A Spooky Cocktail Adventure at 901

By:  Jennifer Duff
Capital Cooking Contributor

901 Restaurant & Bar kicked off trick-or-treat festivities with "A Spooky 901 Adventure" party.  This Halloween-themed soiree featured three sultry cocktails, passed hors d'oeuvre treats, and DJ Steve Starks (complete with Scooby Doo costume) spinning tracks. 

 

The most impressive cocktail in terms of preparation was the Bloody Bang.  The Bloody Bang was a mixture of Emperor Imperial Vodka, house-made raspberry puree, and champagne garnished with a radish stuffed with a raspberry served in a martini glass.  This cocktail was prepared with dry ice and captured the essence of Halloween with the smoke lifting from the glass.  It tasted rather sweet but the champagne rounded it out.

The 9001 and 1 Geisha cocktail consisted of cranberry-infused vodka, passion fruit puree, fresh lemon juice, ginger and lemon bitters.  This was my favorite cocktail -- the passion fruit puree perfectly balanced the bitterness of the lemon and ginger.

The Midnight Aura cocktail included Belvedere Vodka, lemon, home spiced Asian pear puree, and ginger.  I thought the lemon and the ginger were overpowering and made this cocktail a bit too sour for my taste.

The decor and layout for the "Spooky Adventure at 901" was fun and festive for Halloween - little candle skulls adorned table tops, spider webs formed over beer barrels, and paper mache "pumpkins" covered the lights to make our evening frightfully entertaining.

Over the course of the night, restaurant staff passed a few 'treats' for guests to snack on, like their yummy Smoked Pulled Pork Sliders.  These bite-sized sandwiches were stuffed with North Carolina style mango BBQ topped with spicy green papaya slaw and sweet pickled chili.  They were absolutely delicious, a great combination of sweet and spicy.  I would have eaten a few more if I could have gotten my hands on the tray fast enough...

They also served some sort of mushroom fritter topped with an aoili sauce.  The fritter was very good but the sauce was a little overpowering for the dish and took away from the earthy mushroom flavor.  It was solid runner up to the pork slider. 

It was fun and spooky Halloween celebration at 901 Restaurant with clever cocktails and some yummy treats to snack on.  Definitely plan to go back and check out more of what their menu has to offer!