The old diner slang phrase “walk it through the garden” could just as easily apply to cocktail ingredients on the menu at The Wellington Steak & Martini Lounge in San Diego. For example, the Wise Crutch cocktail ($13) combines sage-infused gin, garden lemon juice and dry sack sherry, while the Goldfinch in the Garden is flavored with garden lemon verbena, cucumber and pressed garden orange ($13). At the casual fine dining Oyster Club Restaurant in Mystic, CT, the menu focuses on seasonal farm- and sea-to-table ingredients. The Dirty Barbados cocktail offers refreshing hints of ginger, lime and orange.

Photo: California Milk Advisory Board

Photo: Pernod Ricard

From: Chef Karrie Hill, The Wellington Steak & Martini Lounge, San Diego. Yield: 20 servings.

60 cucumber rings
20 dill sprigs
5 cups Hendrick’s Gin
1⁄3 cup 2 Tbsp. honey water (50/50 honey dissolved into water)
3½ cups Greek yogurt
as needed, ice
as needed, seltzer
for garnish, rose petals

Muddle 3 cucumber rings and 1 dill sprig in a mixing glass. Add 2 ounces gin, 1 teaspoon honey water and 3 tablespoons yogurt. Shake with ice and add a splash of seltzer. Strain into an ice-filled tumbler. Garnish with a speared rose petal.


From: The Oyster Club Restaurant, Mystic, CT. Yield: 1 serving.

2 oz. Real McCoy Rum
1 oz. ginger-infused simple syrup
1 oz. fresh-squeezed lime juice
dash of orange bitters

Shake vigorously in a cocktail mixer. Top with a pinch of sea salt.