Conrad Tao

MUSIC
FRIDAY, MARCH 20, 2020
7:00 PM

Instagram

Free
https://instagram.com/stories/conradtao/2268540110020543894?igshid=170yz0eh2qbaj

Conrad Tao isn't a composer who'd be a word-beating virtuoso pianist if only he focused on his piano-playing.  He's a composer who is a world-beating virtuoso pianist.  He'll be showing off both his compositional and his pianistic chops tonight.  Am I understanding right that there'll be accompanying dancing (I mean, on the stream — what you do while watching is your own business)?

MAKE A NIGHT OF IT:  Ace bartender Phil Ward might have been forced by prevailing circumstances to delay the upcoming opening of his new Martini bar (perilously close to my apartment, so maybe it's for the best).  But we can still enjoy his greatest creation at home:  Oaxaca Old Fashioned.

1-1/2 oz. reposado tequila
1/2 oz. mezcal
1 teaspoon agave nectar (not as exotic as it sounds:  I happen to have just gotten a bottle at Union Market I think it was)
1 or 2 (I vote 2) dashes Agnostora bitters or, if you have them, mole bitters
Strip of orange peel

Mix the liquid ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice.  Strain them into a rocks glass that's filled with ice.  Now, the best part, flaming the peel — a trick that will never fail to impress yourself and any others who might be with you:  hold a lighted match about an inch over the drink in one hand and the orange peel strip in the other, the rind side of the peel facing the match, with maybe an inch of good social distance between them.  After the peel heats, bring it closer to the match (not from directly above, but at say a downward 45 degree angle) and squeeze it into the match until oil sparks fly down into the drink (this is SO cool).  Extinguish the match and drop the peel into the drink.  You can drink it now.