Cocktails

Saketini brings back memories of Japan

I should know better than to get too excited about "Memoirs of a Geisha." Movies based on books I've read are invariably disappointing. Still, hope springs eternal, and I can barely contain myself.

The anticipation got me thinking about Kyoto, Japan, possibly the most romantic city I've ever visited. (Either Kyoto or Paris. I didn't have company in Kyoto, so it's hard to say.) Kyoto fulfills all the fantasies Westerners have about Japan: geishas, teahouses, Zen gardens. You can lose yourself in the narrow alleyways fenced in by immaculate wooden facades, softly illuminated by lanterns.

If we're toasting Kyoto, we have to drink sake. It's the only civilized thing to do. In Kyoto, I learned that sake is required for purification rites in Shinto, a Japanese religion that values harmony with nature. You heard it here: Sake is holy water.

Well, who couldn't use a little purification? I headed to the bar at Kenichi, the sushi hot spot, for a saketini.

A saketini is typically made with gin and olives. Sake acts like vermouth because it's a lot like a dry wine. (Sake is known as "rice wine" but we should probably call it a beer because it's fermented from a grain, not a fruit.) Sometimes people mix sake with sweet flavored vodkas and liqueurs, but I think this defeats the spirit of sake. It's supposed to be minimalist, like sashimi, Mount Fuji and the Japanese flag.

Kenichi's "Classic Saketini" is a cross between a vodka martini and a neat sake.

It tastes kind of like nothing, and that's the point.

Kenichi's Classic Saketini

2 oz. Momokawa Diamond sake
2 oz. Ketel One vodka

Shake and pour into a chilled martini glass. Garnish with a slice of cucumber and a pinch of ginger.