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COCKTAIL FEATURE EVENTS VIDEOS ABOUT CONTACT PRODUCTION CREDITS ARCHIVE |
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FROM ALL OF US AT THE LIQUID CHEF, INC., WE WISH YOU A PROSPEROUS YEAR.
THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO CONTRIBUTED TO MAKING 2010 MEMORABLE. PLEASE RAISE
A GLASS AND TOAST TO NEW MEMORIES AND SUCCESSES. ALSO, WE AT THE LIQUID CHEF, INC ARE PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE THAT ARE WEBSITE IS NOW AVAILABLE IN SPANISH SO PLEASE VISIT US AT WWW.THELIQUIDCHEFINC.COM NOS COMPLACE COMUNICARLES QUE NUESTRO SITIO WEB ESTA DISPONIBLE EN ESPANIOL: WWW.THELIQUIDCHEFINC.COM |
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| COCKTAIL FEATURE | ||||
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Porfiriato 1/2 oz orange juice 1/2 oz pink grapefruit juice 1/2 oz Dainzu Aloe Vera & Lemongrass Syrup 1 1/2 oz brut champagne 1/4 oz lemon juice 1 1/2 oz Siembra Azul Blanco 1 oz Jarritos Toronja (grapefruit soda) Chill all ingredients first. Build cocktail in a large wine glass and stir gently. Garnish with small slices of orange, lime, lemon, sugar cane, and one tejocote. This cocktail was designed to acknowledge the French influence within Mexican history, from 1876-1911 under the regime of Jose de la Cruz Porfirio Diaz Mori. This cocktail is a great example of fusion, meshing the tradition and spirit of Mexico (tequila) with the heart of France (champagne). |
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| EVENTS | ||||
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Mexico: The Journey Daniel Sanchez As a person who is not so good at speaking Spanish at the moment, I was in a unique position to judge my entire trip by the reactions of others around me. My journey began when we arrived in Mexico City on the red eye from NYC. I looked out the window of the airplane and was greeted with the majestic sight of Mexico City. The place is huge! So huge in fact that tries as hard as I might, I couldn't see the other side. Even past the horizon point, the lights of homes and offices continued to glow. This is where Juan Carlos and "his driver" as I like to call him, met us for the first time. Our destination was Puebla. |
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The drive was breathtaking. Even in my sleepy haze, I was captivated by the
landscape. For some reason I had it in my head that agave species would only
be cultivated on farms much like the way the US cultivates corn. I was very
wrong in this judgment. Agave was everywhere! It covered the scenic
landscapes along with the obvious cactus and made for a very beautiful
composition via digital camera. Another element, which took me by surprise,
was the effect of the heat emitted by the sun. I knew Mexico would be very
warm but even in the car the sun made its presence noticed. Upon arrival in Puebla, I was greeted by the wonderful sight of people preparing for the celebration of Mexican independence. There were beautiful banners hanging from many buildings alluding to the holiday. Puebla is beautiful! The architecture and art in Puebla is like nothing I had ever seen. As I would soon find out, the art and architecture is very different as you go from city to city. I was also amazed to see the vast amounts of churches and cathedrals in one city, each unique from the others. Religion obviously plays a very important role in Mexican society. |
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Our next stop was Oaxaca, which is the most traditional part of Mexico. Even
better, we were going to be there while the celebration of the Day of The
Dead was going on! What luck! The buildings for the most part are made in a
very traditional manner. Even newer buildings are done in this fashion. As a
person who is used to seeing concrete and steel everywhere, this was fresh
and new. We met Juan Carlos and a man named Francisco who for the most part is a jolly individual with eager eyes. He speaks English very well. We had dinner at the restaurant where we were to conduct two mezcal seminars. Dinner was amazing, made from scratch and from what I gather, from family recipes. I had agua de tuna for the first time and fell in love. Even the juices are made fresh! Yum. Oaxaca was also the place where I tried fresh pulque. There is no comparison to the taste of fresh pulque. It is superb, considering the only kind I had consumed before was from a can. The seminars were very interesting. Everyone seemed eager to see what Junior had to say and show. Even still, they were also a bit apprehensive with the idea that mezcal can be tampered with or besmirched by adding other elements into the equation. They at first did not seem like cocktail people. This quickly changed when we began introducing such things as Junior's Foam and the Mexican Hot Chocolate, which contain mezcal. |
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The event in Mexico City for the ambassadors reminded me very much of events we have done in NYC. The Fancy Food Show and Star Chefs events come to mind. There were new products as far as the eye could see and it was done in a convention style. Even still, as soon as we were set and handing out cocktails we had a massive crowd. Some delegates came back for more within minutes. Some took handfuls of cocktails and gave them to others. It was infectious to the point that it seemed as if we were the only ones working at the convention. At the end, the ambassadors asked to have pictures taken with The Liquid Team and the cocktails created by Junior. I can safely say that the cocktails were a big hit. | |||
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Guadalajara, my favorite place in Mexico, was the next destination on this
