Top Of The Fair

 We got a few 1964 New York World’s Fair glasses from our dear friends Brandon and Randi. We have a poster hanging behind our basement bar that my dad got at that very World's Fair so the glasses were the perfect gift. While researching, I found that the Port Authority building pictured on this glass had a restaurant called Top of the Fair.  I was able to find their menu and it featured a drink called the “Top of the Fair Cocktail”. There was no information about what it may contain but I was drawn in by the idea. I also found a review of this restaurant from Craig Claiborne, the fella who’s Bulldozer recipe I followed for that glass, and even though the review wasn’t too kind I figured it was a sign that this was the place to focus on.  Apparently this restaurant had a famous “Chef Charles' Blueberry Sauce” and I was lucky enough to find the recipe for that. I now knew I needed to go blueberry. While I was doing my research of the many other World's Fair menus I also stumbled upon a cocktail called Clover Club, which I had never heard of but was listed among the classics. When I researched that, I found out it was a drink invented in Philadelphia (the city I love) and contained gin, lemon, egg white and raspberry syrup- so I figured why not start with this as a guide and replace the raspberry with Chef Charles’ blueberry.  Since the glass was tall, I figured I’d omit the egg and add some club soda to make it more of a sipper instead of a sour. And club soda…Clover Club-this drink was putting itself together! But after looking at my ingredients I realized I took an entire stroll around the 1964 World’s Fair just to create a Tom Collins variation. At this point I figured I’d up the citrus and add in some orange juice to fully lean into The 1964 World’s Fair color scheme of blue and orange. It was a long weird journey, but please enjoy my interpretation of the Top of the Fair Cocktail.