James T. (tikibars/Tiki Road Trip) in NYC June 30/July 1

Hey big Apple 'ohana...

I am coming to town on Sunday to compete in the St.Germain-sponsored cocktail competition
(on Sunday and Monday). Not going back to Chicago until Thursday morning, so I have Tuesday and Wednesday open to play.

Anything fun going on?

Anyone wanna help me MAKE something fun go on...?

St. Germain is putting me up on Sun and Mon., but if anyone has a recommendation for a cheapish motel in Manhattan (or an easy to get to part of Brooklyn or Queens) that will help too.

mahalo, hope to see some of youze -

JT,

Awesome dude. I'll keep an ear out, if LeisureMaster opens up the Rum Rhum Room on Sunday I could make it in for a while.

Matt

Cool - we can hit some of the Tiki that is out there in NYC on Tuesday and I'll put the call out for a happy hour at the Rhum Rhum Room for Wednesday.

Check your PMs

Coolness.

Me and Joe communicated and it looks like Ellateria and elsewhere on Tues., and then Rhum Rhum Room on Weds.

Looking forward to seeing you all.

In the mean time, wish me luck... Monday afternoon I compete against 11 pro bartenders for $5000!

The challenge: throughout 2008, we all submitted original recipes for drinks using St. Germain.

All of our recipes won monthly finals (I won for August), and now the 12 monthly finalists fly to NYC for the final round!

Jeff Berry called my drink "a home run" and "a damn fine drink", so let's hope the judges are feelin' the Tiki vibes on Monday afternoon....

Good luck with the competition. And man am I jealous. Elettaria, leisure master's place. Nice, very nice. If you have time, go to Pegu Club. It's in the neighborhood. Just on the other side of Washington Square park from Elettaria. I just noticed Elettaria's post about their new Tiki Mondays. Kudos to them for doing that! A classy joint with fine cocktails and exotica music? Can't beat that.

And good luck with the "cheapish motel in Manhattan". I couldn't find such a beast. Ended up at Washington Square Hotel. Fantastic location, but not exactly cheapish by my standards.

I've been to Pegu Club a handful of times; it's one of my fave bars!

Good luck, JT!

Thank to Joe and Nicole for hosting an amazing gathering in the Rhum Rhum Room, and to the dozen or so of you who came by. Great times!