Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/113109
H akkasan restaurants have made a splash wherever in the world they have landed���so far that includes Abu Dhabi, Dubai, New York and recently San Francisco, among other places. Soon they���ll be landing in Las Vegas, and Gian Carlo D���Urso will be there too, creating the beverage program and designing a menu of spirit offerings that seek to relect the character of the local market. Listening to D���Urso talk about cocktails in the exquisite seven-million-dollar San Francisco space is like listening to Jon Miller talk baseball or Willie Brown talk politics. He is knowledgeable and improvisational. He uses the word integrity a fair amount, and he���s passionate about demonstrating that he has brought it to the bar menu.�� D���Urso has been with the Hakkasan group since it opened its irst restaurant, in London in 2001. He came aboard as the lead bartender at an exciting time for cocktail-makers. ���It was a rebirth of what had happened originally in New York,��� he says. ���We were breaking with the classicism of the cocktail trade. We were using eclectic lavors, eclectic components, and we were doing it with style. It was open ground for bartenders to express their creativity.��� That European eclecticism��has given way to a neoclassic style in the United States. In London, you can order a Manhattan and of course a decent bartender will make a good one, but in the U.S., the Manhattan had better be featured on the menu, ���otherwise they will think you are not a good bar,��� D���Urso says. ���What I did in New York really allowed me to be successful in San Francisco.��� The attention to detail is evident everywhere at Hakkasan���virtually everything was custom-designed for the space. The glassware, the tables, the elegantly carved dark wood that separates the bar from the dining areas. But the bar is the star of this show, its surface a gleaming blue that literally glows from within. The physical layout of the historic One Kearny address is echoed by the triangular 25-seat bar that dominates the sleek and sexy scene. And the custom touches extend behind the bar, as well. D���Urso designed features that make it easier for the bartenders to perform their craft. ���All of the annoyances have been removed,��� as he puts it. And the ingredients are custom, too. When they needed a passion fruit syrup, of course they made it themselves, with organic sugar and fresh fruit. When they needed smoke for their specialty Smoked Negroni, it was made with wood chips that they irst washed and then soaked in Grand Marnier. A smokin��� Negroni. Custom San Francisco Cocktails When D���Urso was looking for liquor suppliers who could bring him the kinds of product he desired for his bar program, Anchor Distilling was an obvious it. Not only is the free-wheeling spirits producer and importer locally based in San Francisco, but it also offers a wide range of hand-crafted spirits that draw on long tradition and cover almost every conceivable category a top-shelf account such as Hakkasan could need. It���s not enough, of course, to throw Manhattans and Old Fashioneds and Whiskey Sours on the bar menu and call it a day. ���I had to ask myself, ���What can I do to make the cocktails special for this city?������ D���Urso says. So San Francisco���s Negroni got the smoke; their Margarita is made with bird���s eye chili���infused Del Maguey Vida Mezcal and their ���Ling Ling��� Sling includes Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur. ���Integrity means not cutting corners,��� D���Urso says. ���You have to have complexity and quality, use natural ingredients, and walk away from artiicialness.��� Rob Roy, Hakkasan-Style D���Urso interprets the Rob Roy. On the day we visit, D���Urso decided to make us a Rob Roy using Old Potrero, an 18th-century-style whiskey from Anchor Distilling, named after the company���s San Francisco location on Potrero Hill.��D���Urso stirred, poured and tasted, and then he talked a bit about what was happening in the glass. ���The [oloroso] sherry is quite dry, and it might bite the whiskey, but the cognac cherry adds to the sweetness. The spices from the vermouth and the sherry balance the fruity character of the whiskey. ��� Why yes they do. ���Do you get a little grass?��� he asks. ���It���s like a toasty grassiness; like when you go riding a horse in the afternoon. ��� march 2013 / the tasting panel / 57