No Elves Just Faries
Bar Napoli, Dolores and 7th, Carmel, (831) 626‑6335, chefpepe.com
Sometimes you want something smooth and sophisticated, but with a rustic familiarity and genial sweetness that speaks to afternoons on a sun drenched yacht in Monte Carlo during a Formula 1 weekend, a cigar at a venerable London club, fond reminiscence with old friends in a favorite dive or a stroll through the autumn leaves in the Tennessee mountains. Bartender Anthony Vitacca crafts this urbane, personable, one‑of‑a‑kind, cocktail from two types of whiskey, two liqueurs and a dash of tobacco bitters – a well‑traveled, yet forward‑thinking combination. No way a cocktail of this magnitude would be named after, say, David Schmalz.