crazy and fun tour. It was also where Junior conducted two different tequila
seminars. Again, people were a bit skeptical with the thought that
transforming tequila into a cocktail might befoul this national spirit. The
end of the seminar shattered this doctrine. Eyes were opened to the many
different possibilities tequila has to offer. Again, both groups were impressed by the vast knowledge that Junior Merino possesses. They loved hearing about tequila's various applications. These range from the smoked tequila, foams, Mexican chocolate with tequila, gummies and marshmallows to unique cocktail creations. If anyone had a question about the spirit or its application, Junior had a speedy answer. This just goes to show that Junior possesses an unequivocal amount of knowledge in his art. There was no second-guessing himself. He just knew the answer and the crowd definitely read into it. I remember keeping my eye out for the owner of Don Felipe because he is such a traditional drinker when it comes to his tequila. He drinks it straight and only straight. And yet by the end of the seminar he was one of the most vocal advocates of Junior and his creations! The last place along with being one of the most memorable events that occurred during my trip is the Aztec ruins. These structures are beyond impressive. The Aztecs built them so many years ago and they are still standing! That is an instant sign of quality for something so old to last so long. The structures are massive! Hoy steps! After ascending the enormous amount of steps just once, I can see why the Aztecs were such powerful warriors. I now consider the Pyramid of the Sun the original stair master. At the top of this majestic sight I could see across a great distance of Mexico and was inspired. Mexico is inspiring and I was with someone who promotes inspiration. What a great combination. |
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The trip to Mexico is one of my favorite trips of all time. The people are wonderful and sincere. They are hard working and care about what they do on all levels. The nationalism in Mexico is also quite impressive. They love their country and would defend it to the death. I have been inspired to be a better person because of this trip and found that I possess many different ingredients I was unaware of until now. As Junior experiments with liquids, it's time for me to experiment with self. | |||
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Celebrity Cruises: Launch of Celebrity Eclipse in the Western Hemisphere By: Aaron Fitas, The Liquid Team Day 1 Junior and I arrived early in the morning to Miami airport, where Celebrity cruises personnel were waiting for us and a group of V.I.P guests. We were taken to the port and boarded the cruise ship. I was in awe to see how big this ship was, like a huge mall-5 stars hotel hybrid. The whole day passed with us exploring the ship, Junior having some meetings with the people in charge, and evaluation of the bar we were going to work at. |
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Day 2 We got up early, grabbed our tools and headed to the Molecular Bar. There we started setting things up. The goal was to train the molecular bar staff to comprehend and follow Junior's recipes and techniques of work with the molecular program. There we met Tom and a young woman from Serbia. We introduced ourselves and spend the day with them, giving the mostly a theory part of what Junior wanted them to do. |
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Since Monday and Tuesday were days in which everything on the ship was for
free, all bars and restaurant were packed. This was an event given to travel
agencies, and administrative employees to experience all the amenities of
the ship as a guest would have. Later that day we sat down with the chefs and shared comments about what Junior does, had some dinner at one of the amazing restaurants on board, and called it a day. |
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Day 3 This day started pretty much like the day before. This time we had 5 bartenders to train at the bar, but from the get go we noticed more enthusiasm. English bartender Tom and this Serbian girl were the most eager to learn what Junior had to teach. This day wasn't open bar anymore, so we had to give the bartenders as much information they could absorb as possible. Throughout the day Junior and I got involved in the whole preparation and setting of the bar. Only Tom and the Serbian bartender stayed there with us. Time passed by and then suddenly we were open. During the whole day guests were stopping by the bar asking question about the molecular concept, and they all were very excited on trying the cocktails, they said they were going to stop by as soon as we open at 5pm. And that's exactly what happened. |
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The bar filled up at 5pm sharply. Since Junior and I were at the bar, we
started making drinks while the Serbian bartender and Tom were in charge of
bringing glassware and putting drinks into the computer. It was very hectic
for hours. We were making drinks and also explaining to people the whole
molecular concept. It was such a nice experience to see all these people happy and impressed with Juniors cocktails. It was a long day, we went to eat around midnight, and crashed. Day 4 It was 9am when we arrived to the bar. Started prepping everything again. This time we had 5 bartenders who helped us juicing and cutting fruits. This time 3 different people wanted to interview Junior. He went to the kitchen and was interviewed along with one chef. Meanwhile other film crew showed up at the bar and asked me if they could have an interview with Junior. Since Junior was busy being interviewed in the kitchen, I set up a time for this film crew and Junior to meet up. |
