Parkdale’s Aboriginal-inspired Keriwa Cafe is as trendy as it gets—local, seasonal, sustainable—but bartender Amos Pudsey has dusted off some classic mixology texts and found some very good, if very old, ideas.
Amos Pudsey
Cocktail: Prairie Dodger
$14 at Keriwa Café (1690 Queen St. W.)
It’s hard not to fall in love, at least a little bit, with the guys at Keriwa Café. Chef Aaron Joseph Bear Robe and bartender Amos Pudsey radiate the fresh enthusiasm of people getting a chance to do exactly what they want—in this case, have a stylish, small restaurant devoted to original, sustainable, Aboriginal-inspired food (Bear Robe is originally from Alberta’s Siksika Nation). “Everyone’s so excited,” says Pudsey, “there’s almost a sense of re-thinking everything.”
Since the restaurant opened last month, 31-year-old Pudsey has been figuring how to pair his creations with Bear Robe’s rigorously seasonal approach to the menu. The Prairie Dodger, which Pudsey calls “a traditional cocktail with a rustic and regional twist,” may be the best example yet. The dry-yet-frothy sipper is made with citrus, egg white, gin, Dubonnet, and juice and syrup from the hearty, nutty Saskatoon berry. The bittersweet flavours of the gin and berry dominate, but the acidity is nicely balanced out by the egg white. It’s a tough one to describe but, with a beautiful chocolate-burgundy colour and a healthy foam, you might want to drink more than one to figure out exactly what makes it tick. (“For me, the egg makes the drink,” says Pudsey.)
The Dodger’s tricky mixture succeeds largely due to Pudsey’s experience behind the bar, at Tutti Matti, Calgary’s Teatro and most recently at Splendido, where the bulk of the Keriwa crew hails from. But its antique vibe comes from his love of old-fashioned book learning.
He’s been reading reprints of pre-prohibition recipe books, like Jerry Thomas’ 1862 Bartender’s Guide and C.F. Lawlor’s Mixicologist. from 1895. It rests on his back bar, right next to the gin.
That kind of creative ferment might make a casual cocktail drinker a bit wary—one early idea (which Pudsey has since abandoned) involved smoked heirloom-tomato water and cola syrup. But, so far, he’s been able to balance his more out-there tendencies with basic quaffability.
Or as he puts it: “You have to be fundamentally sound before you can be progressive.”
