Red Stick Cocktails
[The White Swan at Gino’s Restaurant]
Wednesday, February 1, 2006
White Swan
For years, the White Swan drink has been served at Gino’s Restaurant—a Sicilian secret known only to the Gino’s family. Forty years later, nothing has changed: They’re not giving out the recipe. The comment I got from bartender Eric Wilson was, “I know it’s amaretto-based, but they keep the ingredients such a secret, no one outside the family knows what’s in here. None of us.” Tongue-in-cheek, he quips, “If they gave you the secret ingredients, they’d have to shoot you. Ha, ha.”
The Ugly Duckling
Want to make a sweet, creamy drink at home? Try the Ugly Duckling.
Maybe someday it will be a swan…
1 oz. amaretto
1/2 oz. Nocello walnut liqueur
1/2 oz. vodka
3 oz. of heavy cream
Pour ingredients into a blender. Add enough ice to come about half an inch above the liquids and blend until smooth. Pour into a tall glass and serve.
That’s a killer cocktail. Maybe it should be called The Swanprano.
Wilson reached behind the bar to make me a White Swan. Turning his back, he grabbed the mystery ingredient (kept in a dark green bottle hidden behind the bar), which he poured into a blender, adding ice and cream to whirl into a silky frozen blend that is served in a large red wine glass. No whipped cream, no fancy garnish. The creamy drink tastes of amaretto for sure, and there is more, a certain something that speaks to almonds or maybe hazelnuts or walnuts. Nonetheless the White Swan is sweet and best as an after-dinner dessert drink. It’s a steal at $5.75—did I just say that?
Quack, quack
Lorin Gaudin is an advisor to the Museum of the American Cocktail
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