SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
The holidays always give us a chance to put our own spin on traditions. Maybe you've got your family's go-to movies or outings. Or as we talked a bit about on last Sunday's show, you might put some international touches on some of the classic meal staples. Well, the drink menu should be no exception.
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We recently paid a visit to a new bar here in D.C. that's got those bases covered. Providencia is nestled in an alleyway along the busy H Street corridor, the brainchild of several folks behind other popular restaurants in the District. The owners all have different backgrounds, ties to Taiwan, the Dominican Republic and El Salvador. They've taken different aspects of their own personal histories to create a deeply personal feel and menu.
ERIK BRUNER-YANG: You know, South American culture in general, in Central America, have a ton of Asian influence through trade, slavery and immigration, all those things. And just, like, the presence of shared cultures' ingredients exists between the two.
DETROW: That's Erik Bruner-Yang, who opened Providencia over the summer with Paola Velez and bartenders Daniel Gonzalez and Pedro Tobar.
BRUNER-YANG: Some things aren't necessarily about, like, how it's prepared or what the ingredients are used, but it's more about the storytelling behind the drinks.
DETROW: Yeah.
BRUNER-YANG: It's like you can use the same five things, but to tell five different stories because there's so many shared things between all the cultures, and that's really kind of some of the stuff that we discovered.
DETROW: Gonzalez and Tobar are both from El Salvador, but even then...
PEDRO TOBAR: Even though we are from the same country, from El Salvador, there's things that I haven't tried from his side of the country, and there's things that he haven't tried from my side of the country, you know? So it was great putting drinks together.
DETROW: Can you tell me about the most personal drink on the menu for you and tell us why that is?
TOBAR: One of my favorite ones is the cafe de olla, just because it's also very dear memory with my grandma. So every time I would drink coffee, she would give me a pastry. And the cocktail itself, it taste just like you dip in a pastry in the coffee. So it's great. I like that one a lot.
DETROW: What's in that recipe?
As Tobar explains, Gonzalez starts pulling out ingredients from behind the bar.
TOBAR: So we're doing some Salvadorian rum...
(SOUNDBITE OF DRINK POURING)
TOBAR: ...Some horchata.
(SOUNDBITE OF DRINKING BEING SHAKEN)
TOBAR: ...With the cinnamon and sesames. We do some coffee and instant cafe de olla.
DETROW: Shake with ice.
(SOUNDBITE OF DRINKING BEING SHAKEN)
DETROW: You shake it for a long time.
DANIEL GONZALEZ: For a minute - it's a lot of thick ingredients in there.
DETROW: And the cafe de olla is served in a coupe glass. It's a dark, molasses-colored concoction topped with a thick foam from all that shaking. It's garnished with a sprinkle of toasted sesame seeds and a wrapped candy attached to the rim with the tiniest clothespin I have ever seen.
GONZALEZ: Cheers.
DETROW: Oh, that's really good.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
DETROW: The next cocktail is a bit tough to say on purpose.
TOBAR: It is called tres tristes tigres. It's a - like, a tongue twister in the Spanish.
DETROW: That means three sad tigers.
TOBAR: When you leave home, it's hard to adapt to a new culture. But as you go, you learn different cultures. So we try to mix everything...
DETROW: Yeah.
TOBAR: ...As we go.
DETROW: It's rum based and inspired by a Dominican cocktail of milk and citrus, a Salvadoran cocktail made with barley and strawberry, and Taiwanese barley tea. It's creamy and bright pink, and it can be made zero proof without the rum, as well. Tobar serves it over ice, garnished with dried flowers.
I think, just in terms of the types of drinks I usually like to drink, this is not a drink I would ever order myself off the menu, but I'm really - it is very bright. It is pink. Oh, I really like it.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
DETROW: Lastly, we get a cocktail that really feels fit for the season.
TOBAR: The second one is called atole en invierno.
DETROW: Providencia's atole, another popular Latin American drink, is a cashew-based beverage with warm flavors of cardamom, cinnamon and vanilla. They make it in batches here and serve it hot. It brings on more warm memories of home, literally, for Tobar.
TOBAR: We are used to drinking or sweating (ph) while we eat or drink back home. No matter how hot it is, Mom or Grandma will make the hottest beverage or food...
DETROW: Yeah.
TOBAR: ...In a way. But this one - for winter, I think a full-spice cocktail works well for the winter.
DETROW: And if you ask Paola Velez and the crew here at Providencia, bringing their personal stories and identities to their menu works well any time of the year.
PAOLA VELEZ: For us, you know, either we're immigrants or children of immigrants. And when you kind of, like, have the opportunity to create derivatives of things that will resonate with people that look like you, grew up like you or are like you - right? - and it kind of brings a sense of fulfillment. At the end of the day, we just try to create, and you just kind of learn, and you keep learning. And for me, that's, like, the game, right? Like, I want to keep learning.
DETROW: You can read more about this holiday drink menu and see the cocktails too at npr.org. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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