Photo by Juan Moyano/Getty
The espresso martini illustration
The espresso martini had a big year in 2021. The coffee-tinged drink, invented by British bartender Dick Bradsell in 1983, came back to bar menus with a vengeance. I found a particularly lovely one at Red Rabbit. Drinkers who had been so focused on flirty seltzers and Yes Way Rosé were suddenly opting in for a dark and brooding martini with more than a hint of mocha on its breath.
Cocktail lore tells us that a weary young supermodel sidled up to the bar and asked Bradsell for a drink made with coffee so that she could keep partying. And with a flourish and pull from the nearby espresso machine, the vodka espresso was born. Is it the extra zoom from caffeine people are craving? Has the Red Bull vodka set grown up and decided that flavor is actually important? Or is it something else?
Even before we started rolling into the third year of this pandemic, with mandates anew, there were heavy hints that people were ready for a little comfort, some stability, and a sure thing. So is it any surprise that we suddenly find our towns studded with supper clubs—those hallowed haunts of folded napkins and a clear sense of occasion? Chip’s Clubhouse opened in the height of the pandemic in a St. Paul strip mall, all ready for you with giant fried pork tenderloin sandwiches and a killer creamed spinach. Mr. Paul’s Supper Club in Edina makes the money on the Cajun dishes but pays homage to supper club foundations with meatloaf and short rib stroganoff. South Minneapolis’s Creekside Supper Club goes all in on Northwoods standards: Wisco-style old-fashioneds, relish trays, prime rib, and a wishing well water feature in the lobby. Apostle Supper Club is on deck to open in St. Paul any minute.
Welcoming and comforting, these places wrap you in mashed potatoes and padded leather chairs, not a chalkboard or barnwood plank in sight. Even if supper clubbing has nothing to do with your heritage or past, their whole vibe is about slowing down and tucking into food that fills you: supper.
I’m here for the cozy, here for the comfort. But. I am hoping we do find our way back to the new and challenging. I love pizza, but when I see pizza places opening at the pace they have in the past few years, it makes me a little twitchy. Even Murray’s opened a pizza place. I get that it’s a way to boost the coffers of restaurants that are stressed, and it feels like a win for places that have not been winning big over the last few years. But I can’t help but hope that it’s a stitch in time to save nine.
Because there is something to be said for being uncomfortable, too. It pushes you and sparks ideas. It leads you down paths that whipped potatoes might sometimes block. The cooks who are simmering and learning about restaurant life right now are not looking backward; they’re looking forward. So, while nostalgia is a nice respite during tough times and I’m happy to have these spots flourishing in modern ways that have some staying power, I can’t wait for the fresh wave of food and restaurants that will join them on the other side of this strange couple of years.
And in the meantime, that espresso martini is damn delicious. You like coffee? You like drinking? It’s a sure thing.
