Manhattan purists and infusion-phobes, turn away.
I used to be one of you, too. But no matter how much I pooh-poohed the idea of a cinnamon whiskey drink and looked askew at the vaguely "'hatten-esque" cocktail passed across the bar at James Restaurant, a few sips set my taste buds straight into a happy hum. That's because the James-hattan is a rarity in the land of fooffie drinks - a cocktail concocted with the same attention to balance as the often stunning contemporary plates that emerge from the kitchen in this sleek Italian Market gem.
There is a vestige of a Manhattan in there, somewhere, in the dash of bitters and the sweet vermouth. But the rest is luscious poetic libation license - Jack Daniel's infused with cinnamon sticks, golden raisins, and oranges - sweet, but not too much, with a lingering whisper of cinnamon that's spicy and autumnal inside the whiskey's heat. With a crackling lounge fire and raisins like these, plump and boozey at the bottom of the glass, who even needs a cherry?