Beverage Director Ryan Cooper shows off Cucina MORINI’s newest cocktails. Cucina MORINI offers Southern Italian cuisine in the Mt Vernon Triangle neighborhood.
welcome back if you can’t make it to Italy for a vacation there is a new Southern Italian restaurant in town that you could just check out instead it’s called coina Marini gosh let me get that right coina Marini and it’s so authentic it’s going to make you feel like you’re in Sicily and joining us today is Ryan Cooper He’s the beverage director over there good to have you thank you so much ladies we’re excited to have you all in town we’ve got some nice stuff for us today all right so we kind of describe the vibe but what what are we expecting foodwise the vibe of the restaurant so it’s a convivial atmosphere so expect a lot of small plates designed to be shared this restaurant’s brought from the same group that brought us ostaria Marini in the Navy Yard this is going to be more of a southern Italian spin on it though so lots of nice light bright Touch of Spice dishes a little bit of seafood and roasted vegetables and it’s brought to us when collaboration with uh Chef Matt Adler of Caruso’s grocery okay is brunch a big thing for you all as well so we haven’t launched it yet but that is coming so you should stay posted CU it certainly will be okay so now right now you’re open for lunch and dinner correct yep we’re open Tuesday through Sunday we open doors at 5:00 and we close at 10:00 on weekdays 11 o’clock on weekends okay all right you’re the beverage director so what you got for us today so today I’m going to be making us a fun little drink it’s actually going to be debuting tomorrow as part of our Martini hour which is a promotion that we run $7 martinis all day long open to close inside of our little Martini Lounge this right this uh this particular cocktail is going to be a play on the uh French martini so expect a lot of citrus we’re starting with a nice um Citrus blend this is going to be some Mandarin and naval orange juice for us it’s going to be nice and bright we make two so we don’t I know I was we just did a restaurant where they had the small plates and we shared everything it was really nice absolutely go with a friend and just enjoy the more enjoy more of the food I’m telling you you don’t want miss anything that Chef Matt has everything is just so delicious yeah can try more on the menu that way absolutely what are all the so these are all juice juices so the first two we had was the Citrus juice and a little bit of lemon the Mandarin has a lot of sweetness so we want to go ahead and tamper that down with some citric acid that was going to be capetti which I’ve got actually right here for us it is a Bittersweet wine-based Italian ativo it’s going to add some really nice Citrus notes to this cocktail as well as a little bit of vanilla and a little fennel and everyone’s favorite a little bit of vodka to finish it off there we go that’s what we were waiting for oh yes the good stuff do you just come up with these or is this did you go visit Italy to do some research I did not however Chef Matt did and he brought with him a host of information for me about ways that we can make these pairings work in a traditional way yeah I know a professional do it so you said there’s a martini lounge absolutely yeah it’s a nice quiet atmosphere before we open but as soon as those doors open it gets packed out it’s actually right next to the host stand so when you’re coming through the first thing that you’re greeted by is a nice group of people having a great time sipping some martinis typically waiting to get to their tables okay that’s a great deal $7 Martini it’s a great deal outside of the city I mean much less inside the city yeah this is like a $20 cocktail I know that’s a great deal all right you’re finishing those off you brought a couple others for us too I did so I brought our names sake cocktail the Marini Martini it’s going to be a fun little play on the vasper martini which is going to have some Gin some vodka a sweet white vermouth but to balance that sweetness we’ve added a little bit of white pepper and Dill to the vermouth itself and some Caper brine instead of your traditional Olive brine for a dirty martini I like that oh absolutely sorry is it Friday yet pretty pink one is going to be our venola punch now that’s going to be a clarified milk punch so with a milk punch it helps to soften some of the sharper flavors round those edges for you and it also makes a beautifully clear cocktail so this going to be nice citrusy a little bit tropical as well is delicious this is so good thank you congrats on opening much Absolut to make reservations at cuchina Marini just head to their website all the information is there including hours everything else cheers perfect for the summer