Come For Cocktails

Perhaps inspired by a flurry of movies, specials and books about the Rat Pack, cocktail parties are back in vogue with partygoers from New York to San Francisco swilling martinis rather than sipping Merlot. "People like the cocktail style,” reports New York caterer Mary Cleaver, of The Cleaver Company. “It's elegant and sophisticated." She believes this throw back in party throwing is in part due to a strong economy. “People are feeling good and dressing up, parties are more formal," she says. "We're getting a lot more requests for tuxedo-clad waiters." Proving that a cocktail party doesn’t diminish the importance of the celebration, Cleaver reports, "We've even done several weddings recently that were really big cocktail parties."

In San Francisco the flexibility of a cocktail party makes it a popular form of entertaining. “It can be a limited investment of time, requiring less preparation than a sit-down dinner,” explains Mary Corpening Barber. “It offers guests the opportunity to come for a short time or to stay the length of the party,” adds Sara Corpening Whiteford. “It’s the perfect way to host a chic adult party,” says Barber. The sisters and owners of Thymes Two Catering. have culled their ideas for marrying food and drinks, in their just published Cocktail Food (Chronicle Books, 1999).

A cocktail party can involve a bartender prepared to mix any drink under the sun but most hosts pair down the list of possibilities, stocking their bar with basic spirits like vodka, gin, rum, bourbon, and scotch as well as a variety of mixers or simply focusing on a few specific drinks. “We just did a 40th birthday party where the pre-dinner bar served three cocktails; martinis, cosmopolitans, and a champagne cocktail," reports Mary Cleaver.

There's even a trend towards mono-cocktail parties. The Corpening sisters from suggest "a martini soiree" as a simple yet stylish way to host a cocktail party. Senior event planner Amanda De Leon of Thomas Preti Caterers in New York agrees that martinis are very popular. For most people today, martini means vodka not gin. “There are so many different flavored vodkas available now that can be used in innovative martini combinations,” says De Leon.

The bartenders at Thomas Preti Caterers create their own flavored vodkas by macerating fruit in vodka creating both a delicious taste and a beautifully colored beverage which they centerpiece by serving it from a bowl. While traditionalists will insist that martinis are poured into classic V-shaped glasses, De Leon says they sometimes use smaller daintier sherry glasses which are less apt to spill than the wide-mouthed martini glass."

Our experts agree that as we make our way through this new millennium, there are likely to be more martinis being mixed and more invitations to "Come for cocktails."