Beijing Boyce

Wonder if it works on whiskey? (Maochan blog)

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Nothing says “get health insurance” like drinking the vodka bought by some local bars at 10 kuai or less and passed off on customers more interested in saving their money than their health. Technically, I suppose, the vodka may not be “fake”, though in cases where it is poured into bottles from known brands, we can legitimately say bars are “faking it.”

DJ Chunky emailed me this post about how to filter vodka. These words provide some comfort:

Vodka is not a complicated alcohol, and government standards on what constitutes vodka ensures that from the absolute bottom-shelf swill to the top-shelf ultra-premium bottles, what you end up with is, well, vodka. Marketing tactics and slick advertising aside, the real difference between the bottom and top shelf is the amount of filtration and refinement the vodka undergoes. The video below demonstrates how you can do a [charcoal] filter job on lower-quality vodka to make it smoother drinking.

The government standards being referred to are U.S. ones, so I’m not sure how well the filter method would work with Chinese vodka. Can any experts out there give us some insight?

“Chef Billy” – William Bolton – of Chef Too (map) is part of a team that plans to open a 400-square-meter outfit – tentatively called The California Grill – in the northern half of Sanlitun Village. No firm date has been set, but the goal is to open either just before or after Spring Festival. Bolton says the place will be divided into three sections: a bar (including a copper facing), a dining area, and private rooms. He adds that the cuisine will be “modern American“, what he calls an ode to California, and that the restaurant will have its own greenhouse just outside Beijing to ensure a supply of fresh vegetables.

The wine list will also be divided into three sections: what he calls the “haute couture” section, which will include Grand Crus; a main list of about 60 wines that will be changed two or three times per year; and a by-the-glass menu with about two dozen choices. He says California Grill will use three enomatic machines to keep the wines fresh. The list will tend to focus on American wines, including those from California, Washington, Oregon, and – it’s about time we got some of these – New York, and he will import some of them himself.