We here at Drink of the Week love a mimosa as much as the next garden partier, but as cocktails go, there’s not much leeway. It’s a breakfast drink when you need a hair of the dog but don’t want to go full Bloody Mary. And you either improve the sparkling wine, or you improve the orange juice. (Don’t use Sunny D, people, come on now.)
Maybe you’d like something just a bit fancier over your brekkie. Recently we took a trip out to Cafe Stella on Las Positas, which knows a bit about brunch and easing into the day.
First of all, bartender Erica Sparks goes by the name of Sparky. That’s a good bartender name. She lives up to it.
The drink Cafe Stella offers (among many we will tell you about another day) is the Brass Flower. Instead of orange juice, consider grapefruit juice. And please use Pol Clement, a lovely sparkling wine from France. Now that would be a good drink on its own, but Sparky kicks everything into gear with equal parts gin and St. Germain for the floral element, and a dash of grapefruit bitters adds a final complexity.
Now this is how we’d like to wake up in the morning. It’s our drink of the week!
BRASS FLOWER
1 1/4 oz. Gin
1 1/4 oz. St. Germain
1 1/4 oz. grapefruit juice
Dash of Bitter Truth Grapefruit Bitters
1 oz. Pol Clement
Add Pol Clement to cocktail glass. Shake other ingredients over ice and pour into glass slowly. Garnish with lemon twist. Yields one.
LE CAFE STELLA
3302 McCaw Ave.
569-7698
www.lecafestella.com