Well aren't you excited that it's a three-day weekend? If you're staying in town and are in need of some food and drink, you might want to check out Lilt, the new lounge at the Epic.
You'll find live music and champagne cocktails poured tableside from a trolling champagne cart. Oh, and don't forget the oysters with green apple caviar and cucumber granite. Don't worry, it's faux caviar.
See also: Lilt Lounge to Open at the Epic
The lounge has been gutted and reworked into a sophisticated but modern space. Copper globes hang over the bar and add mood lighting to the lounge along with awe-inspiring views of Brickell. Recessed TVs play Casablanca and other Hollywood classics silently, while sound is provided by the National YoungArts Foundation Tuesday through Thursday. We wished for some more jazz during our visit, but found out that Fridays feature Mark Small quartet on the sax and Saturday's will bring the downtown Jazz band to the stage.
And when a champagne cart rolls up to your table, you order a champagne cocktail. Lilt has plenty. Just peruse their well thought-out menu, which has cocktail keys so you know what tip you're on -- higher crisp dry, high dry and refreshing, medium fruit forward, or deep light bitter notes.
The lounge's cocktail program is spearheaded by Dean Feddaoui, who sources the highest quality and local ingredients for his concoctions. Citrus juice is hand-squeezed daily and fresh herbs are used to make tonics, shrubs, tinctures, marmalades, and syrups. In the near future, Lilts upstairs bar will open with a focus on unique experimental cocktails straight from the mind of Feddaoui.
Champagne cocktails cost $13 and feature everything from Apperol to gin. Out of all the champagne cocktails, I favored the Malcolm, which mixes Double cross, house-made strawberry shrub, lemon, simmonet cremant de bourgogne rosé, and basil leaf.
Cocktails go for $14. Try the Bitter Truth, a gin and tonic with house-made tonic and Belvedere. A couple of these bad boys will be having you blurting out the bitter truth for sho. Another good contender is the Spiced Highway, a mix of Tru vanilla vodka, house-made coconut chai tea, lemon, and ginger. Drinking when sick is probably not the best idea, but this made me feel better.
Lilt also offers a selection of small plates like tuna tartare gazpacho with avocado and caviar and melon con jamon (compressed melon with shavings of jamon serrano). Fancy. Equally fancy is the lobster cocktail, which is served cool with grapefruit, fennel and fava. Priced at $20, each bite is worth every penny.
Blue crab sweet peppers are doused with a key lime creme fraiche ($16).
Taste the rainbow ocean with these oysters that come with a cucumber granite and green apple "caviar." Also maybe taste the rainbow.
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