooned honey, raspberries and a healthy serving of prosecco to top it off.

Those looking for a more lively atmosphere can sip their drinks in the furnished courtyard joining the Quarterdeck and Whiskey Neat locations. On any given night, guests can enjoy live music from local bands or an on-site DJ.

For more information about Fort Lauderdale’s newest whiskey lounge, visit whiskeyneatbar.com.

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Rocco’s Tacos

Locations: Fort Lauderdale, Boca Raton, Delray Beach

The Florida favorite offers $6 margaritas and shots, $4 Mexican draft beers, $16 pitchers, and half off tequila bottles. Diners have their choice of more than 300 tequila varieties as well as Rocco’s famous homemade Margarita sour mix.

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Verde

Location: 103 Biscayne Blvd, Miami, at the Perez Art Museum Miami

Nothing complements tequila like the breeze from Biscayne Bay. Try the Verde Spicy Margarita ($14), a mix of ancho reyes, verde poblano liqueur, lime, and agave.

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No. 3 Social

Location: 50 NW 24th St., Miami

Take in the scene at Wynwood’s first rooftop bar, offering its Norman’s Revenge cocktail at a happy hour price of $8 all day long. It includes Don Julio Blanco, agave nectar, lime, jalapeno and black salt.

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El Camino

Location: 15 NE 2nd Ave., Delray Beach; 817 E Las Olas Blvd., Fort Lauderdale

Three exciting drinks await at both El Camino locations: El Camino Spicy Avocado with Blanco Tequila, Combier, avocado, jalapeño and fresh lime ($12); Watermelon-Jalapeno with Blanco Tequila, watermelon juice, jalapeño and smoked sea salt ($12); and the Classic Margarita with Blanco Tequila, agave, lime and house lime bitters ($9.50; featured image above).

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TacoCraft

Locations: Fort Lauderdale, South Miami, Lauderdale by the Sea

Stop in anytime for $5 margarita specials, including unique concoctions such as the Strawberry Basil Margarita, Jalapeno Cucumber Margarita. or Citrus Chili Margarita.

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Shooters Waterfront

Location: 3033 NE 32 Ave., Fort Lauderdale Spicy-Sweet Tequila cocktail ($12), a mixture of Altos Olmeca, mango puree, lime juice and Hellfire bitters.

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If you’re looking to spend the evening in this secluded bar, you’ll have the check out the Room 25 Instagram page for the access code of the night. After locating the secret staircase leading up to the second floor, you can use this password to gain entry. Only the most in-the-know local residents know about this hot spot.

Follow @room25miami on Instagram for the weekly code.

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After a promotion to assistant brewer, Bogota Beer’s founder, Berny Silberwasser, asked Hendrickson to move to Panama to launch his new brewery, La Rana Dorada. After three years in Panama, Hendrickson had no intention of ever moving back to the United States––until Silberwasser gave him the opportunity to open a Latin-inspired brewery in Miami’s Wynwood neighborhood.

“I’ve always had this budding passion for beer,” Hendrickson says. “I was a home brewer for years. When the concept in Wynwood came up, it was too unique to pass up.”

When Hendrickson arrived in Miami, the property where Veza Sur Brewing Co. sits was overrun by thick palms and mango trees. Hendrickson and co-founders Max-Antonio Burger and Asbjorn Gerlach built the structure from scratch, designing every square inch. During construction, the team experimented with brewing methods, slowly putting together what would become Veza Sur’s lineup of signature beers.

“We opened our first pint of beer in August 2017,” Hendrickson says. “It’s been a tremendous almost two years. We spent more time building than being open, but it was all worth it.”

As Wynwood’s craft brewery scene skyrockets, Veza Sur brings a fresh feel to the neighborhood, which is home to a number of breweries, among them J. Wakefield, Wynwood Brewing Co. and Concrete Beach Brewery.

“We’ve spent so much of our lives in Latin America,” Hendrickson explains, “so every beer we make, we try to incorporate those experiences into it. Whether it’s infusing mango, Colombian coffee, or the Colombian fruit lulo into different brews, we’re trying to have fun with it and relate it back.”

Veza Sur’s beers range from craft lagers and Indian pale ales, to sours and the Brazilian chopp (pronounced schoh-pee), a frothy, ice-cold, crisp lager.

“Almost every time we look to make a new beer, we start with some sort of fruit, vegetable or spice from Latin America,” Hendrickson says. “There’s still so many concepts we haven’t explored yet, like making beers with grains, potatoes or indigenous corns. Right now, we actually have beer aging in tequila barrels.”

