I usually don’t order drinks with ingredients I’ve never heard of. But I took a chance on the Riviera cup at Charlie Palmer at Bloomingdale’s in South Coast Plaza. The bright orange drink—part of a summer promotion headed by Riviera magazine—is made of aperol, orange juice, yuzu maple syrup, ginger ale and fresh mint. The combination made the cocktail taste like an adult version of an ice-cold Sunkist soda, but with a little more nuance.
The drink gets its Technicolor appearance from the aperol—the one ingredient I had to look up. It’s an Italian liquor with a low alcohol content, 11%. It boasts an unusual mix of bitter and sweet.
The slight bubbles from the ginger ale and the mellowing influence of the mint makes the mix very drinkable, with each sip just a little bit different. I finished half the drink before I could even identify what it tasted like (other than yummy).
Its tropical appearance—complete with a sliced orange—sits in sharp contrast to the white walled and accessorized Charlie Palmer, which attracts mainly men in suits to its subdued happy hour (where drinks, including the Riviera cup, are half off).
Charlie Palmer’s cocktail is competing against nine other local restaurants in Riviera magazine’s third annual cocktail tour, where each bar creates a signature drink with Riviera in the name. Patrons can vote at the bar or online for their favorite concoction through the end of August.
—Julie Leupold
