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THE EPILOGUE: BACK AT SUPPERLAND: A STUDY IN QUALITY
Last week I returned to Supperland for the latest Speakeasy event "Villains Menu" and it was a culinary delight! Every single time I go, I get wowed all over again. I've been to bars all around the world and I have had incredible drinks made by some of the best in the business, but nothing is like this. The thought, the care, the detail and the quality reign supreme. Do you get a rooftop bar or a panoramic view? No, you are in a cozy, well decorated basement, that has a bunch of awesome booze bottles squeezed into the bar. A counter, and enough seats to fit ten lucky guests comfortably. Colleen and Rhea work very hard to create an exciting menu that comes with a fun theme. This isn't thrown together haphazardly. This is built by two incredible mixologists who work with the Chef and Pastry Chef to create a menu that will stay with you long after you have left. The kind of pairings that take both knowledge and daring to create.
When I glance at the menu each time, I try to imagine how it will all work, but the vast array of flavors are frequently ones I have not experienced. These are definitely not drinks or food I could make at home. Fire, dry ice, unique and exciting ingredients all presented in the coolest way possible. What if you went to a magic show but there was amazing food and drink there instead of rabbits and rings? What if you had a five star dinning experience with the most imaginative cocktails you have ever encountered? You descend the tiny staircase, take your seat, are given a little starter drink of some kind and then it all gets explained to you. You have the chance to declare any allergies both before you arrive and once you are there. The menu will explain what you are getting, and your wonderful hosts will walk you through each drink. No matter how many times I go, I get dazzled all over again. Each one has been completely different oh and there's a brilliant bar upstairs if you want to arrive early or stay after! No trip there is complete without ordering the fantastic 4G Negroni!
For a large part of my life, I have been accused of being some kind of fancy pants, bougiee, snob etc. I reject all of these monikers because, what I am, is a devotee of quality. A fancy glass and mood lighting does not move me. I used to eat the most amazing sushi in Los Angeles in a tiny place that had no ambiance at all. Do I enjoy those aspects as well? Yes I do, but if you are not delivering the goods, then it is all just sad dressing covering up the absence of quality. You can set things on fire and have fancy napkins but if the drink sucks, then who really cares? I ate the most amazing street tacos on the street in Los Angeles at least twice a week. I can pay three times as much and get a poorer version with a plate and a tablecloth. At Supperland you get to have your beyond stylish presentation that is matched with over the top quality. I'm selfishly glad it remains a secret, so I don't have to lose my spot to Quentin Tarantino and George Clooney! If this place was in California, I would not be allowed to even use the bathroom there.
Of course, could a place like this even exist anywhere else? I never heard of anything else like it, so maybe not. You could try to imitate but without assembling this level of talent and passion it would be impossible to pull off. I have spent my career chasing quality, learning as much as I can, trying everything I can find and some days it pays off because I'm hanging out with a distiller picking a barrel, and other days it pays off because I can appreciate the level of both work and creativity it takes to pull something like this off. The drinks get built with A LOT of effort, and the food gets brought in at the right time. Then plates and cups get collected and the next round begins in a seamless fashion that requires both skill and dedication! Most of the time you go out and you can't get the cocktail, appetizer, and entree to come out smoothly let alone a highly orchestrated culinary spectacle like this! So, I admire this event from the ground up. All of the details matter and are paid attention to. There is a reason they put Colleen on a magazine cover because she is a true original. Imagine having someone like Rhea to rely upon when building all of this. A woman who could walk into any place and be the number one there. The whole staff is a team of hardworking professionals, so you can come in, any night of the week and have a great meal at the bar or the restaurant without even attending the speakeasy.
I had a wonderful meal at the Las Vegas version of the Eiffel Tower, a great view, excellent food, but I never really had the desire to do it again. I have visited a number of highly rated and fancy eateries in my life and despite my love of food, I have not repeated many of them either. There was not a lack of quality, but once you have done it, some of the magic is gone. The Speakeasy has lost ZERO MAGIC for me! Each time out is very different and always wonderful. They have all been some of the most special evenings of my life. So, if someone says that it is pricey, I think not really. I have definitely spent more for a LOT LESS! Evenings that blended together or were just totally forgettable. The bill was big, but I was far from thrilled. When I'm reaching up to buy a pricey bottle, I always make sure it is going to be something truly memorable. Something that will delight me with each pour. That is what these nights at Supperland are like for me. I will never be rich or famous but when I'm there i feel like both. Nothing but the best from start to finish.
How many times during the week have you thought, I really just need something that will wow me. I need a new flavor, taste, or experience that will shake the cobwebs off and invigorate me. I understand that not everyone thinks about these things or is obsessed with them the way that I am. However, I do think most people remember the best of the best. How crispy and juicy the Chicken Sandwich is at Bardstown Bourbon Company, how fresh the sushi was at the Tokyo fish market, how incredible the Junglebird was at Smugglers Cove, how exciting it was to order the Louisville at Bar Expo, the first time I picked at Wild Turkey with Eddie Russell, building Warehouse Whoop with Elizabeth McCall at Brown Foreman. These special moments they stay with you and they grow. You might embellish the details when you revisit them but they stay with you for a reason. It is a very rare place that can offer you the chance to have more than one of those and that's what they are in fact selling at the Supperland speakeasy.
Do you have any idea how hard it is to get me to go out on a weeknight? I turn down so many great offers (five a year, eventually people just stop inviting you to things) but I try to go to Supperland at least twice a year. I work hard, my tank gets empty, and I can forget that there are other people that care as much about food and booze as I do. So, when I go there I get re-energized and reminded that the details not only matter to other people, but THEY MATTER PERIOD! Because Bowmore was the right choice for this cocktail, Laphroaig or Ardbeg would have thrown off the balance. That the sea foam was not just added for effect but transformed it into a sangria that I will always remember. The playlist, the lighting, the glassware, the presentation, the service, the plates, and the personality all combine together into a tangible WOW! I told Melissa, I don't love your music because you are my friend, I love your music because it moves me! I have no choice but to love it because her voice and lyrics just make me feel. I can sometimes want a famous thing to not be good or even great but then sometimes you find out it is famous for the right reason. Quality shines through. Quality is magic. Quality gets me out of bed in the morning. I don't rail against mediocrity and over priced nonsense just for fun, I bemoan the absence of quality. All the money in the world will not give you that. You can buy a first growth Bordeaux, but you are drinking it too young. You can see the Northern Lights and shrug. Folks just walk around the Grand Canyon "rocks, I don't get it, it is rocks." On the train from Italy to France I awoke from my nap to look out the window and see the Swiss Alps, snow covered and majestic. It has stayed with me.
You can live on autopilot most of the time. Same route to work, same meals, same conversations and just plod along next next next. The problem is, when you do encounter a turn, or a new adventure will you frame it as an annoying obstacle or will you attempt to enjoy it or learn from it. The thing is meant to be a thing, and it is meant to do this and have this and have this effect. Well, you are the one experiencing it, so it is going to have its own impact on you. In Rome they walk right by the Colosseum every day without even looking over at it. In order to be present, we must engage. When met with quality we must engage and most of the time we have to seek it out. You can return to the comfort of your Tuesday night Salisbury steak next week, OR this could be the start of a series of adventures that you ride for the rest of your life! If that has no meaning to you, then what does? Go do that then! I have never regretted my pursuit of quality; I've only regretted it when I don't. It is not about a mindless chasing of consumption in a quest to try enough items to fill a whole that can never be filled. It is about enjoying unique experiences and appreciating them both as they happen and having happy memories to reflect on them.
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