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In
an era when Joe Zelli's, Harry's NewYork Bar and the men's
bar on the Cambon side of the Ritz were probably the three best
known tippling Taj Mahals in the world and when every Atlantic
liner set down hundreds of solvent and thirsty Yanks full of devalu–
ated fr€!!_1cs, Frank of the Ritz Bar was
a~sort
of universally recog–
nized king of saloonkeepers and was, in fact, a very pleasant,
generous and
~nderstanding
friend to thousands of Americans.
There was nothing eit her cheap or popular about the Ritz and
there was no dandruff on the morning jackets of its customers, who
included Evander BerryWall, the then King of Spain, the Prince
ofWales, Phil Rlant, William
B.
Leeds and the Russian Grand Dukes
then living
in
exile
in
Paris. The men's bar was also the happy
romping and stomping ground, in summer, of most of Harvard,
Yale andPrinceton with an occasional democratic leaven ofWilliams
or Dartmouth.
The Sidecar was invented by Frank, so far as fallible human
memory can determine, about 1923 as a sort of companion piece
to the Stinger only with even more expensive ingredients. It was
always built by Frank for favored· customers with the Ritz's own
bottling of a Vintage 1865 Cognac and set one back, in this redac–
tion, the then equivalent of five American dollars.
Sidecar:
I%.
oz. brandy
%.
oz. cointreau
juice of half lime
Shake and serve in
3
oz. cocktail glass.
The Stinger, while enjoying a far more universal and less period–
design vogue then the Sidecar, is probably the only drink which
while properly a cocktail is also an after-dinner liqueur at the
same time. Like the Sidecar it can he fashioned as a rich man's
74:
Stork Club Bar Book