Count on the Number Five to satisfy
Parsley is not something I ever expected to see featured prominently in a cocktail, but chef Monica Pope makes it work big time at her Sparrow Bar + Cookshop.
The Number Five on the chef’s list of 12 “Ten-Dollar Cocktails” is a summery rush of Tennyson Absinthe, muddled lemon, soda, Meyer lemon syrup and lots of chopped flat-leaf parsley. The faintly peppery leaves of this under-appreciated workhorse herb give the drink its cool green tint and fresh appeal.
The glass is rimmed with za’atar, the Middle Eastern spice mix of sumac, sesame and thyme — a brilliant touch that weaves the drink’s anise and herbal tones into a subtle Mediterranean whole.
This cocktail reminded me that Pope has always brought a Mediterranean sensibility to her local market cuisine, whatever its sources. It reminded me, too, that when deftly balanced, a sweetened cocktail is something I can love rather than loathe.
It’s worth remembering that Pope and her former t’afia partner, Andrea Lazar, were among the city’s pioneers of the craft-cocktail movement. The bar at t’afia — the precursor restaurant to Sparrow — always had interesting drinks; and when the pair helped to launch Beaver’s, they hired Bobby Heugel to run the bar there. The rest is history.
There’s plenty of interest at Sparrow’s well-run bar at the front of the dining room, including half-off prices during happy hour. I particularly like the Sparrow Bar Mix plate, which at a half-off $4.50 includes a satisfying assortment of soppressata slices, deviled eggs, feta, marinated white anchovies, marcona almonds and fat, briny olives. With triangles of lavender pizzette bread, this is the kind of thing I imagine snacking on at a balcony table overlooking the Adriatic Sea.
Not everything of note is on the menu. The housemade ginger beer is a must-taste thrill, put together with plenty of grippy fresh ginger and lemon, with champagne yeast to ferment the brew before it is filtered through cloth.
The ginger beer is wonderful plain on the rocks, or combined (if you ask) with the industry post-shift fetish spirit, Fernet Branca, into an ad hoc highball that’s a festival of rooty herbal tones. And do note the extensive six-hour happy hour, from 2 to 8 p.m (even Saturday!), during which bargains abound — including Sparrow’s estimable bison burger for $7.50.
(Sparrow Bar + Cookshop, 3701 Travis, 713-5246922. Happy hour 2-8 p.m. Tuesdays-Saturdays)