This is a simple after dinner drink recipe that is attached to a story that is probably only interesting to me. To skip it, move straight down to the Pousse Cafe recipe.
One of very few cool things about getting older is that you have more stories to impart, some of which are terribly boring and some might be “I was the first _______ (fill in the blank),” and then you can tell how it happened. Well, my “first” is not terribly important, but it was a helluva lot of fun. After working as a bartender at the Ramada Inn in Greeley, Colorado while my husband and I were in school, we moved to Los Angeles. Hubby was going to work on his Ph.D. and I needed a job. The first day in L.A., I was hired as a bartender at the Ramada Inn Beverly Hills. It had been so easy that I decided to try a better hotel bar and randomly entered The Beverly Wilshire. My interview was brief and I was told that the main bar/restaurant, the Il Padrino, never had a “female” bartender. After asking why and not getting a satisfactory answer, I was hired. I was also told to wear a teeny little outfit that the cocktail-waitress-starlet-wannabes wore. Instead, I picked out a knee-length skirt and crisp white blouse. My first evening, I was paired with Tony, the resident bartender on the 4:00 pm to 2:00 am shift. The Il Padrino was incredibly busy and packed with musicians, movie stars, directors, and producers. It was the place to be seen and to conduct Hollywood business. It was also the joint that Warren Beatty and Julie Christie called home.
My first night on the job I swore not to swoon if movie stars came in. I would definitely be sophisticated and cool. As the sparkling personages strolled in, my oh-so-sophisticated jaw dropped. I stared and stared and temporarily stopped listening to the starlet-wannabes’ drink orders. Quickly, I learned to control myself and became a damned good bartender. Tony knew how much I still loved seeing these movie screen wonders off screen. One afternoon, he invited me to take a walk down the hotel corridor with him. Without telling me what was going on, he knocked on a door at the end of the hall and we walked in. Seated in a round alcove were Ringo Starr, Harry Nilsson and their entourage. I was introduced as the new bartender as Ringo stood up, shook my hand and welcomed me. Late that evening as I was closing up the bar, that same group showed up and asked if I would fix them an after dinner drink — anything I wanted, but it had to be unusual and price was not an issue (duh!). Because it was labor intensive, this tiny libation was $7.00, which was expensive in 1974. As I prepared and served the Pousse Cafe, Nilsson sat down at the piano and entertained us all until 3:00 am.
Pousse Cafe
French for “push the coffee,” a Pousse Cafe is generally served after dinner and coffee. This layered drink is made by very, very slowly pouring the liqueur over the backside of a teaspoon to form layers that do not mix, first pouring the heaviest (generally the sweetest) to the lightest on top. Pousse Cafe is best served in small, beautiful, clear glasses that flare at the top. The clear glass allows a beautiful side view of the colorful layers. You can mix and match your own liqueurs and vary the number you use. Below is what the Ringo crowd consumed:
Ingredients:
Grenadine
Green Creme de Menthe
Galliano
Cointreau
Yellow Chartreuse
Creme de Cocao
Brandy
by Jane Hruska
