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The Mondrian hotel in Miami Beach used to have a vending machine in their soaring lobby where, with the swipe of a credit card, you could readily purchase various sundries such as an engagement ring, an intimacy kit—or for somewhere around $75K, the keys to a brand new Jaguar or Porsche (I don’t remember exacty which)!
My dealings with that machine were of a more humble nature. I purchased an attractive copy of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s This Side of Paradise and brought it home where it then sat on a shelf for years along with my best intentions of reading it. I was so glad I finally did. It’s beautifully written, often stunningly so in its depiction of the callow Amory Blaine as he tries to sort out things (anything!) in the world of the Lost Generation. I’m guessing Holden Caufield might have found his roots here.
It’s extraordinary to think that Fitzgerald was only 23 when he wrote this debut novel with such incredible inventiveness of the form—incorporating poems, playscripts, songs, and of course, a fair amount of liquor.
In one late-night scene, Amory and a bunch of his friends ditch Princeton and head to the Jersey Shore. (None of them, by the way, have so much as a dime on them.)
“They strolled along the boardwalk to the most imposing hostelry in sight, and, entering the dining-room, scattered about a table.
‘Eight Bronxes,’ commanded Alec, ‘and a club sandwich and Juliennes. The food for one. Hand the rest around.’
Amory ate little, having seized a chair where he could watch the sea and feel the rock of it...”
Ever had a Bronx cocktail? Instructions below. Cheers then to a lovely sip for summer and the Great F. Scott!
Bronx Cocktail
Adapted from Liquor.com
Ingredients
2 ounces gin
1/4 ounce dry vermouth
1/4 ounce sweet vermouth
1 ounce orange juice, freshly squeezed
1 dash orange bitters (optional)
Steps
Add the gin, dry and sweet vermouths, orange juice and orange bitters into a shaker with ice and shake until well-chilled.
Double-strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
