09:36 AM
You never know, you might have to share it!
It’s amazing what you can find surfing around the web. Going from one blog to another, I found this funny French cocktail website, www.lescocktailsdejeff.com. Intrigued at first by the names of the cocktails featured on it (Whiskey-based "La Chope D’Eugène" meaning "Eugene's tankard", the Henri Pessar, the « Yara Lapidus »), I decided to get in touch with the man behind the website and ended up being invited to his place, right by the Champs Elysées in Paris.
Meet, Jean-François Da Silva, 36, owner of the Pub Elysées, Paris. Half Brazilian, half Corsican, Jean-François aka Jeff graduated from a hotel management school and got the chance to rub shoulders with bartenders from Parisian palaces such as the Ritz or the Crillon. After a couple of years of training in bars here-and-there, he decided to buy his own place 12 years ago. "I remember back in 1989, I was working in the Rond-Point Theatre in Paris. Jane Birkin, Serge Gainsbourg, or Manu Dibango would show up and I would serve cocktails from a little menu of mine. I remember once a lady came to me, she wanted to have a drink but didn’t know what to have. I made her a Sangria, the very first I’d ever made! That’s basically how it all started off", explains Jeff.
Whilst serving me a gorgeous rum cocktail topped with marshmallows and two straws because "you never know, you might have to share it", Jeff shows me his new project from his laptop: a new bar that he’s opening on November 1st called The Barry Ford, named after the famous dancer from the 60’s. Only then did I realize that there was some sort of fascination with names- first the cocktails and now the bar. Jeff explains, "I’ve been doing this job for over 15 years and I got to meet all kinds of people. Doctors, lawyers, businessmen, producers, actors, you name it! And very often they let me make up a cocktail recipe and name it after them. So I try to search a bit for the person’s tastes and I create a new drink. Recently, I made one for the French actor Francis Blanche, a little hommage to his father. We both did some research and found out that he liked to mix Cognac and Get. I went from there, adding up fresh mint, home made apple juice and the Francis Blanche was born."
Feel free to have a look, his website is here, and if you get a chance to stop by, you might ending up getting a cocktail named after you.
All recipes here.
Bar Elysées Rue Marbeuf, 75008 Paris.
Meet, Jean-François Da Silva, 36, owner of the Pub Elysées, Paris. Half Brazilian, half Corsican, Jean-François aka Jeff graduated from a hotel management school and got the chance to rub shoulders with bartenders from Parisian palaces such as the Ritz or the Crillon. After a couple of years of training in bars here-and-there, he decided to buy his own place 12 years ago. "I remember back in 1989, I was working in the Rond-Point Theatre in Paris. Jane Birkin, Serge Gainsbourg, or Manu Dibango would show up and I would serve cocktails from a little menu of mine. I remember once a lady came to me, she wanted to have a drink but didn’t know what to have. I made her a Sangria, the very first I’d ever made! That’s basically how it all started off", explains Jeff.
Whilst serving me a gorgeous rum cocktail topped with marshmallows and two straws because "you never know, you might have to share it", Jeff shows me his new project from his laptop: a new bar that he’s opening on November 1st called The Barry Ford, named after the famous dancer from the 60’s. Only then did I realize that there was some sort of fascination with names- first the cocktails and now the bar. Jeff explains, "I’ve been doing this job for over 15 years and I got to meet all kinds of people. Doctors, lawyers, businessmen, producers, actors, you name it! And very often they let me make up a cocktail recipe and name it after them. So I try to search a bit for the person’s tastes and I create a new drink. Recently, I made one for the French actor Francis Blanche, a little hommage to his father. We both did some research and found out that he liked to mix Cognac and Get. I went from there, adding up fresh mint, home made apple juice and the Francis Blanche was born."
Feel free to have a look, his website is here, and if you get a chance to stop by, you might ending up getting a cocktail named after you.
All recipes here.
Bar Elysées Rue Marbeuf, 75008 Paris.
By clement
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Quelle fraicheur , je suis amateur de cocktails je trouve ce Monsieur Da Silva Jean François trés créatif et admirablement sympathique je connais sont bar 39 Rue Marbeuf 75008 Paris. Encouragement à ce chef d'entreprise motivé.
soy coctelero cubano y trabajo en Las Palmas de Gran Canaria,en una terraza llamada Kopas.He creado un mojito de Frutas del Bosque y,a raiz de ello,he proseguido con la elaboracion de mojitos de diferentes sabores,pero con la misma base de hierbabuena,zumo de lima,azucar blanca;añadiendo frutas naturales troceadas del sabor elegido por el cliente y el licor de fruta correspondiente y Havana Club 5 años para matizar de cubania la mezcla perfecta y siguiendo la tradicion de los cantineros cubanos de elaborar el coctel Mojito con su ron original,Havana Club. Espero que los maestros cantineros cubanos se sientan orgullosos de la nueva generacion que intenta seguir enriqueciendo la amplia cultura coctelera cubana.Gracias.
soy coctelero cubano