A staple in our Oakhurst neighborhood, the Universal Joint is one of our favorite spots on a mid Saturday morning.   We especially love to split something and get a side of those amazing [tag]Universal Fries[/tag].  Oh, yum yum yum.  We usually sit at the bar on the weekend(s) since so many many many kids come to eat and frolic on the patio area.  But this past Saturday, it was so gorgeous, we decided to sit outside with the families.

One of the best things on the menu – and by far one of the best around – is the Universal Joint Bloody Mary.  Therefore, Week 37 of 52 Weeks of Drinks, is dedicated to this one amazing and delicious Saturday Morning delight.  As the UJ’s motto goes, “Drinks Well With Others.”

The UJ Bloody Mary consists of Absolute Peppar Vodka, a dash of olive juice, a dash of fresh lemon juice, (or lime juice depending on who is making it) Zing Zang Bloody Mary Mix (the only kind anyone should EVER use) and is topped off with Guinness.

Don’t forget our ratings scale is between 1 and 5 Olives.  One Olive = waste of my blogging time;  5 Olives = oh my goodness/yummmmmm

Presentation: 3.5 olives.  I usually would give this a 4 olive rating, but Nancy jipped me on garnishes this week.  MOST of the time, I get olives, pepperoncinis, a lime wedge, and even sometimes like a pickled okra.  This Saturday, I only got one pepperoncini.  Blah.  It is served in a big ole pint glass and the rim is covered in celery salt. Yum.

Creativity: 3.5 olives. I mean, it is a bloody mary for lord’s sake – but the fact that they use Zing Zang rocks and topping it off with Guinness makes me happy.

Taste: 5 olives. Mere perfection – but always ask for Nancy or Eric to make it.

Overall: 4 olives. I know I don’t look hot in this photo, but I am enjoying my drink immensely.

GO GET ONE.

So, sue us.  We did not go get drinks anywhere fun and exciting this past week because we both went out of town to visit our loving families.  Therefore, we created one of our new favorites at home when we both got back in town.  We decided to review it and put it out there on the blogosphere world for all of you millions of readers to see.  And it is so easy to make.  Be careful, though.  More than one makes you a bit loopy.  Notice Brutus’s look after he has had a sip.  (He did not really drink any – although he looks as if he did.) I just wanted to put a photo of my big boy on here.

The classic French Gimlet is our new “make it at home for friends” favorite.  It comes from the St. Germain website and since St. Germain is all the rage, we chose this particular drink to make.  We choose vodka as our main liquor, but you can also use a nice gin.  It is basically, vodka, St. Germain, and fresh lime juice all shaken together nicely and served up. Potent and delightful!

Don’t forget our ratings scale is between 1 and 5 Olives.  One Olive = waste of my blogging time;  5 Olives = oh my goodness/yummmmmm

Presentation: 4 olives. Only because we served them in these gorgeous retro glasses that Jules and Erika bought us.  Otherwise, I would have given it a 2 olive rating.

Creativity: 2 olives.  Vodka, St. Germain, lime juice.  Period.

Taste: 3.5 olives.  I think Alison has made them better before, but it was still wonderful.

Overall: 3.5 olives.  Easy classic drink to make at home for loved ones – not dogs.

Sorry so slack this week.  We promise to take you to a much better place next time.

Most drinks we order are around $10.00. I find some should probably be more like $12.00 and others should be more like $6.00.  I mean, I realize that alcohol costs – but there is just a difference in how cocktails are created, what goes in them, etc.  Point is, not all $10.00 cocktails are equal.

With that, I will write about Wahoo.  “Girl’s Night” was held there this past week and we ordered two “specialty drinks” from the bartender.  We chose the [tag]Cava Sutra and the Drunken Gardener[/tag].  I have had the Drunken Gardener before and loved it so I wanted to write about it since it is easy to make on our own and really refreshing.  But, we will start with the Cava Sutra – which looked really pretty – but tasted a bit like cough syrup according to Karen.

Don’t forget our ratings scale is between 1 and 5 Olives.  One Olive = waste of my blogging time;  5 Olives = oh my goodness/yummmmmm

The Cava Sutra consisted of Hanger One Spiced Pear Vodka, Domain de Canton,  Cava, Angostura Bitters, and comes with a nice sugar cube plopped down in it.

Presentation: 4 olives – Nice presentation in a pretty champagne glass – the sugar cube makes the cava bubble even more.  Yet, when we first got it, it was not bubbling at all and looked a bit weak.  The waitress took it back, added a little lemon peel to it and had to have added a bit of fresh cava.

Creativity: 3 olives – I really think I thought this would be better than it was.  In fact, I think we all thought it would be better.  But it was not.  Maybe the bitters are a bad idea in this drink.

