Beijing Boyce

Luga’s Villa is slated to open a sports bar this Saturday in the downstairs space formerly known as Boutique Wine Cellar. The new venue will include a long bar, five TV screens, and a pool table; the deck that leads to its entrance has been refurbished.

The opening will feature a screening of what I am told is a key football match between Manchester United and Chelsea at 7:45 PM (the commentary will be on), followed by Arsenal and Wolverhampton at 10 PM, and Poopingham and Chesterfield United at midnight <– OK, I made up those last two; I really have nothing against football, I’m just bitter we don’t see more North American sports in this city.

The deals include a Beijing draft and a hot dog for RMB30 and a two-for-one deal on Bombadier at RMB45.

If you are planning to go to Blue Frog for tonight’s two-for-one burger special, you might want to head there now. This place has been packed to the rafters in recent weeks–and that’s saying something since it has two floors. Also on the third floor of Sanlitun Village, it looks likely that Japanese restaurant Tairyo will finally open this week, and an employee shakeup at restaurant-lounge-club-etc Zazou has seen its manager leave.

I went to the newer Kiosk yesterday for a Big Bite burger — that’s a 250-gram square patty folded around cheese and served in a baguette (RMB33) — and fries (RMB12). What I intended to be a lunch stop turned into an afternoon of sipping beer (RMB15 for Tsingtao), trading the occasional vodka shot with the owner or adjoining tables, and watching impromptu salsa lessons. Good value at this spot.

I visited Maggie’s twice in two weeks to see if the entire venue is finally open… and it isn’t. Half of the huge original space remains behind curtains, despite looking ready to go, though the two additional rooms with pool tables and second bar have kept traffic flowing. And, yeah, you can still get a hot dog (RMB30) out front.

Fubar will feature RMB1 mojitos from 7 PM to 9 PM as its April Fool’s Day special. Sounds like a good time to combine a few minty drinks there with a visit to Kro’s Nest for its Thursday five-for-RMB80 craft beer special.

After one slip in Sanlitun, The Stumble Inn crew is close to securing a new space there. I just hope the team duplicates that beer selection from the first venue.

Finally, Shanghai-based cocktail-whiskey bar Constellation — it has two outlets there and is planning a third — is expected to open in Beijing as early as May.

… or did I? A week ago, after a trip to Fatburger, I stopped at nearby Laitai Flower Market and bought a lemon tree. At least, the vendor said the fifteen fruits on it were lemons. He delivered the tree to my apartment two hours later and I thought they looked a bit, um, rounder and oranger (word?) than I remembered. Anyway, I picked a few and made some rounds to get the reactions of other people.

- At Fubar, manager Xiao Ming mixed it with Feijoa vodka, soda, and mint for a tasty cocktail. He said it looked like a combination orange-lemon — co-owner Chad agreed — and asked if I had a park in my house.[Hmm, maybe I could stick a few hundred of these trees in my apartment and be a citrus supplier for local bars: must investigate.]

- Outside, at Stadium Dog, I ran into Doctor O, handed a fruit to him, and waited for the verdict: Smells like an orange.

- At a Chinese restaurant around the corner, I gave it to Mr Hao and Ms Hao. They weren’t sure. One said: I think it is an overripe lemon.

- At Union, chef Zach looked at one and said: Lemon. Then he cut it open, smelled it, and said: Orange. Then he tasted it and said, with a grimace: More like a lemon.

- At Saddle, manager Gordon held it and said: The texture reminds me of a mango [!?]. No, wait, a tangerine. Then he smelled it: It’s a tangerine. Then he tasted it: What the…?

- And the one time I forgot to bring the fruit along, I had to describe it to my friend Li, a viticulturalist, and he said it could be a citrus fruit native to China.

I haven’t seen this much confusion over identity since Lady Gaga. Anyway, I gave one to Inspector Flint of bowenwang.com, the spinoff of the How Stuff Works Web site from the United States. Given he enjoys the occasional after-work martini, I figured he could test out the rinds for garnishes. He went one step further and did some online searching (yes, I could have done this, too, but then I wouldn’t have had all the fun of zipping about town having people try the fruit). His verdict: it is a Meyer lemon. Here is part of relevant the Wikipedia entry (my highlights):

The Meyer lemon (Citrus × meyeri) is a citrus fruit, native to China, thought to be a cross between a true lemon and a mandarin orange or sweet orange. The Meyer lemon was introduced to the United States in 1908 as S.P.I. #23028, by the agricultural explorer Frank Nicholas Meyer, an employee of the United States Department of Agriculture who collected a sample of the plant on a trip to China. It is commonly grown in China potted as an ornamental plant. It became popular as a food item in the United States after being rediscovered by chefs, such as Alice Waters at Chez Panisse, during the California Cuisine revolution. Popularity further climbed when Martha Stewart started featuring them in her recipes.

The tree, pictured below, cost RMB400 delivered, including the pot. The vendor told me it would bear fruit twice yearly — we  shall see. These lemons are excellent squeezed into iced tea or water and work well with cocktails.