In Brickell, nightlife impresario David Grutman is the brains behind Komodo, a three-story Pan-Asian restaurant and lounge. On the menu, patrons find rolls of truffle honey salmon, tuna tataki and tempura shrimp, paired with Peking duck, crab lo mein and miso lobster.
But beyond the food, the restaurant is best known for its robust bar program, led by Willy Estrada. More than a dozen concoctions rotate on any given day. Most recently, Estrada created the Sake Your Edamame.
“Edamame has always been a nice starter,” he says. “I love the way it tastes and looks, so I came up with a way to infuse the bean and flavors that would work with it as a cocktail.”
The recipe calls for vodka, sake, edamame-nigori purée, shiso leaf, lemon juice and lime juice, topped with an open edamame pod. Mixing the spirits with the puree creates a frothy texture with a light, pleasant flavor.
“I wanted to use ingredients that are commonly found in Asian cuisine,” Estrada says. “I combined edamame with nigori sake, a spirit that has a long-lasting tradition in Japan, to give the edamame the right texture for a cocktail. I added shiso leaves, a touch of Yuzu and homemade syrup to create a well-balanced flavor.”
Estrada warns the cocktail might fool you at first. The combination of the shiso oils, edamame and sake give the drink a green apple taste, he explains. “You smell an herby aroma, but when you try it, you get a completely different flavor than you expected,” he says.
For anyone trying the cocktail on a visit to Komodo (801 Brickell Ave.), Estrada recommends an order of Thai beef jerky flavored with coriander, galangal and lemongrass.
—Clarissa Buch
Sake Your Edamame
Ingredients
1 ounce Stolichnaya Elit vodka
1 ounce Enter Black Dot sake
½ ounce lemon juice
½ ounce lime juice
¾ ounce simple syrup
1¼ ounces edamame-nigori puree
1 shiso leaf
Directions
Add all ingredients to a cocktail shaker. Shake vigorously and strain into a coupe glass. Garnish with an open edamame pod.
