"Sex and the City" and its star characters' favorite Cosmo had dropped off Mississippi Coast movie screens when we decided to ask around about the summer's hottest drinks. We imagined something newer and sexier had eased the Cosmopolitan off the cocktail radar.
Boy were we wrong.
A plethora of bartenders verified not only the continued popularity of that pink drink but also that the equally overexposed Mojito is still packing 'em in at many casino bars and probably outside that realm as well.
Keely Pearce, a beverage specialist and bartender in EIGHT75 at the Beau Rivage, says, "I would think you were like about every third customer I wait on all night" if our drink order were a Cosmo or a Mojito. "Both are great drinks, (and) we sell a lot of them."
"Cosmos are very popular at the Grand Biloxi Diamond Lounge," says Diamond Lounge bartender Kimberly Johnson. "I think the movie made them popular again." As for Mojitos, she says she thinks some places shy away from them because of the need for fresh mint leaves, but, "when people see others drinking one, they want one, too. Good news travels fast."
Joe Farruggio, manager of CHILL at the IP Casino Resort Spa, agrees, Mojitos are among the most popular drinks this summer.
The status of those two favorites plus a few other questions about the drinking habits of Coast dwellers and visitors, were put to mixologists at Coast casinos, beginning with this query:
What would you say is the cocktail most often ordered during the summer?
Tied for first, Margaritas and Cosmos. One bartender says vodka with anything - tonic, cranberry juice - is popular, another says he gets a lot of requests for Crown and Coke, and the Bushwacker, a combination of cream of coconut, Kahlua, dark rum, creme de cacao and milk, is tops at Wahoo's in Palace Casino, and another says Mojitos.
Has a customer ever stumped any of these experts with a request for a drink they didn't recognize?
Nick Randazzo from the Silver Slipper in Hancock County admits it happened - once - when "a customer ordered a Washington Apple and I knew it as Applelicious."
A similar incident happened to Farruggio when a customer ordered a Sombrero that turned out to be simple Kahlua and milk. "A very head slapping stumper since it was so simple," he said.
In fact, about 20 percent of those who answered our questions said yes, they had been stumped, even if only as Randazzo had been, by someone calling a familiar drink by an unfamiliar name.
Says Amanda McDonald, who tends bar at Palace Casino, "The No. 1 reason (for misunderstanding) is where you're from." The same drink just has a different name depending on where you live.
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