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Drink Deconstructed: Slick Ride

Skip this month's car payment and drop $175 on a tricked out drink. XO Prime Steaks' Pepper Pike location features luxury cocktails, including the Platinum Sidecar — a twist on owner Zdenko Zovkic's favorite classic cocktail of cognac, orange liqueur and lemon juice made with the finest ingredients available. "I like something that is tart-sweet, a nice, balanced drink that has some good undertones of maybe a cognac or a scotch," he says. Here's why the pricey beverage is worth the tab.
 

If You Go:

29425 Chagrin Blvd., Pepper Pike, 216-378-8988, xoprimesteaks.com
 

 

2 ounces of Hennessy Paradis cognac: The spirit, which is sold under the 250-year-old French house's Paradis label, is aged for 25 to 100 years. "It brings out the tones of the cognac," Zovkic says. "It makes it smoother and richer in flavor."

1 ounce Grand Marnier centenaire: Zovkic uses this orange-flavored cognac, which is aged for 15 to 20 years, instead of the typical Cointreau. "It stays with you a long time after a sip," he says. The substitution is a nod to the sidecar's history, a version that credits the Hotel Ritz in Paris with its creation after World War I. Louis-Alexandre Marnier-Lapostolle, the founder of Grand Marnier, was also a backer for the Ritz, he says.

3/4 ounces fresh-squeezed lemon juice: It brightens and lightens the drink by balancing the sweetness of the alcohols. "It's almost like using salt in a cooking dish to bring out the flavors," Zovkic says.

food & drink

12:00 AM EST

January 21, 2015

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