Mezcal, aperitivo, banana, tangerine, apricot & tarragon — Tiya SF
The Embarcadero is San Francisco's waterfront — the port where ships arrived from Mexico, the Philippines, Hawaii, India, and China with spices, fruits, and foodstuffs that shaped Northern California's cuisine. Tiya's cocktail named for it carries that multicultural freight: mezcal (Mexico) with banana and apricot (SE Asia and South Asia), Italian aperitivo bitterness (Mediterranean), tangerine (from Nagpur, India's orange capital, to Sichuan, China), and tarragon (France, Persia, India's Mughals — the herb appears in all three cuisines). Everything arrived by sea. Everything is in the glass.
Banana juice separates quickly — blend and use immediately. Don't substitute banana liqueur (Crème de Banane) — it is far too sweet and artificial. Fresh tarragon has a unique anise-licorice quality that dried tarragon doesn't replicate; if unavailable, use fresh fennel fronds. Campari gives a more bitter, assertive aperitivo character than Aperol.
Substitute aged rum for mezcal for a sweeter, less smoky version.
Tiya takes the intersecting immigrant histories of San Francisco's Japanese and Indian communities and distils them into a cocktail menu. Each drink is named after a San Francisco neighborhood, building a portrait of the city through layered flavour — yuzu meets curry leaf, matcha meets chai, Calpico meets tamarind. A genuinely original vision in American craft bartending.
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