Publicity Gambit at Carlyle Inspires Our Oscar-Themed Beverage Menu -- Grub Street: New York Magazine's Food and Restaurant Blog

Drinking the Daniel Plainview.Photo illustration: iStockphoto, Courtesy of Paramount Vantage

In a shameless (but successful, and we have to admit, brilliant) bid for free publicity, James Sakatos, executive chef at the Carlyle hotel, has come up with a menu of dishes inspired by this year’s Oscar nominees. There’s a tart for Juno (a cheap shot), “black ink risotto with blood orange foam for There Will Be Blood,” the ink standing in for oil, and the blood-orange foam for, well, blood; Dover sole for Michael Clayton because “George Clooney's morally conflicted lawyer found his ‘sole’ and ultimately did the right thing,” and so on.

We thought about this a good long time. These were fine choices, to be sure, but why not come up with a beverage menu, if the monstrous menu Sakatos proposes isn’t appealing?

Juno: Any of the egg-based flip cocktails at Little Branch seem right, assuming they are fertilized.

There Will Be Blood: An easy one. There … will … be … milkshake! In particular, the black and white milkshake at the Shake Shack, representing protagonist Daniel Plainview’s Manichaean view of the world.

Michael Clayton: The grizzled, self-hating Wasp George Clooney plays in this movie just needs a stiff martini, presumably at someplace powerful — say the Grill Room at the Four Seasons. Or perhaps, since it appears in the movie, our secret favorite bar in the city, Bill's Gay Nineties.

Atonement: Like a lot of people, our main memories of this movie are of its mood of regret, and star Keira Knightley’s glamorous green dress. So we’re calling this for the Staggerac at PDT, an absinthe-based cocktail bound to make you feel abiding remorse.

No Country for Old Men: Although its villain’s habit of bumping people off with an air-powered stun gun suggests a potent but foamy drink, we’re going instead with our favorite Texas cocktail: the Hill Country Cooler at Hill Country, a perspective-adjusting mix of Tito’s vodka, triple sec, and Tang.

Oscar best picture nominees inspire N.Y. dishes [Reuters]