We now have more new house infused liquors. In addition to our already famous Pineapple and Jalepeno Tequila, Mint Rum and Infused Raspberry Vodka, I have created a few new infused vodkas. We now offer strawberry infused vodka, blueberry infused vodka and ginger infused vodka. I have also brought back the popular cucumber infused gin for the summer as well.

For new drinks I have created a Ginger-Tini with the ginger vodka. We combine the ginger infused vodka with a touch of triple sec and a splash of fresh lemon juice, shake it and serve it up with a lemon garnish. Its similar to a Lemon Drop martini, but not as sweet and with the great ginger zing. If you haven’t tried our popular Pink Tulip cocktail it may be just what you are looking for on a hot summer afternoon. We combine the raspberry infused vodka with fresh lemon juice and top it off with Sprite. Its a refreshing sparkling raspberry lemonade that you won’t find anywhere else.

We offer our guests the option of combining the house infused vodkas with any mixer of their choice. I suggest lemonade for a hot summer night, or even just soda or sprite is right for some people. You can make any of the house infused vodkas into a “Mule” by combining it with ginger beer that we always keep on hand. For example, use the strawberry infused vodka and ginger beer to make a “Strawberry Roan” or the blueberry vodka for a “Blue Roan”. Maybe the names are a little off, but this is Montana and I can’t help but think of horses when it comes to mules.

If you are wondering how to make your own infused vodkas and liquors, its not that difficult to do at home. This is how to make your own raspberry infused vodka. Get a big glass jar to start with. In it combine:
1 Liter of Vodka. You don’t have to go totally high end, just something clean, like Smirnoff.
1 1/2 cups of raspberries. Use frozen if you don’t have any fresh ones.
Now put the jar in a nice dark place to sit for a week. If you can’t help peeking, go ahead and shake the jar every day or two. After a week strain the raspberries off of the vodka and put the now infused vodka back in the bottle.

To make the Pink Tulip cocktail combine 2 shots (oz) of the raspberry infused with 1 1/2 shots (oz) of fresh lemon juice in a tall glass. Top it off with Sprite or 7 up and garnish with a lemon slice. Next, relax in your hammock and enjoy the summer sun. If martinis are more up your alley, you may want to try our Raspberry Gimlet. To make it combine 2 shots (oz) of the raspberry infused vodka with 1 1/2 shots (oz) of Chambord with 3/4 shot (oz) of fresh lime juice. Shake this with ice, strain it and serve in a martini glass garnished with a lime.

So there are some of our secrets and how you can make these infused liquors at home. Coming up in a future blog I will let you in on how to make great infused vodkas with fruit that isn’t as sweet as raspberry, such as blueberrys! Use your imagination, and if you have any questions, feel free to stop down at the Bistro and ask a question. Hope to see you soon,

Nathaniel
Director of Wine and Booze
Second Street Bistro

Here are some shots from our latest project.

We were very excited to find this classic painted brick advertising underneath the plaster walls. This is an ad for Levi’s overalls.

Stay tuned! We’ll keep you posted on our progress.

The Bistro bar is not only known for their classic house cocktails, but for their carefully crafted wine list, too.

With an eclectic variety of house pours and a hand-picked book of wines-by-the-bottle, the Bistro wine list has something for everyone.

Nathaniel Browning, the beverage director, says he tries a lot of wines. He tries to pick wines that express the grape as it should be, and wines that are at a good price point. Nathaniel strives to have a collection of affordable and fine wines to choose from.

Currently, Nathaniel’s favorite white wine by the glass is the Viognier, which he describes as “Chardonnay’s hot sister.” It is a full-bodied white, perfect for pairing with fish. Nathaniel chalks it up to a red wine masquerading as a white.

His favorite red wine by the glass is the Masciarelli, a dry Italian wine that is the Bistro’s house pour.

If you have some time to spare, swing by the Bistro and have a seat at the bar with Nathaniel to talk wine. You’ll walk away with a pocketful of facts and tips that could make anyone seem like an expert.

Nathaniel Browning, the beverage director at the Second Street Bistro, makes a mean cocktail. In fact, it’s not unusual for a regular to ask who is behind the bar before they order their favorite cocktail. If you spend some time in the bar area during a busy Power Hour, you’ll see him mixing up pineapple-jalapeno margaritas – the house favorite – or chatting with the customers about their wine, their day, or their dinner.

