Anthony Parks's Beautiful Drink Program at One-Star Michelin Mourad [photos]

I don't know about you, but I cannot believe that it is already October (pumpkin spice ramos gin fizzes, anyone? Anyone?). I've been rushing around working on a bunch of articles for other publications, which is why you haven't seen as much on here lately. This fall has brought a flurry of exciting openings, not to mention the annual Eater Cocktail Week (it was my third year contributing to it, if you can believe it).

If you read my Eater articles this month (including some Hawaii tips), you might have seen a few of our shots from our photo session with Anthony Parks, who is newly stationed as bar manager of Mourad (read more about it here). Mourad—which was awarded its first Michelin star Wednesday after less than a year of opening—is a gorgeous, modern space, and Anthony's new drinks are just as elegant. So I'd thought I'd share the rest of our photos. Take a look!



Anthony pours out the new cocktail flight—2.5-oz servings of three different cocktails on the menu for $27.





Making saffron vodka.





Umami and Mint - One of my favorite cocktails on the menu. It's a savory, yet refreshing, blend of Blanco tequila, lemon juice, toasted sesame oil, raw agave, cucumber, and mint. It'll remind you favorably of Korean food, specifically zhajiamian (chewy noodles with black bean sauce, cucumber, and sesame oil). I know it sounds weird, but trust me.



Anthony sprays pipe tobacco moonshine over the Coffee & Clove. The drink is made from the ever so popular Japanese blended whisky (Nikka Coffey Whisky), fino sherry, creole shrub, and clove tincture.






Carrot & Spice comes with everything nice: VSOP cognac, cynar (artichoke amaro), carrot juice, lemon juice, coriander nectar, and egg whites.








Trio time.

Cheers!

- Noelle

Mourad
140 New Montgomery St.
San Francisco, CA 94105
http://mouradsf.com/

All the Cocktails on the Opening Menu at Mourad

I feel for restaurant owners on opening night. Despite what often seems like glitz and glam from the outside, I can only imagine how difficult it must be to open your doors for the first time and invite in hoards of San Francisco sophisticates with high expectations. Yet when Mourad Lalou opened his latest project, Mourad, in San Francisco's neo gothic Pacbell Building in SOMA last night, he did so with seeming ease. Service seemed calm. And the cocktails—of course my interest point here—were elegantly executed.



The opening menu is put together by Christ Aivaliotis, of consulting firm Wizard Oil. After getting his start with Erik Adkins at Flora, Christ opened a cocktail consultancy with his business partner Tory Bayless and was brought on to create the program at Mourad.

It's a simple, but well constructed, menu with cohesive flavors and a touch of spices to go with the restaurant's theme—which, like its Michelined sister Aziza, focuses on Morocco.

The restaurant is an impressive stage for cocktails. The layout is designed to resemble a traditional Moroccan home, which grows in intimacy as you move from the front to the back. It starts with the living room and opens up to the main dining room. The staircase in back looks like it could move into a bedroom—in actuality another dining room. The bar itself is granite-topped and so long that it curves into an L. The backbar is impressively large and rises above the counter with modern, minimalist shelves.





Here is what you can expect from the opening cocktail menu at Mourad and some scant notes:

On the Spot - rye, nocino, manzilla, triple sec. A smooth and stirred drinks with velvety elements of fig from the sherry.



Calgula's Kiss - rum, cherry liqueur and lime. Bright and refreshing. Not too sweet.



Baco: tequilla, pineapple, lime, cinnamon, herbsaint. It's bright, sweet, slightly buttery (from the pineapple), and cohesive.



Chrysanthemum - Benedictine, French vermouth, and Elisir mp Roux (a herbsaint from Provence, France). It's a sweet drink that tastes like honey suckle, though the texture is still light and not viscous. The drink is relatively low ABV, and tastes like a milder, sweeter martini for those who like the flavor profile of the classic drink with less aggressive notes.



Old Blanco Daisy - pisco, pomelo, and tonga mix made of real passion fruit, real lilikoi. The tonga mix is made made of pomegranate, orange peels, and pomelo. They also had real lilikoi seeds for sweetnss and texture. Though it sounds sweet, the pomelo balances out the drink with a touch of bitterness.



Copa Gibson - A classic mix of Sipsmith Gin, bitter, and onion.



Salt and Pepper - gin, lemon, grapefruit, bitters. They use Broker's gin in this drink, which is dry and botanical—a good match to the grape fruit and bitters.



Mourad
140 New Montgomery St.
San Francisco, CA 94105