Taste: 1 olive – I mean, look at Cille’s face.  This is how we all felt.

Overall: I’d give is 2.5 olives because I think the concept was a good one…it just did not work out as planned.

On the other hand, the Drunken Gardener is just as delightful as I remembered.  Although, I swear I made it better when I tried it at home.   The drink has Crop 100% cucumber organic vodka, fresh basil from their garden, and simple syrup.

Presentation: 2 olives – Nothing fancy  – served up with some nice small flecks of basil in it.

Creativity: 3 olives – Again, very simple drink but a nice touch on cucumber vodka.

Taste: 3.5 olives.  Refreshing and very enjoyable.

Overall: 3 olives.  Good solid drink that I find I get most times I am at Wahoo.

So, there you have it.  I think these drinks are more of the $6.00 cocktails.  But alas, we are at a small restaurant – NOT a bar scene where creating drinks is the main objective.  Wahoo is a staple in our little Decatur community and we enjoy it – just don’t find the cocktails too terribly exciting.

We kept hearing about this cool space with kickin tunes on Edgewood Avenue for a couple of months – and after going to Top Flr for drinks the week before last, we decided to try out [tag]Sound Table [/tag]this past week.  We went really because we both thought Nate from Top Flr and Sound Table was such a “cutey pa-tootey” which I am sure he enjoys being called.

Nate was working when we showed up to this fabulous spot on Saturday night (at like 6:45pm.)  We knew we would have the bar to ourselves that early.  Nate told us order from Paul, the fine Craftsman of Cocktails at Sound Table (pictured below).  We wanted to taste a couple of Paul’s creations so he suggested The Golden Ticket and the Fourth and Sand.  Paul is also a handsome lad and he was in full swing most of the evening creating new and exciting drinks for his fall menu.  I must tell you we were extremely impressed by the flavors he brought together.

We decided to also try one of Nate’s creations here – the Summer Home in Milledgeville.   This was a toss up for which one was best.  Since I am writing it this week, I’d say The Golden Ticket and the Summer Home in Milledgeville were both delightful.  I’d only drink one Golden Ticket though as it was slightly frothy and sweet.  The Fourth and Sand was lovely and bursting with flavors, but alas, we are going to rate only the Golden Ticket and Summer Home in Milledgeville.

Don’t forget our ratings scale is between 1 and 5 Olives.  One Olive = waste of my blogging time;  5 Olives = oh my goodness/yummmmmm

I’ll start with The Golden Ticket ($10). Taking more time than usual to make, this very beautiful drink is created slowly and meticulously with Karlson’s Gold Vodka, sugar, vanilla, egg white, and nutmeg.  Can I get a “whop whop?”

Presentation: 3.5 olives – wonderfully presented with nutmeg on top – this white and frothy drink was very pretty.

Creativity: 3 olives -  the ingredients tend to go together on their own without vodka – but the true creativity was in the way it was precisely made.

Taste: 4 olives – absolutely divine and I could have taken it down in one massive sip.

Overall: 3.5 olives – great drink.  I’d probably have it at the end of the night next time as a dessert drink!

The Summer Home in Milledgeville (pictured above being lit) was a potent drink consisting of (are you ready?) Swedish Punch, St. Germain elderflower, Green Chartreuse, Absinthe, lemon, and Peychauds Bitters. ($10)  I mean, really people.  This lovely summer home may haunt you if you drink too many of these things. Alison’s review is below:

Presentation: 3.5 olives – Up with a burnt orange rim…yum yum.

Creativity:  5 olives – Do you know what Swedish Punch even is?  We didn’t until now.  Plus, St. Germain makes me happy.

Taste: 4.5 olives – very different and strange yet not off-putting.  Smooth and complex with all sorts of flavors playing off of each other.  Maybe even good enough to make me want to take a trip to Milledgeville, GA.

Overall: 4 olives – YUMMY Goodness.

Oh, and by the way, the food rocked and the staff were all knowledgeable.  We shall be back even if we don’t feel like we are cool enough to go too often.

Indeed, Top Flr is interesting…  black and white colors inside, very sparse and yet, really really cool.   I will say, though, that the first time I went in it, I did not think it was the cleanest joint.  But, it is certainly very clean and very very good – I just must have been put off by the lack of “fancy decor or something like that.”  Chef Shane Devereux serves up some amazing and inexpensive dishes.  But, we are not here to talk about the food – everyone blogs about food.

