Somebody in the food department at Time Out New York must really love pain. I mean, mouth-numbing, overwhelming spicy pain. So many of the list items are spicy dishes. Sliced Fish with Chili Sauce, Cumin Lamb, and now the Mary’s Place Cocktail. The cocktail’s name doesn’t warn imbibers that they will basically be destroying their tastebuds for a bit. After some research on the web, my best guess as to where the name comes from is either the character actress from The Big Chill or Lincoln, Nebraska’s hottest nightclub.
Neither name seems to have anything to do with Cabrito, the crowded Mexican hot spot in the West Village, or their take on a mojito. The Mary’s Place cocktail is a concoction of muddled limes, cilantro, and serrano pepper-infused rum. And I have tasted many cocktails with jalapeños or red peppers in my life, but nothing as devastatingly flavor crushing as this drink.
First off, I think the cocktail needs to be stirred for any of the flavors to come together. Because on my first sip through the straw, I really tasted nothing but fizzy fire water (I think they must add a splash of club soda). As I mixed it around, more flavors emerged, but it never got much better. The problem here is that there was no relief. The menu lists cane sugar as an ingredient, but I tasted no sweetness to balance all that spiciness. Maybe the bartender left it out. I did notice that she was being destroyed by the crazy, Happy Hour crowd.
The drink also tasted rather flat and while I’m sure there was some rum, it must have been a really cheap brand because I could sense no alcohol. Or maybe it’s that my tastebuds were so singed from the paralyzing peppers that I could taste nothing else. And the cilantro also wasn’t as pungent as usual.
But don’t get me wrong, I like spicy food (and drinks) but there has to be a reason for it. And it has to open up to more flavors. That’s why spicy Indian food is so satisfying because there are so many varied flavors going on. I don’t want to drink sugar water and I don’t want to drink fire water. But an interesting cocktail in the middle sounds great. Too bad this is not it.
Would Cabrito’s Mary’s Place Cocktail make my Top 100 of the year? The originality of putting heat into a drink is no longer original and is done so much better other places. The lack of balance and relief from the heat earns this a stinging 4 out of 10.
