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| - Due to the No1DP going to a convention for his job every year he's developed a love for the city and for all the years he's attended the conference I've managed to join him. Thus in anticipation of all my Vegas trips I do research on my points of interest - namely the food and cocktails. Out of curiosity I checked the Cosmopolitan website and not only was the site totally revamped, menus were uploaded for ALL 3 floors of the Chandelier.
Most people know the Chandelier as the centerpiece for the Cosmopolitan Hotel and Casino. Inside the Chandelier is a multi-level bar. For those that don't know, each floor of the Chandelier is thematically different from one other, which is showcased in the form of that floor's cocktail menu. For the last four years I've been drawn to the middle floor of the Chandelier, officially titled "Inside the Chandelier", or unofficially 1.5. It is accessible only through stairs inside the Chandelier itself or its specific elevator.
The No1DP and I love a *well-made* craft cocktail and our favorite bars have a well thought-out cocktail program. 1.5 is for the most part a highly regarded bar mainly due to its focused on hand-crafted cocktails tossed in with a bit of molecular mixology. Our first visit (Nov 2013) is still considered our second best cocktail experience EVER due to a combination of a very savvy bartender and me and the No1DP falling in love HARD with our drinks (Bruce Tea and Smokey the Bear, respectively) but our second visit in September 2014 was disappointing to say the least. We were clued into this decline by our bartender several years after the fact - mid-September is still considered the summer season. As Marquee is considered one of the premier night AND day clubs in all Vegas, pre-mixing your drinks is one way to keep up with your customer demands especially if target audience is consuming said cocktail to START their night and not necessarily knowing and/or caring about what they consume.
When I stumbled into the Chandelier 1.5 site I noticed that ALL the floors had a new drink menu and the menus read similar to 1.5. Turns out that Mariena Mercer, the creative director of 1.5 is now in charge of ALL the Chandelier floors. My biggest regret this visit was not trying out the 2nd floor as it provides a more classical yet more intimate cocktail experience.
I was drawn to one particular drink, the Classy Lassi, which won a cocktail competition awarded by the liquor distiller. Looking at the description I was determined to try it as it consists of the following:
Opihr Spiced Gin, Mango, Passion Fruit, Yogurt, Coconut, Cardamom, Ginger, Peppercorns, Lemon Verbena, Kalamansi, Snake Oil.
(The recipe: http://opihr.com/blog/2015/09/29/u-s-mixologist-wins-international-opihr-world-adventure-cocktail-competition-2015/)
I *hate* the taste of traditional gin yet when I had a sample of this all I could think of is "Indian curry". Smells and tastes like curry with a very underlying taste of juniper, with cardamom, orange and black pepper being the predominant tastes. Now if you've had mango lassi before, it's like combing a curry and lassi into your mouth at the same time. Like how Bruce Tea is supposed to be this weird but loveable mixture of a Thai curry drink? Classy Lassi is this with Indian curry. This drink would be weird to someone unfamiliar with Indian cuisine but a person that appreciates a good Indian curry would love this interpretation. If there was a way to make this drink less watery or to up the yogurt, reducing the water while maintaining the spice level this would make this drink as loveable as my 2013 Bruce Tea.
No1DP got the Sacrificial Virgin and it reminded him of the dangerous mai tais we consumed back at the Royal Hawaiian. A good mai tai is known to be a dangerous drink, creeps up on you when you least expect it.
Now that we both know the secret of the ideal Chandelier visit (hint: off-season!) we look forward to exploring this version of the menu while it's still available. Now that Mercer has taken over all 3 floors we would love to commit a few days to do a deep dive of levels 1.5 AND 2 drink menu. I wouldn't mind foregoing our usual other stops of Vesper, Parasol Up/Down and Rhumbar for this.
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