Audio By Carbonatix
Located in the seemingly doomed Henderson Avenue strip where Horne & Dekker, Fish City Grill and Urbino all met their maker, Snack seems to be the unfortunate red-headed stepchild of the otherwise successful ventures from dynamic duo Avner Samuel and Jon Stevens. It’s been panned by critics and Yelpers alike, with complaints of small, overpriced portions and mediocre food. But I was just there for the drinks – -with a cocktail menu that read as clever but not over-reaching and good happy hour discounts ($7 cocktails from 4-7 p.m. and 10 p.m.-close on weekdays), what could possibly go wrong?
The Daly Mulligan (Absolut Wild Tea, creme de violette, lemon and lime) sounded light and delicious, but the splash of violet liqueur tinted it an off-putting overcast gray with no pretty garnish to liven it up; any potential floral notes were trampled by an excess of citrus juice, making for an unbelievably tart, mouth-puckering affair. I drank it anyway because one, I hate sending drinks back, and two, it was strongly reminiscent of Chick-fil-A’s lemonade, which I kind of love (but now abstain from ’cause I love the gays more).
Hoping for something a bit more sophisticated in flavor, I went for the Sicilian Punch next, which promised my favorite Italian aperitif, Campari, along with Bombay gin, apricot, grenadine and ginger.
“Do you like Campari?” the bartender asked tentatively. I assured him I did; satisfied that I understood what I was getting myself into, he went to work on my cocktail. On the plus side, the tumbler it was served in was huge and the concoction it held rather potent. That’s about all it had going for it, though; underneath the refreshingly bitter top note of the Campari, the only flavors it had to offer were sweet and more sweet. The drink desperately needed balance, which the promised ginger and fruit would deliver if the sweetener was dialed back a bit.
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Oh, well. I left the last few ounces in my glass — which I almost never do — and abandoned ship. Entering an establishment with low expectations and leaving disappointed is always, well, disappointing. Will Samuel and Stevens take some cues from their critics and steer Snack back on course, or will they too fall victim to the 2323 Henderson curse?