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When he finally managed to be done with all the interviews, he got behind
the bar and it was show time again. This time the bar seemed more crowded
than before. The day before we had broken a record of 50 something cocktails ever sold on a given shift to 225 cocktails. And this day seemed it was going be a record breaker day again. The bar and tables packed all around, we worked hard copping up with this huge wave of guests. In the end people didn't want to leave, pictures were taken with us and guests, questions were asked, gratitude and compliments were given to Junior, and over 250 cocktails were sold that day. A record! |
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Day 5 We woke up early, had some coffee, fixed an issue with my boarding pass, and got off the ship and headed towards the airport to board a plane back to New York. We were satisfied with all this experience, in my mind there was a movie of the moments we worked hard and long, but the beautiful gratification memories of all these people's smiles and compliments about our work, the fulfillment feeling of having establish a new record cocktail sales. |
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Equinox: Trip to the Caribbean Daniel Sanchez January 26, 2011 So today I arrived at Equinox. The ship itself is huge! And this is not even the largest one. Everything is pristine and in its place. The first thing that I noticed were the elevators on the ship. Actually it was the view from the elevator as it was all glass. It is quite beautiful to look down from say, the 10th floor and look down upon the marble patterned stairs, that lead to the second floor. And lets not forget that as you ascend you get the wonderful surprise of a floating tree! Then as you walk from area to area you get wonderful accents of glasswork. These are absolutely beautiful pieces of work that are so intricate that if you breath on them funny, they look as if they might break. Even still, the pieces are uniquely grouped so that none look the same in there respective areas. Then there are the paintings of couples and scenic landscapes. Again, each one is unique to itself. There are other stores as well for various interests. The crew was very polite and social as well. Whenever I needed help they always assisted me with a smile, and tried to get me to my destination as quickly as possible. Did I mention that the ship was huge! 16 floors that I know of. |
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We are still out at sea with ocean as far as the eye can see. Even still,
the ship is quite smooth. It hardly ever rocks because of its sheer size. As
I continue my people watching I notice that the crowd is older on this trip.
This came as a surprise to me so I asked Ivan about it today. I guess it
depends on the destination and the time. Everyone here is so nice. Another steady night. This gave me a chance to really study the bar. It is very beautiful and elegant. There is enough space for the patrons to sit at ease and for the bartenders to work comfortably. And surrounding the bar is an art gallery and a jewelry store. It exudes elegance and sophistication. One could get very used to a bar situation such as this. |
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Third day of work and I noticed that the Molecular bar is starting to get regulars. This is a beautiful thing. The interesting thing is that the regulars we are starting to get are younger. It seems like the few younger ones are more adventurous then the older crowd. The great thing is that even the older crowd seems to want a piece of the action. I have introduced cocktails of interest to even the purest of spirit consumers! Just ease them into a 3G (a cocktail made with gin, Domaine de Canton, and St. Germain and dill) and everything else falls into place. That's the great thing about the 3G. It is just classic enough for the mature crowd but with a pleasant contemporary surprise. The transition from the 3G to say, the Dragonfly is much easier in this manner. The regulars are quite loyal as well. I have now seen some people for four straight days. Even better each day we add more to the regular clientele. | |||
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The last day was by far the busiest of all! And it was great. I think this was also in part because earlier in the day Junior did a sort of introduction for the Molecular Bar, which was later aired. There were crowds of people asking for all fourteen unique cocktails. Everyone wanted to try the cocktails and they did! Success! | |||
| VIDEOS | ||||
The Liquid Lab Video: |
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| ABOUT | ||||
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Junior Merino the liquid chef It is no surprise master mixologist Junior Merino The Liquid Chef has built his career on fusing exotic, unexpected flavors: He grew up in the culinary melting-pot of Central Mexico. Beginning when Junior was just 10, his food-loving parents taught him to cook with local produce ranging from indigenous cocoa beans, to pomegranates native to the Middle East, to cilantro, which has Mediterranean roots. Despite all these foods' varied origins, Junior saw that in combination, they created harmony--planting in him an early passion for culinary mestizaje or blending diverse flavors. It's a technique that's helped Junior rise quickly in his field along with his intense work ethic. READ MORE |
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The Liquid Chef |
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