Nathaniel said that over the years, the Bistro bar has evolved into a place that is known for mixing really great cocktails and serving up excellent pours of wine. Nathaniel boasts years of experience behind a bar, as well as a heavy background in reading classic mixology books. He has taken this experience and helped to establish many of the Bistro’s best selling cocktails. He gave the house sweet and sour mix a makeover by bumping up the amount of fresh-squeezed juices used in the mix, and stopped topping off the margaritas with a splash of water. The result? The best margarita in town.

The Bistro’s greatest asset behind the bar is the house-infused liquors that make the signature cocktails, which happen to be Nathaniel’s specialty.

“The keys to infusing liquor are to use really good products to infuse it with, and letting it sit for the right amount of time,” he said.

When he first started infusing liquor, Nathaniel would make several batches, each with different amounts of ingredients and sitting for different periods of time. He discovered that one week is the magic number – less time will yield weak flavors, and more time will cause the flavors to turn.

Currently, the Bistro infuses the following liquors: raspberry vodka, cucumber gin, mint rum, pineapple and jalapeno tequila, and ginger vodka. Nathaniel is also currently experimenting with blueberry vodka.

The cocktails using these liquors are by far the most popular at the Bistro. On a busy summer night, Nathaniel said he has made more than 40 pineapple-jalapeno margaritas. Other popular cocktails include the classic Mojito (with mint rum), the Pink Tulip (with raspberry vodka, lemonade and soda), the Cucumber Gin and Tonic (with cucumber gin), and most recently the Ginger Martini, which sold out in its debut weekend.

When asked about the recent trends in cocktails, Nathaniel laughed and said he is “self-inducing” the trend of bringing the classic cocktails back. The cocktail du jour is often a throwback to the early twentieth century. Last week, the special was the Aviation cocktail (gin, lemon juice, and maraschino), which was made popular by a bartender in New York in 1916.

“People aren’t really into the mixing of cocktails anymore,” Nathaniel said, adding that it is often due to hard-to-find ingredients.

“But if we have the resources to do this mixology, we might as well,” he said.

Photo courtesy of wolfridgelambandwool.com

This week we want to continue with a spotlight on our producers, highlighting our resource for lamb. When we first put together our menu, we featured an entree-sized Lamb Greek salad. We marinated lamb in Moroccan spices and grilled it on a skewer, then served it over a Greek salad tossed with homemade dressing, bell peppers, feta, kalamata olives, and a side of tzatziki sauce.

When we started sourcing products locally, it became apparent that producers were not able to keep up with the demand of this salad. We took the Lamb Greek salad off the menu, and instead we have started focusing on featuring lamb as a evening special.

We are lucky to have so many great local producers from which to get our lamb. Crazy Woman Farm, out of Shields Valley, Montana, provides lamb meat that is organic and hormone- and pesticide-free. The farm raises their own grass and hay sans chemicals, and they focus on using low-stress handling methods. These lamb are raised at the foot of the Crazy Mountain range just north of Livingston.

Another great lamb producer is Wolf Ridge Lamb and Wool from Pray, Montana. Located near Emigrant Peak in the beautiful Paradise Valley, this small family-owned farm raises Icelandic lamb. The Wolf Ridge Lamb and Wool producers also pride themselves in the fact that they do not use pesticides or herbicides, and the fact that the lamb is raised entirely outdoors and naturally pastured.

Recently we started purchasing lamb from a family out of Whitehall, Montana, which is about 80 miles west of Livingston. Montana Highland Lamb has been in existence since 1983 at the foot of the Tabacco Root mountain range. A sustainable family operation, the farm practices intensive grazing to produce abundant nutritious grass, irrigated with water from the Jefferson River. They raise Polypay, Hampshire, and cross-bred lambs with a mild flavor. We’re excited to start featuring Montana Highland Lamb in our nightly specials.

Whether you’re a long-time lover of lamb, or interested in trying your first bite, you won’t find better quality product than what we serve from these local producers at The Bistro. Stop in and see for yourself!

We’re lucky to be located in the quaint and historic downtown area of Livingston, Montana. Even on a chilly day in February the view is breathtaking. But today’s sunshine has us thinking about summertime, our gardens, and fresh produce in the restaurant.

Have you started planning your garden yet?

We are excited to announce that we are partnering with the historic Murray Hotel to offer a “stay and play” package. Starting now and running through June 30th May 15th*, guests can book a suite in the hotel and receive dinner for two and a bottle of house wine for $150. All Murray Hotel suites can be used in this special package with the exception of Peck’s Place and the two-bedroom suite. Suites at the hotel are normally $139 and up.

Call the Murray Hotel at (406) 222-1350 to book today. Mention that you would like to book the package with the Bistro, and upon check-in you’ll receive a card that you can redeem at the restaurant for dinner for two and a bottle of house red or house white. Dinner for two is a value of up to $60 and does not include gratuity.

