I'm in the weekly!

I was graced by the wonderful writers from the weekly last week and recieved a great write-up from the people who write Voracious : First Call

A weekly Voracious feature in which we walk into a bar unannounced and ask the bartender to make us his or her favorite drink.

Watering Hole: The Sitting Room in Lower Queen Anne

Barkeep: Kevin Langmack

Pick Your Poison: The Sitting Room is this adorable little bistro — and a boon to anyone wanting to spend a little time on Lower Queen Anne but wanting to avoid the tail-hunters. The appetizer happy hour menu is generous and the decor rather lovely. My only beef with the place is the acoustics. There isn’t enough fabric or give in the room to absorb noise, so the din can make hearing a little difficult. I explained the First Call rules a couple of times before Langmark caught exactly what I was trying to say. Once he understood, he offered, “I have this really delicious pear cocktail that I’ve been working on.”

"Beer cocktail?" I replied incredulously, visions of Irish Car Bombs and Snakebites filling my head — not exactly what I’d expected (or hoped for) at this quaint little eatery.

"No. Pear!" he reiterated, with a game chuckle.

"Oh!" I laughed back. Whew.

Langmark explained that the bar got a supply of Absolute Pear Vodka, but hadn’t really been using it for anything. So he poured a shot in a shaker with simple syrup, a pear coulis (puree), and a dash of Ricard Pastis, an anise liquor.

"Something fun in summertime," Langmack said, both of us taking a moment to pause and pray to any and all deities we could think of that summer actually arrives at some point. "I think it’s a good time for drinking."

So what do you call this lovely looking concoction? The Whippersnapper.

Summertime and the living is? So very easy. I was a little hesitant about a drink starring any kind of fruit puree, but Langmack knows there’s more to a sweet cocktail than a sugar assault. The anise gave the whole thing a nice brightness. My drinking buddy Sarah regarded the drink as I gingerly made my way back to the table, desperately trying not to spill (and failing). "It smells like Bath and Body Works," she observed. "In a good way."

But it certainly tasted far more elegant than the store where I outfitted my first apartment bathroom (all subsequent bathrooms featured Soap by Safeway). In keeping with our commitment to summer despite the frigid temperature, Sarah was sipping a Hoegaarden. But she took a break to try my bright-green cocktail.

"I like it," she said, licking her lips. "Umm, you can have my Hoegaarden."

Altogether it was four very enthusiastic thumbs up for Langmack's Whippersnapper. Just think how great it will be if the mercury ever tops 75!

p.s. I like how they get my name right half of the time.