Chicago, River North, Part 3

After drinks and a vaudeville act at the speakeasy The Drifter, we headed into the cool night air and traveled the seven or so blocks to the next bar of the night, the world-renown tiki bar Three Dots and a Dash. One of the first tiki bars in the country to focus on mixology, Three Dots made the 2014 World's 50 Best Bars list with the likes of famous bars like Milk and Honey, Dead Rabbit, and PDT. If you don't have a reservation for their Bamboo Room, you'll probably have to wait in line for a while.

The decor of Three Dots screams sunny beach shack; grass roofs, bamboo shelves, and tiki art abound. The drink menu is pan-island and separated into single and group drinks. The single drinks are divided into modern cocktails, classic cocktails, and Mai Tais (including the Trader Vic classic). The group drinks come in a monster cocktail bowl of some tiki design. We opted for one of the single drinks first. I nabbed a Caribbean Punch, a kitchen-sink tiki concoction comprised of aged Caribbean Rum, Panamanian Rum, Lime, Pineapple, Sarsaparilla, Falernum, and Fassionola Red. I won't bother assembling a recipe for you since there is very little chance you will find true Fassionola syrup. If I try my hand at making it in the future, I'll put it up in the FWL for all the Lizards!

Cindy ordered a tried-and-true Painkiller. We can gladly estimate that classic pour for you:

Drink: Painkiller
Establishment: Three Dots and a Dash
Location: Chicago, Illinois
First Connoisseur: Cindy

2 ounces Caribbean Rum blend (the classic uses Pusser's Navy Rum) 4 ounces pineapple juice 1 ounce tangerine juice 1 ounce coconut cream

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake vigorously until cold. Strain into a hurricane glass or large tiki mug with shaved ice. Garnish with grated nutmeg and a pineapple wedge.

Now, we couldn't leave Three Dots without one of the really big group drinks. I elbowed my way through the busy bar and brought back a bowl of Lapu Lapu and two straws. Three Dots' Lapu Lapu is a mixture of aged Demerara rum, dark Jamaican rum, and a trio of fruit juices: passion fruit, tangerine, and lime. Needless to say, after a bowl full of rum and juice, we thought it appropriate to take a walk down to the Chicago River to finish off the evening.

A running drink total of my night in the River North Neighborhood of Chicago-

1 Whiskey Old-fashioned 1 Slam Banana Thank You Ma'am 1 Caribbean Punch 1/2 a bowl of Lapu Lapu

Chicago, River North, Part 2

In our last post, we left you at the Green Door Tavern in Chicago's River North neighborhood. Normally, in an Around America multi-post, we take you to three different bars in a city. But this time, we never left the Green Door. You see, the Green Door has a little secret. In the basement, there's a nondescript door with a rack of little knickknacks.  Behind that door, is an authentic speakeasy known as The Drifter.