Come down and experience a night on the corner of Park and 2nd Streets in historic downtown Livingston! With a suite in the Murray Hotel, you can eat and drink your heart out steps away from your hotel room door. Be sure to check out the Murray Bar music calendar (view the tab on Facebook) to enjoy live tunes, or just swing by to listen to the jukebox and play some pool.

*Due to summer capacity, we have shortened the length of this promotion.

Since the Second Street Bistro opened its doors in 2004, we’ve worked hard to distinguish ourselves as a restaurant in this small community. Over the past several years, we’ve found our niche and defined a goal: we are committed to supporting the local economy and sustainable products. Whenever possible, we support the unique community of Livingston, Montana, comprised of independent farmers, ranchers, artists and professionals. If we can’t find something locally, the next best that we can do is to seek out sustainable producers.

We’re proud of the producers with whom we have partnered, and we will be taking a moment to spotlight each of them over the coming months.

Our seafood is a wonderful example of our commitment to sustainable products. We do our very best to provide a variety of fresh, sustainably caught, wild seafood. The sockeye salmon, sea scallops, and spot prawns are all sustainably harvested and fresh from Alaska, via Great Northern Seafood. Livingston resident John Baird, a former Alaskan fisherman in Petersburg, works closely with his network of friends still in Alaska to catch and deliver the best seafood.

If you haven’t had a chance to try our wild Alaskan spot prawns, swing by during Power Hour and test them out in our scampi a la grecque appetizer for $7. After tasting these buttery and succulent shrimp, you might just want to stick around for the wild Alaskan sockeye salmon.

Recently, The Second Street Bistro was closed for 10 days to perform some routine maintenance on the restaurant, including new carpet, a good steam cleaning along the banquet, some kitchen repairs, and a lot of much-needed love for our office. We are FINALLY done, and we’ll be opening back up tonight. Here we wanted to share a few photos of how far we have come.

While we were ripping up the old restaurant carpet, we found mosaic tile that was the original entrance to the Murray Hotel lobby.

Our simple carpet installation turned into a historical restoration project as we realized how beautiful the floor was, and how nice it would be for us to preserve this piece of Livingston history.

To combat the echo that is sure to come with this tile floor, we’ve installed foam sound buffers underneath the chairs.

A close-up of the beautiful floor underneath. If the noise level in the restaurant gets too high, we’ll have to explore more options to control the acoustics. But for now, we like the looks of this floor.

What do you think?

The Bistro's signature drink: Pineapple Jalepeno margaritas.

Last summer, we at the Second Street Bistro started offering a happy hour menu Mondays through Thursdays from 5pm to 6pm. Our menu boast half-price appetizers, $3 house cocktails, $3 house wines, and half-price pizzas. Locals and regulars have affectionately started referring to happy hour as “Power Hour.”

Left: Bistro Escargot; Top right: Pork Rillettes; Bottom right: Fried Okra

Since the restaurant is closed on Mondays during the off-season, Power Hour is now offered Tuesdays through Fridays, still from 5-6pm. We recommend reservations, as the restaurant is prone to fill up early with people vying for the half-price margaritas and apps.

Fresh sourdough bread and butter.

Our fresh bread is a staple to any meal at the Bistro, however big or small you decide to dine. It’s a must with the Bistro Escargot, Scampi a la Grecque, or Mussels & Fries: dip it in the sauce, because it’s just too good to leave behind.

Bistro Fries

For $2, it’s hard to resist a full basket of salt-and-parsley seasoned fries. If you have some hungry diners at your table, ask your waitress to get these started right away – they’ll be out in a jiff, and they’re perfect for munching while you peruse the rest of the menu.

Spinach, goat cheese and apple salad

Even though the salads are not included on the happy hour menu, they’re a wonderful palette cleanser between courses. The Pear & Pumpkin Seed salad has been a Bistro mainstay since we opened our doors in 2004, but we’re always switching it up on the rest of the salads according to season. We’re featuring a spinach salad tossed in a citrus vinaigrette and topped with our pistachio-crusted goat cheese medallion right now.

Meatloaf pie

We like to think our pizzas are arguably the best deal in town. Half-price during Power Hour in the restaurant, or $5 from 5-8:30 pm every day next door in The Murray Bar. With fresh ingredients, hand-tossed dough, and a different pie-of-the-day every day, you can’t beat it.

Don’t forget, we’re closed for 10 days from January 16th through January 26th (that’s Sunday through the following Wednesday) for renovations. You can still snag our pies over at The Murray Bar.