As one of the fastest-growing breweries in Miami, Veza Sur sells draft beer from Key West to Orlando and Tampa. It also recently launched bottles in South Florida retail stores, including Publix, Total Wine and select gas stations.

“Consumers have a lot of choices, but we’re noticing folks really gravitate toward Veza Sur,” Hendrickson says. “Eventually, we’d love to roll out outside of South Florida, maybe up to Jacksonville, Gainesville and that whole northern part of Florida within the next six to 12 months.”

As Hendrickson looks toward expansion, he’s adamant that Veza Sur’s tap room will always remain the heart of the operation.

“That’s the soul of the Veza Sur experience,” he says. “Someone can come in and try all 20 beers on tap. They can also take a brewery tour and eat great food from Chi-Fa, our on-site food truck. Miami is our bread and butter, and this city resonates the most with what we’re doing. We’ve put our flag firmly in the ground here.”

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If you have to go all cliché this Father’s Day (June 16), ditch the wrapping paper and give Dad something he can sink his teeth into—like a little USDA Prime. Fortunately, for those of us in South Florida, the steakhouse scene includes some of the region’s finest upscale restaurants.

Better still, beef isn’t the only top-shelf option on the menu. To that end, here are six high-end steakhouse suggestions between Delray Beach and Hollywood—and cocktails, both classic and unique, worth considering at each establishment.

• Cut 432 (432 E. Atlantic Ave., Delray Beach): Something classic—Negroni with Ford’s gin, Cocchi Vermouth di Torino, Campari and orange oil. Something different—Smoked Old Fashioned with Buffalo Trace bourbon, black walnut bitters, Demerara light brown sugar and white oak.

• Steak 954 (401 N. Fort Lauderdale Beach Blvd., Fort Lauderdale): Something classic—The Executive with Knob Creek bourbon, Aperol, Carpano Antica Formula sweet vermouth, IPA syrup and grapefruit bitters. Something different—Seeing Stars with Brugal 1888 rum, Smith & Cross rum, Trois Rivières white rum, Plantation OFTD rum, pineapple-ginger shrub, pomegranate grenadine and fresh lime (limit two per patron).

• NYY Steak (Seminole Casino Coconut Creek; 5550 NW 40th St., Coconut Creek): Something classic—Wall Street Sidecar with Remy Martin VSOP, Grand Marnier Cordon Rouge and fresh lemon. Something different—Bone In NY with Hudson Baby bourbon infused with bone marrow, fresh lemon, white pepper syrup, Angostura bitters and nutmeg (pictured above).

• Runyon’s (9810 W. Sample Road, Coral Springs): Something classic—Runyon’s Old Fashioned with Michter’s Straight Rye, Bitter Truth aromatic and orange bitters, simple syrup, orange twist and a filthy black cherry garnish. Something different—Runyon’s Sazerac with Flor de Caña 12-year rum, simple syrup, Bitter Truth Creole bitters, absinthe mist and a lemon twist.

• Diplomat Prime (The Diplomat Beach Resort; 3555 S. Ocean Drive, Hollywood): Something classic—Manhattan with Colonel E.H. Taylor small-batch bourbon, Carpano Antica Formula sweet vermouth and Angostura bitters. Something different—Tommy’s Margarita, with blue agave tequila, agave nectar and fresh-pressed lime juice.

• JWB Prime Steak and Seafood (Margaritaville Beach Resort; 1111 N. Ocean Drive, Hollywood): Something classic—JWB Martini with Belvedere vodka, Dolin blanc vermouth, Angostura orange bitters and pickled pineapple olives. Something different—Bourbon Berry Smash with Maker’s Mark, lemon juice, simple syrup and muddled raspberries and blackberries.

The post Father’s Day Special: Steakhouses and Cocktails appeared first on Lifestyle Media Group.

Think of the Wynwood-based business as a bartender in a bottle, where each cocktail blend—from mimosas to margaritas—is meticulously crafted with organic ingredients, like Florida grapefruit and Sicilian oranges.

Created in 2013 by Ross Graham and Simon Benstead, Miami Cocktail Co.’s wine-based, ready-to-serve products were born from a desire to offer high-quality cocktails, made with real ingredients and sold at affordable prices.

“Simon and I have known each other for years,” Graham says. “We both come from a hospitality background, and, over time, we noticed the market’s need for something authentic.”

