Hip Sips Cocktail of the Month: Italian Diplomat
Show you're a regular by ordering this sophisticated libation
Any bar that calls itself “the ‘Cheers’ of the West side” risks a few eye rolls. But at Otto’s, everybody really does know your name. Regulars show up solo but rarely drink alone, chatting about their families, travel plans and golf games. Bar manager Kimberly Mahoney reckons she knows two hundred customers by name.
“And if I don’t remember their name,” she says, “I remember their drink.”
Otto’s signature cocktails tend to fall into two categories: serious martinis and candy-colored sweet stuff. Straddling the divide is the Italian Diplomat, a cocktail Mahoney invented for a regular with a sweet tooth who likes his drinks to look dignified. The Diplomat can pass for
a gin martini, but it’s really vodka tricked out with Frangelico. It’s a delicious way to get your hazelnut fix (and a tad more civilized than
eating Nutella out of the jar).
Ask for it by name—as the regulars do.
RECIPE: Italian Diplomat
3 oz. Absolut vodka
1 oz. Frangelico
Add ingredients to a shaker with ice; shake hard. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
Recipe courtesy of Otto’s, 6405 Mineral Point Rd., 274-4044, ottosrestaurant.com.
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