"Many cocktail enthusiasts in the East Bay set their clocks for the month of February. They know they're going to get something unique from Oakland's Viridian for the Chinese Lunar New Year. The famed Asian-American cocktail bar and restaurant returns with its annual series of pop-ups titled "Red Envelope," which refers to a traditional monetary gift of cash in a red-and-gold envelope symbolizing a family's wish for prosperity and good fortune."
"Viridian patrons who've eaten around a traditional table during Lunar New Year will be able to identify ingredients used in these drinks as everyday food items found in Asian households. But for everyone else, the experience is the doorway to a whole new world of smells and flavors. This menu takes well-known Asian ingredients to the next level. A perfect example combines Char Siu sauce (Korean BBQ sauce) and an Asian evergreen shrub called Osmanthus in the same drink."
Viridian in Oakland mounts an annual Red Envelope Lunar New Year pop-up featuring a seasonal food and beverage menu. William Tsui leads a veteran team through three to four weeks of research and development to produce fourteen new cocktails. The drinks incorporate everyday Asian household ingredients that feel familiar to those who celebrate Lunar New Year and act as an introduction to new flavors for others. Inventive combinations, such as Char Siu sauce paired with Osmanthus, produce herbal, concentrated profiles. The venue is decorated with traditional lanterns, paper-mâché, twinkling lights and large dragon displays, and bartenders sometimes pour unexpected elements, like from a soy sauce container.
Read at East Bay Express | Oakland, Berkeley & Alameda
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