Five years and thousands of tastings later, Miami Cocktail Co. products are available around South Florida, California and even the United Kingdom. Its products are sold at some of the most recognized retailers too, including Total Wine, The Fresh Market and Whole Foods.

“People demand more,” Graham says. “We live in a Whole Foods world, and, at the end of the day, consumers care what they’re putting in their bodies, even when it comes to alcohol.”

Benstead adds: “Almost every other category in the grocery store, from dairy to meat, is moving toward better ingredients and more accountability. But it’s always slow to innovate in the spirits industry, which is why we decided to take the plunge and launch our own products.”

Miami Cocktail Co.’s main product line, Small Batch Originals, includes Blood Orange Mimosa, Copper Pot Margarita and Sunset Sangria, all of which are gluten-free with no additives, preservatives, artificial colors, flavors or sweeteners, and negligible sulfites, which means a lower chance for a hangover.

The margarita, Benstead’s favorite, blends pure blue agave wine with Key lime juice and Valencia orange juice. The mimosa, the brand’s No. 1-selling product at Whole Foods, calls for sparkling wine, with blood orange, tangerine and grapefruit juices. The margarita is made with red wine, pineapple, and mango, orange and lime juices.

“We’re offering recognizable cocktails, but we’ve also put a lot of thought into them in terms of what ingredients we use,” Benstead says. “It’s not just orange and Champagne.”

Besides flavor, Miami Cocktail Co.’s products offer noticeable value compared to traditional cocktails. Each Small Batch Original, priced at $15, weighs in at 750 milliliters and measures slightly above three cups. Benstead and Graham say one bottle generally serves about four people.

“If we walked into a bar and asked for a mojito, we’re going for the experience of a bartender muddling limes and mixing it right in front of us,” Benstead says. “We’re giving you all that, but it’s already done.”

Earlier this year, the company launched its first single-serve cans in a spritz collection, featuring flavors like Elderflower and Ginger Margarita, Mandarin Rosé Mimosa, Sunrise Rosé Sangria, and Mango Peach Rosé Bellini. It also debuted a brand-new storefront and private tasting room at its Wynwood headquarters, which offers pairing events and art installations.

“We’ll never replace the experience of walking into a bar and ordering a cocktail, but now we’re giving people the chance to sip that same quality drink without paying a fortune or traveling far,’ Graham says. “Not to mention, you can also pronounce every single ingredient inside each one.”

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The problem was, it really did surprise them.

“Watermelon doesn’t come in quite as sweet during the winter,” says Josh Perfit, general manager of El Camino in Fort Lauderdale (817 E. Las Olas Blvd.). “So, we decided to take it off—and there was an uproar. People started freaking out.”

Suffice it to say, watermelon-jalapeño made a quick and triumphant return—and hasn’t left the margarita menu since. It’s an episode that speaks to the love affair that customers in Palm Beach and Broward counties have developed with the craft cocktail program at El Camino, one that’s built around farm-fresh fruit, homegrown herbs and house-made syrups and infusions.

In the case of the dozen-plus custom margaritas typically offered—six of which will be featured on National Margarita Day (Feb. 22)—El Camino further distinguishes itself with in-house juicing that begins every day at 7 a.m. In addition to the requisite lime juice needed for the classic margarita recipe, the mixologists juice lemons, grapefruit, oranges, pineapples, watermelon—and even cactus (for the aptly named cactus margarita).

But the made-from-scratch vibe doesn’t end there. El Camino also concocts its own agave (including vanilla and habanero flavors), syrups (like the hibiscus-habanero cordial used in the tequila sunrise), lime bitters and different salts for rimming margarita glasses (think vanilla salt or coconut salt).

“We don’t believe in using pre-batch mixes and ingredients that don’t [add anything] to the drink,” Perfit says. “Our goal is to make amazing cocktails.”

To that end, it also doesn’t hurt that El Camino boasts one of the largest lists of tequila and mezcal in the country—more than 430 combined bottles at last count.

Your Featured Acts

Among the margaritas being spotlighted on National Margarita Day (Feb. 22) at El Camino:

Kiwi-Mint (pictured): Blanco tequila, muddled kiwi and mint, garnished with a kiwi wheel

Spiced Pear: Fresh lime, pear cordial, spiced pear tequila and baking spices

Cactus: Blanco tequila, cactus shrub, fresh lime and cardamom

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