A Fabulous Drink at Annies Cafe and Bar

Walk through the large, off white French country doors and you are greeted with a stack of newspapers, a large zinc-topped bar and an open kitchen looking out onto an open dining room that begs you to relax and stay a while.  There’s a lot of love inside those doors, quite literally.  Love Nance and her business partner, Sherry Jameson, run Annies Café and Bar.

Nance and Jameson have been here for over 27 years with their highly successful catering company, Apple Annie’s and have made an effort to bring some life onto Congress Avenue north of the River when they transformed their catering company into an inviting and charming bistro offering breakfast, lunch and dinner. The food and wine selections have always won me over and now Annies is at it again with a new addition to their team mixing up some tasty treats behind the bar.

Nance summoned Washington DC’s “Cocktail Queen,” a.k.a. Tiffany Short, to take her back to her tiki times spent sipping Polynesian drinks reminiscent of the 1930’s and 1940’s.  Tuesday are now aptly named “Tiki Tuesday” and Short has cooked up a drink near and dear to Nance’s heart, named The Scorpion.  Short combines freshly squeezed orange and lime juice with rum, brandy and almond syrup, and pours it into a volcano drinking bowl whose center holds a shot of rum set ablaze.  Meant to be shared and enjoyed with Tuesday night’s special of ½ priced burgers, this fabulous drink is lovely and fabulous!

Scorpion at Annies

• 6 ounces fresh orange juice
• 4 ounces lime juice
• 6 ounces light rum
• 1 ounce brandy
• 2 ounces Orgeat (almond syrup)

Blend with crushed ice.  Garnish with orchid.  Serve in Tiki glass or Scorpion Bowl.

Posted by Nicole Carbon

Nicole Carbon has published 10 posts.

For over seven years Nicole Carbon has been calling Austin, Texas home. She made her way here by way of the Northeast, South Florida and Southern California. A writer of food, wine, cocktails, travel and well all things fabulous, Nicole publishes www.fabulousdrinksaustin.com. Her work appears in the Austin American Statesman, Austin Monthly, Austin Woman, Citysearch Austin, JetBlue’s blog, Rare magazine and she has made TV appearances on KXAN. When she is not traveling the globe experiencing great hotels, food and drink and writing about it she can be found running on the trail or at her happy place, Whole Foods Market. Someday soon Nicole would love to have her own travel show or at the very least her own column preferably in the New York Times.