It’s time for another installment of Perfect Manhattan! Many thanks to those of you who have supported this endeavor so far. I had an interesting conversation with a colleague about it last night, which made me realize I should maybe answer a couple of his questions here: 

Am I winging it as I go along or is the story all mapped out?

It’s all mapped out, although as I’m going along I’m discovering that at times I need to improvise some of the narrative direction and/or details for smoother transitions and continuity. 

When will it be finished?

The way it’s going, with a couple of chapters a month, I think by next spring? Don’t hold me to it. These next few weeks might get busy with other things so there is potential for slightly longer pauses. 

But we’re getting there. It’s on. Five chapters! 

Some context for this one: this is a flashback chapter. It tells the backstory of Eve and Oscar and their relationship in London to set up the rest of the plot. I’ve taken some creative liberties with a few details because fiction! 

They drink upstairs at Rules, but in real world 1997, this couldn’t have happened because the first floor bar was still closed to the public and used only for private parties. Also, they meet a female bartender from Italy. While there were still precious few women working behind upscale cocktail bars in London in the 1990s, the Italian bartending community there was growing. Peter Dorelli and Salvatore Calabrese were head bartenders at the Savoy and DUKES respectively. It would track that this character might have trained with them (they are not mentioned by name in the story, though) or someone like them, and landed a high profile job with those connections. 

The 1890s first edition book the couple scores is completely made up, as is the author. A tease: I offer a take on the real Manhattan cocktail origin story that puts this fictional author at the center of one of the stronger theories. 

And we’re off to mid-1990s London! 

The main character, and all characters, places, and events in this story are made up. Any references to real people and places (and drinks!) are fictionally represented but intentionally recognizable. 

If you’re new, here’s a synopsis to explain what all of this is about. 

If you need to catch up on the previous chapters, they can be found in the Schudown archive here.

Perfect Manhattan Chapter 5:

Manhattan Con Vermut Misto

“Why don’t we play a little Grande Città roulette?” Oscar suggested.

That original copy of L’ora del Cocktail Nella Grande Città ended up being a £30 splurge. While it didn’t blow their entire date night budget, Eve thought they could no longer justify that plus the full meal they’d planned at Rules. However, they didn’t want to pass up the opportunity to at least check it out. As they approached the historic Covent Garden locale, the pair agreed the best compromise would be to split two starters with an order each of their famous Orange Julius, then head to the upstairs bar for a nightcap or two in plenty of time before last orders at 10:30.

Eve loved this idea. She already couldn’t wait to report back to Nana Eva.

If downstairs—with its stately, molded archways, floor-to-ceiling arrangements of oil paintings, vintage caricatures, and hunting trophies—felt like dining (on potted shrimps and potato leek soup) in a Regency-era time capsule, upstairs was like stepping into a scene from a classic 1930s film.

But instead of grey scale elegance, the bar was bathed in warm autumnal tones with low lighting, dark panels, ornate tapestries, red leather seats, and a grand gilt-framed mirror on the back bar. It was surprisingly empty, save for a couple of small groups of four seated in the lounge areas and a gentleman in full tweed suit posted at the front of the bar sipping a Martini. Eve and Oscar opted to take two stools at the curve of the bar so they could absorb more of the atmosphere and observe the drinks being prepared.

For their first round, they decided the occasion called for something festive and bubbly, so they each ordered one of the house specialties made with Champagne. Oscar went for the Black Velvet, equal parts Guinness and Champagne. Though the drink sounded simple (how hard could two ingredients be to mix?), what sold them on giving it a go was that it was served in one of the gleaming silver tankards that lined the shelf above the back of the bar, a tradition that dated back to the 1860s. The cocktail had found a spiritual home at Rules following its 1861 invention at the Brook’s Club—a private men’s club—which started serving the concoction after Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, died suddenly of typhoid fever. The idea at the time was that the country was thrown into such a state of mourning, even the Champagne should be cloaked in black.