A Sweetleaf in Long Island City

I can't stress enough how much winter in NYC makes me sad. Cold and sad. That's me, by the sign, being sad. No, really.

You're probably thinking, well, hey, you don't look too sad. I mean, I'm standing in front of a giant Pepsi-Cola sign so I'm not really that sad.

And it was Saturday. You can't be sad on Saturday. And it was sunny. You can't be sad when it's sunny. It was still cold so maybe I was just a little bit sad. Or cold. But I was on a mission. A random fun mission.

Mike and a portion of the city skyline

We started out the day on a charity mission. Checking out art to use for a future art benefit for the Icla da Silva Foundation.*

The foundation is located in Long Island City. Not an area we are familiar with and we decided it was time to explore.

Long Island City is in Queens and is across the water from Manhattan and the view is beautiful. We started with a walk along the boardwalk.

This area has so many new things to explore - cafes, restaurants, parks - even a dog run.  

The Comrade Mary

We were starting to get cold so it was time. Cocktail time. We walked around and found Sweetleaf. Sweetleaf is a coffee and espresso bar and apparently at this location it is also serves cocktails. It's like it was calling to us.

We found our seat by the window and the flavor adventure began. 

The bartender, Jonathon, came over and went over everything. I was set on the Comrade Mary, a lighter version of the Bloody Mary. When I say lighter I mean light on the mixers, more of the alcohol. Lemon, lime, cucumber and some other mixers included and it was perfection. 

It was mixed to perfection so well that I had to stop myself from drinking it down in one sip. Light, refreshing and just, well, just so good. 

Bartender's Surprise

Mike opted for the bartender's surprise. He wanted a hot drink and went for a coffee mix. It involved cinnamon syrup and two types of rum. I don't know what else was in there but it was so good that the girl at the next table ordered it based on smell alone. 

We went in for one drink. We stayed for 3 hours. Yes, I said 3 hours. We lingered over the delicious flavors of our beverages and tested a few others. The bartender was so talented that he could take any flavor profile and mix it up. 

He made Mike The Penicillin. Scotch, ginger and a few other ingredients, garnished with candied ginger. At first, all you tasted was scotch but as the drink sat, the ginger came through and that was the predominant flavor. 

Then there were the ice cubes - like mini art pieces. The last time we had seen cubes like this was in Japan where the bartender carefully chiseled away to create perfectly formed orbs. Such precision and care. 

Jonathan showed such a passion for each drink that we knew we were getting a good product each time. We had hit the jackpot. The cocktail jackpot. We will be going back to Sweetleaf again.

The Penicillin

For more information on the location mentioned, visit their website:        

http://www.sweetleaflic.com/

http://www.icla.org/

*The mission of the Icla da Dilva Foundation is to save lives by recruiting bone marrow donors and providing support services to children and adults with leukemia and other diseases treatable by marrow transplants.