[title type="h3"]Spirited Dinners All Week.
Tonight @ Salu.[/title]
Tales of the Cocktail begins today, with so many events going on that it's a good thing a lot of them are by invitation only. (There's a restaurant-and-distillers industry quality to much of the program.) But the most alluring to the avid eater are the Spirited 
Dinners. In the past, these were along the lines of the Vintner Dinners during the New Orleans Wine & Food Experience. This year, the hosts of the Spirited dinners are offering the special menus and paired cocktails all week long, starting tonight. I've gone through the list and have recommendations for all five evenings.
Here is the menu for Salu, the small-plates specialist on Magazine Street. You can have this menu for $60 (plus plus) any night through Friday. The menu concentrates on the food and drink of Central Asia--not a culinary style we see much around here. (We're talking about Mongolian and Russian flavors.) The spirits come from Phenix Brands, El Guapo Bitters, and the Master Bar Czars. Salu's chef Dustin Brien does the food.
Celery Root and Asparagus Borscht
Sour Cream Arancini
Wine: Barrel aged “Migroni”- a riff on the classic Negroni featuring Barrel aged Samogon, Mig Fuel, and El Guapo Mojo Cubano bitters.
Smoked Salmon with Caviar Yogurt
Poached Quail and Buckwheat Blini
Wine: Red Pepper Rapture featuring Samogon, El Guapo Gumbo bitters, fresh squeezed lime, grapefruit, roasted bell pepper, and green chartreuse
Lamb Pelmeni
Dill Vinaigrette, Jerusalem Artichoke
Braised Veal Orloff
Root Vegetable, Kale, Smoked Mornay
Wine: “Sweat, perfume and glitter” featuring Stiletto Vodka, El Guapo Ginger Syrup, fresh squeezed Lemon, Rose Cava, El Guapo Love Potion Number 9 bitters.
Walnut Stuffed Plum
Sunflower Halva and Cherry Whip
Wine: Panther Collins (London Vodfka, Mig Fuel, Simple syrup, fresh squeezed lemon, topped with El Guapo Polynesian Kill bitters.)
Salu
Uptown: 3226 Magazine St. Reservations required. 504-371-5958. www.salurestaurant.com.
NOMenu invites restaurants or organizations with upcoming special events to tell us, so we might add the news to this free department. Send to news@nomenu.com.
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