The Way We Eat

Getting Your Vegetables during Cocktail Hour

Whether absurd or merely inevitable, the idea of healthier alcoholic drink has started to catch on among those who have embraced things like organic food and low-sugar diets. Mixologists at trendy bars, restaurants and clubs in New York and Los Angeles have begun creating concoctions from organic fruit and vegetable purees and vitamin-filled sports drinks instead of gooey syrups


By ALEX WILLIAMS
Story from The New York Times


One evening around 9 p.m., three young Brooklynites stopped into Counter, a vegeterian restaurant in the East Village. Laughing and chatting, they sampled organic raspberries, poached pears, fresh pineapple and strawberries. That this bounty was found not tableside but at the bar, where the restaurant's menu of organic cocktails has been steadily expanding, only heightened the appeal.

"It's the same thing as top-shelf liquor", said Nick Guffey, 28, one of the samplers, referring to drinks like his red-wine-and-poached-pear organic cocktail. "You can drink a ton and not wake up with a hangover."

In an era of "natural" cigarettes, trans-fat-free chips and low-carb beer, it is probably no surprise that that last guilty pleasure, the cocktail, is trying to atone for its sins. And it isn't just vegan restaurants serving more vitamin-rich vodka mixes and serving vegetable garden in a glass. Whether absurd or merely inevitable, the idea of healthier alcoholic drink has started to catch on among those who have embraced things like organic food and low-sugar diets. Mixologists at trendy bars, restaurants and clubs in New York and Los Angeles have begun creating concoctions from organic fruit and vegetable purees and vitamin-filled sports drinks instead of gooey syrups.

At the same time, a new generation of liquor brands built around herbal extracts and antioxidant-rich ingredients like green tea, pomergranate and the Brazilian acai berry (the popular fruit of the moment) have hit the market. Sugary cosmopolitans, apple martinis and mojitos have started to look dated. A more contemporary alternative would be a drink like Vitamin Dj, mixed from freshly juiced organic carrots, Granny Smith apple juice, elderflower liqueur and vodka, which was introduced a few weeks ago at the Midtown restaurant Django.

"Everybody seems to be getting healthy", said Mark Murphy, the executive chef at Ditch Plains, a surfer-inspired restaurant in the West Village. Or at least healthier.

The healthful-cocktail concept received an imprint of credibility in April, when researchers at the United States Department of Agriculture, in conjuction with Thai colleagues, reported that adding alcohol to strawberries and blackberries increased their antioxidant capacity (although alcohol still causes some cell damage, some scientists cautioned).

The waiters at Sushi Samba, a singles-friendly restaurant and lounge with locations in New York, Miami, Chicago and Tel Aviv, have recently been emphasizing the health properties of a drink called the Samba Juice, made with the acai berry - a sort of super-grape harvested from the Brazilian rainforest that has more antioxidants than blueberries or cranberries, said Paul Tanguay, the beverage director. "People think it is gulit-free", Mr. Tanguay said. "But it still contains alcohol."

Not all are sold on the idea. David Wondrich, the drinks correspondent for Esquire magazine who said he was recently asked by his editors for the first time to devise a recipe for a healthful cocktail, said such new vegetable-based drinks sound like "they would make for a great soup". A cocktail, he said, "should be a reward, not a chore", adding that an ideal cocktail should be a bit naughty. "You don't want it to be straight out of a doctor's office".

In May, two brothers, Courtney and Carter Reum, introduced VeeV, a 60-proof acai liqueur that also contains extract of prickly pear, a cactus, which is a fashionable folk remedy for a hangover. VeeV-based cocktails, like the Joie de VeeV, made with fresh strawberry, lime, mint and a dash of Splenda, have started appearing at places like the Skybar at the Mondrian Hotel and the Bar Marmont in Los Angeles.

Purists insist, though, that even the best intentions can't stave off a morning of regrets. Tushan Zaric, an owner and bartender at Employees Only in downtown Manhattan, said that in the last 18 months he has started hearing of patrons diving into drinks like the Ginger Smash, with its fresh cranberries and muddled fresh ginger, saying "That's so good for you".

It's the alibi, 'I want to get high with no consequence'," Mr.Zaric said, adding, "But we know, you have two or three of them, you're still going to have the hangover."