Southside Sips: 18 Bay’s Clarified Pomegranate Margarita

When 18 Bay shuttered, seemingly for good, in May 2023 after 12 years on Shelter Island, there was a whole lot of heartbreak goin’ on. After all, the thoroughly unique, always delicious, farm-and-forage-to-table restaurant owned by chefs Adam Kopels and Elizabeth Ronzetti was unlike anything the island had ever seen. And, well, arguably unlike anything the North or South forks had seen. 

But while the food was revelatory and wine list nothing less than an exquisite global adventure, the cocktails were good but …not the focus.

Enter Chris Cardone to 18 Bay’s best incarnation yet. 

Tomorrow — Saturday, October 25 — the renowned restaurant will re-open in Jamesport (370 Manor Lane, 631-809-3542). Just hop around the horn, Hamptonites. And there are so many delights in store that make the trek well worthwhile.

Kopels and Ronzetti purchased the former Dimon Estate, a near-four-acre property with an apple orchard, enormous on-site vegetable garden and, best of all, stunning historic house that seats 80, making it their first foray into owning the space where their beautiful plates are served. And they’re also doubling down on the bar program. 

Cardone is serious about the craft of cocktails. The Long Island native has logged 25 years behind the stick in renowned Manhattan dens of drink, was the winner of Diageo’s World Class Bartending U.S. competition and named Bartender of the Year by them as well in 2017. In his role overseeing front-of-the-house and crafting a bountiful beverage program, he takes his cue from and collaborative nature with the kitchen when it comes to ingredients in his culinary-minded cocktails.

But he also makes drinks that you want to drink: Deeply rooted in the classics with just enough of a twist to make them at once approachable and extra special. 

“It’s in synchrony with the kitchen. We did some classic cocktails that every restaurant should have — we have a Martini, a Negroni, a Cosmo,” says Cardone. “Things that everyone should have but at the same time a lot of the cocktails are based on seasonality.” Meaning, ingredients will shift and tweak not just with the individual seasons but, like the kitchen, with all the little changes within the seasons.

His easy-on-the-eyes (and palate) Clarified Pomegranate Margarita is one of our faves from the inaugural list.

“When creating this cocktail I wanted to have something that worked for the fall. Margaritas are a staple; they should be on every cocktail menu in some form,” he says. With pomegranates starting their season and hanging on through deep fall and early winter, plus adding the allspice dram, it was a perfect launching choice for a cold-weather version of the classic.

“At the same time I wanted to elevate it, so by clarifying the cocktail with milk it gives you that translucent hue as opposed to that dark rich red from the pomegranate and allows the pomegranate salt to really pop on the glass. It also creates a really rich mouthfeel,” he says

Milk washing doesn’t have impact on flavor, but thoroughly affects the texture of a drink, making it velvety and silky on the tongue. “To have a margarita that has that bright bitterness with a really rich texture is going to be really adventurous for your palate.”

The milk washing here is done on the entire cocktail, so Cardone can both pre-batch and achieve the heightened velvety smoothness he wants to present to customers. The technique also adds to the drink’s needed dilution. Normally, a margarita is a shaken drink; but here, Cardone stirs instead of shakes, doing so just enough to chill it because the milk washing acts as the needed diluting agent in the mix, in addition to all the other textural and pretty color-muting benefits.

That might sound a little complicated, but milk washing is actually a fairly easy technique. If it intimidates you, making the syrup is a snap and perfectly fine to use in this cold-weather version of a ‘rita, but really — you should just get yourself over to the lovely bar at 18 Bay, order one and toast to their new digs. Long may they live!