2017 Best Cocktails in America: Modernist Herbal Negroni

These 10 cocktails, selected by the editors of Restaurant Hospitality, showcase bartenders’ creative takes on top bar trends. Read on and get inspired. See all the winners >>

Modernist Herbal Negroni

Trend: Tableside

Where to get it: Grant Grill, San Diego

Creator: Cory Alberto, chef de bar 

Price: $18

Ingredients: Bols Genever, Campari crystals, vermouth ice, rosemary, bitter orange, allspice, star anise, tarragon, rosemary and citrus. 

About the drink: It was developed for a menu called “Where We Are Going We Don’t Need Roads,” inspired by the movie “Back to the Future.”

A look at the trend: It’s vital today to give diners a reason to leave the comfort of their couch for a unique experience. One way to do that is to create a bit of theater with the crafting a cocktail at the table.

The Modernist Herbal Negroni created by Cory Alberto, chef de bar at Grant Grill, is a show in itself.

The drink is prepared in a Japanese coffee siphon. In the top chamber are Campari crystals, rosemary, sage and cara cara orange peel — all dehydrated in house. In the bottom of the siphon is Bols Genever, which has been heated ahead of time sous vide to just under boiling, so it’s ready to perform.

At the table, the Bols Genever is boiled so it evaporates into the top of the siphon, where it combines with the dehydrated ingredients, then cools and drips down to the bottom. At that point, the Bols Genever is bright red from the Campari.

The server then pours the flavored Bols Genever over ice made from sweet vermouth in the glass, where it cools. The cocktail changes flavor, temperature and color as the vermouth-ice melts.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story had an incorrect location for Grant Grill.