Northshore magazine showcases the best that the North Shore of Boston, MA has to offer.
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/1301686
NORTHSHOREMAG.COM 26 NOVEMBER 2020 PHOTOGRAPHS BY KINDRA CLINEFF The Saigon Cigar Club is a gorgeous cocktail. Tropical yet also warming, the mix of bourbon and banana syrup, scented with cardamom and cinnamon, then enhanced with a smoky banana leaf, defies the seasons, making it perfect to sip in high summer or in the depths of winter. So perfect, the drink became an instant classic on the menu at Nightshade Noodle Bar in Lynn. The cocktail is also insanely complicated to make–you need to simmer Thai bananas with a bunch of spices then strain to make a syrup and chill that down ahead of time, and you also need a banana leaf to torch as a garnish. And bourbon, of course. If you have the time, the patience, and the ingredients, Catherine Norton, bar manager at Nightshade, was kind enough to tell us, she'll Massachusetts law allows mixologists to craft adult beverages for takeout. BY JEANNE O'BRIEN COFFEY CURBSIDE COCKTAILS explain how to make it at home. But if you don't, that shouldn't stop you from enjoying it in the comfort of your own living room. Heck, you can even serve it at a holiday event— socially distanced, of course—and pretend you made it yourself. Because, along with every other drink at Nightshade, it is available to go. In what is likely the only positive thing to come out of the coronavirus pandemic, it is currently legal for restaurants to sell cocktails to-go alongside food orders. Meaning that customers can enjoy the full going-out experi- ence, from drinks to dessert, without shiver- ing through a dark November night, bundled up under a heat lamp. "I like to try new places, and my impres- sion [always] begins with a good cocktail," Norton says. "At Nightshade, we want our customers to enjoy the fullness of the experi- ence—even if they are doing that at home." To E AT + D R I N K Rocking Chair from Paddle Inn Below, Saigon Cigar Club from Nightshade Noodle Bar