We are here to talk about the cocktails at TopFlr.  They have a wide selection of interesting and off the wall cocktails which will delight most palettes.  The bartender, Nate, is actually the “Craft Bartender” (he does not like the word – “mixologist”) for Top Flr and Sound Table-which we will be reviewing soon.  Nate proved to be an excellent bartender since they were out of many things he was going to try on us.  In fact, he made up a concoction that is not even on the drink list at Top Flr and we friggin loved it.

Alison, Chelsea, and I sat at the bar and asked Nate to order for us. We got three drinks, but will be reviewing two of them:  the Silver Dagger and one made up on the spot (not really) – the Pimm’s Flip.   Chelsea rated the Silver Dagger and it follows!

Don’t forget our ratings scale is between 1 and 5 Olives.  One Olive = waste of my blogging time;  5 Olives = oh my goodness/yummmmmm

The Silver Dagger consisted of Luna Azul Blanco, basil, pineapple puree, and rhubarb bitters.  It was gorgeous.

Presentation: 3 olives – Fairly straightforward.  Classic muddled look with nice frothy top.  Maybe a sugared rim next time…

Creativity: 3.5 olives -Rhubarb, pineapple and basil…nice thinking Nate.

Taste: 4 olives – Scrumptious!  Flavors hit in waves of a finely choreographed attack.  The pineapple tied all the tastes together nicely. Yummy.

Overall: 4 olives – Very refreshing and fairly complex drink.  Super enjoyable with everything we ate from tuna tartar to the pizza.

Our other drink – the one Nate called the Pimm’s Flip – was his “egg version” of a Pimm’s Cup served up.  But really, it was nothing like what I know to be a Pimm’s Cup.  It was 100 times better.  The problem here is that I wrote down what was in this drink on a napkin (you can see how seriously we take this) and I cannot find that said napkin.  So, unless Nate decides to comment below on what was in it, I’ll just say it was one of my top five drinks thus far.

Presentation: 5 olives – the bitters on the top with the frothiness of the egg white was almost heavenly.

Creativity: 5 olives – even though I do not remember what was in it.  I do know he shook the crap out of it TWICE.

Taste: 4.5 olives – lovely, delightful, sinful.  I drank almost the entire thing by myself.  Screw leaving some for Alison and Chelsea.

Overall: 4.8 olives – I am telling you, I will make Nate create this drink again.

We cannot wait to go back to Top Flr.  Too bad it took us so long to get back there.

I am sorry I am behind almost an entire week.  I have been obsessed with my Luna Moth and keep forgetting to write this post.  Alas, I digress.

This past week, we headed to the new restaurant in Decatur (where The Depeaux used to be) that is owned by Teri Rogers. Teri is the lovely proprietor of two restaurants in Decatur – Feast and now Farmstead 303.  *On a quick side note about the food at Farmstead… we liked our meals – found that the appetizers were much better than the larger main courses and the southern food on the menu was very salty. We indeed like Feast much better, but I am sure Farmstead will find its footing with Ryan Stewart as the chef.*

We kinda sorta did our 52 Weeks of Drinks at the last minute here but they do have a small list of specialty drinks. We chose two cocktails to taste this evening – the Garden Of Eden and the Honeydew Cooler.  Both good names for cocktails and both are original it seems even though there is another Garden of Eden liquor drink on line…nothing like this one!

Alison got the Garden of Eden which included an unknown gin, hibiscus juice, fresh lemon juice, and St Germain.  Simply put, this was one sweet drink. Alison’s ratings are below.

Don’t forget our ratings scale is between 1 and 5 Olives.  One Olive = waste of my blogging time;  5 Olives = oh my goodness/yummmmmm

Presentation: 1 olive.  Served up, this drink looked like what is put in a hummingbird feeder.  There was no garnish in this cocktai.

Creativity: 2.5 olives.  Nice ingredients and maybe on a different night with a different bartender – it would be a less sweet drink.

Taste: 2 olives.  Had I been that hummingbird going to its feeder, I would have enjoyed this concoction.

Overall: 2 olives.

Alley, on the other hand, decided to get the Honeydew Cooler – which sounds really good in this 150 degree heat wave we are having. We all enjoyed this very summery cocktail consisting of cucumber vodka, nice pieces of honeydew shaken together with the vodka and fresh mint and poured in a tall glass full of ice.  Topped with a splash of soda, this drink was yummy.

Presentation: 4 olives.  Cool pieces of honeydew and fresh mint floating around in the tall glass.  Was fun to eat the cucumber vodka soaked honeydew.

Creativity: 3 olives.  Good solid drink with not too many fluffy things.

Taste: 4 olives.  Perfect on a hot Atlanta day.

Overall: 3.5 olives – enjoy!

I am sure we will be back to Farmstead.  The bar has a friendly atmosphere to it and they have a great selection of beer (unless they are out of some of them