The Giannini Bar in the NoMad Los Angeles is named after Amadeo Giannini, the founder of The Bank of Italy, who originally built the hotel in the 1920s for his corporate headquarters. Along with its sibling bar in New York City, The Giannini Bar is the recipient of several international accolades for its imaginative cocktail program from bar director Leo Robitschek and NoMad’s food and beverage overseers Daniel Humm and Will Guidara.
The “Banana Dance” cocktail was inspired by 1920s famed burlesque performer Josephine Baker, who Ernest Hemingway once called “the most sensational woman anyone ever saw.” Baker created the dance in the beginning of her career while wearing a skirt made from 16 rubber bananas.
The drink was born out of an exercise to create a cocktail list with an L.A. state of mind. “We wanted to start giving the program here an identity that was complementary, yet independent from our NYC home base,” explains bar manager Adam George Fournier.
The drink is served with a paintbrush of chocolate which you get to lick off the glass while you sip it. Try this recipe at home, and consider that small, decorative detail for a conversation starter at your next cocktail party.
The Banana Dance Cocktail
Courtesy of The NoMad Hotel, Los AngelesIngredients
1 1/2 ounces banana-infused Lustau Oloroso Sherry
1/2 ounce Green Spot Pot Still Irish Whiskey
1/2 ounce brown butter-infused Velvet Falernum
1/2 ounce Dolin Blanc Vermouth
1 teaspoon Nocino
1 teaspoon Verjus
Method
Combine all the ingredients in a mixing glass filled with ice; stir. Strain into a glass (the Giannini Bar uses Nick & Nora glasses) painted with a chocolate stripe for garnish.
Pro tip: To infused the Sherry and the falernum, Fournier and team use a Spinzall centrifuge to “help capture an intense, yet natural flavor from the banana and meld it seamlessly with the Sherry.”
Hero image by Daniel Adams for Becca PR.
