the blog of Feb. 20, 2006

chocolate banana martini

For Presidents Day weekend we took a long overdue trek up to Sonoma. We stayed at the Hotel La Rose in Old Town Santa Rosa -- all very nice and even the weather cooperated. I found the place on the Historic Hotels of America website, which is linked to the National Trust for Historic Preservation, of which I am a member. The Old Town also has some cinematic history, having appeared in Alfred Hitchcock's 1943 film "Shadow of a Doubt".

In addition to being historic, the Hotel La Rose is solid, medium-sized, and cozy on a slightly chilly February night. We decided to dine in the hotel at Josef's, a Swiss-style restaurant & bar. The complimentary house wine was quite good. The food was only average for us since the only veggie option was some sort of pasta concoction. The most original items were on the dessert menu -- chocolate martinis.

Lisa brought the chocolate martini to my attention, and I wondered how on earth they could pull that one off. I looked a little closer and saw a Heath Bar martini. Unbelievable. Here was a list of the most unusually appealing martinis known to man. When I saw that they served a chocolate banana martini, my jaw dropped. That for me is a holy combination.

I don't normally drink mixed drinks, especially martinis, but I was curious about these. She got the Heath Bar and I got the chocolate banana and astonishingly they tasted exactly like what they purported to. The drinks were clear and colorless with chocolate sprinkles on top. So I drank my dessert which tasted great and sent me into a fuzzy and wobbly fog.