And The Winner Is...

Literacyworks would like to congratulate Lori Saldal of Tolay Restaurant at The Sheraton of Sonoma County, Petaluma for winning the second annual Straight Up! A Charbay Vodka Cocktail competition.

In crafting the winning cocktail, dubbed Café Picante, Lori said she “wanted to really let the blood orange come out, and not hide it with fruit juice.” To that end, she opted to keep the drink as simple as possible with a bit of chocolate to compliment the orange flavor. “It’s loosely based on a shot drink called a Chocolate Cake, which I snapped up by adding spicy flavoring to make it more elegant.”

Lori was also among the best dressed at this 20’s themed costume party, wearing head to toe fringe in royal blue. “It really shakes with any movement,” offered Lori, “I added a belt of my own to help break it up, and made my own headband with a feather fascinator.”

According to Lori, the drink was collaboration among the Tolay staff, “everyone pitched in with taste testing and making suggestions, so that contributed to honing the final recipe.” Here’s what Lori and team came up with:

CAFÉ PICANTE

2 oz Charbay Blood Orange Vodka 

1 oz Frangelico

1/8 oz Kalahua

Rim: Raw Sugar

Chili Powder

Cayenne Pepper

Shredded Dark Chocolate

DIRECTIONS: Shake together Vodka and Frangelico over one scoop of ice and pour into Martini Glass. Add a splash of Kalaluha into glass and garnish with a blood orange dipped in shredded dark chocolate. Dip rim of glass into sugar mixture and enjoy.