Las Vegas Weekly

April 7, 2009 · 1:24 PM

At Chef’s Palate drinks are made with love (and homemade liquor, too)

By Xania Woodman

Liquidity Global Beverage Consulting owner Anthony Alba has created the beverage program at The Chef's Palate, which emphasizes homemade liquors and fresh ingredients.

Photo: Armando Rosario / Southern Wine & Spirits Nevada

As evidenced by the Chef’s Palate sign, which features a set of kitchen knives and a painter’s palette—a clever use of homonyms—husband and wife duo Chef Rex and Kristy George maintain an artistic focus at Chef’s Palate Martini and Wine Bar, which opened quietly Friday night at Eastern and Horizon Ridge in Henderson. The restaurant’s name somewhat misleadingly only represents the beverage components of the Georges’ efforts, but Kristy says “the beverage components and food components come together like a masterpiece.” So come for the drinks and stay for the food, or vice versa.

Another sign welcomes “family, friends and neighbors.” Indeed, the owners are hoping to create a neighborhood eatery and lure industry and business professionals to their door. Kristy and Chef Rex turned to one of their neighbors, Vinnie Alba of Alba Brothers’ Pizza, engaging the services of Vinnie’s brother, renowned mixoloist Anthony Alba, owner of Liquidity Global Beverage Consulting, to undertake the creation of a beverage program that can stand up to Chef’s rotating roster of creations.

For the Chef’s Palate cocktail menu, Alba will be showcasing 20 cocktails at a time in four sections: classic, contemporary, dessert and original. "What I really wanted to present was a well-rounded menu,” says Alba, an award-winning cocktail specialist and 2008 Stella Artois Draught Masters competition US grand champion. Under each item, Alba provides a little informative, conversational cocktail nugget. And of course, Alba says, guests will still be able to order off-menu classics such as the Negroni. It’s a 100% fresh program, says Alba. “A humble fresh program, I should say. Of course, we're going to have Ocean Spray cranberry for Cosmopolitans. No self-respecting bar would refuse to make a Cosmopolitan."

In keeping with Chef Rex’s program of house-made sauces, Alba has created, bottled and will be serving guests three homemade liquors: a Sicilian-style limoncello (a variation on the recipe his family has been using for generations); an orange liqueur similar to orange curaçao and a chocolate vodka. Using reclaimed bottles, the final product will likely never will look the same twice. Liquor laws require that such products be made from spirits purchased from licensed distributors, then combined with the magical ingredients before being labeled and served to guests. The Georges currently have an on-premise license though they are considering additional licensing for off-premise sales and might even need the hard-core distiller’s licensing even though they are really just purchasing neutral grain spirit from another distiller and flavoring it for re-sale. It’s all a grey area, so Chef’s Palate just might be writing policy on this one.

So far, Alba’s proudest creation is the Snozzberry, which finally assigns a flavor to that fanciful item out of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. The "light, fresh, crisp, effervescent" cocktail makes good use of Chef Rex’ house-made Bing cherry Tahitian vanilla sauce. Sampling the chef’s menu, Alba recounts tasting the sauce with Rex and having a shared moment of clarity: "We knew exactly what the other was thinking: the sauce goes in the drink."

Wine-wise, Alba is an equal-opportunity imbiber, offering guests everything from Beringer white zin to Opus One.

“When you go to a seafood restaurant you'll still find things on the menu that are not fish," says Alba, meaning that he intends to offer a diverse hand-selected list of wines. "We don't want to be all things to all people. One of the things I don't like about wine service is that it makes people feel inferior. That’s not gonna happen here.” Wines are hand-selected to be in harmony with restaurant. The majority of labels will be from Napa, though wine will come from all around the world. "The wine [list] is more of a living project," Alba says, and as with the food menu, as the seasons change, so too shall the wine and cocktail lists.

Alba’s draught beer program features Guinness, Nevada’s own Tanaya Creek, the de rigeur Stella Artois, Blue Moon and interestingly enough, Heineken.

“They don’t even put Heineken on tap at the hotels!” says Alba, excited to have this distinction. The beer program honors “the reasons the brewers make the beer." Hence, Guinness is served in a Guinness glass, Stella Artois in a Stella Artois glass and the bartenders will adhere as best they can to the nine-step ritual that Alba had to master to win last year’s competition.

Bringing the entire experience together, Alba, who is on the cusp of one of today’s hottest beverage trends with his homemade liquor, will offer guests the opportunity to add the house-made limoncello, orange liqueur or chocolate vodka to a full flavored lager, serving the resulting so-called Mixology Brew in an old fashioned cocktail saucer. Alba will be on-board for at least a year and on-hand often to tweak or update his menu for the season his menu or to give bi-weekly staff training sessions to the five bartenders and bar waiters as well as the floor staff.

Looks like the George’s neighborhood eatery, may become a neighborhood bar, as well.

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