“My parents really didn’t want me to go into it, actually.”
That’s a pretty common statement I hear from restaurateurs who are following in their parents’ footsteps. This time, though, it’s coming from Alexandra Shapiro, who’s sitting across from me in a corner booth of her Upper East Side restaurant Flex Mussels. Yet the specifics of her family’s restaurant legacy, and her personal plan to shepherd it into the future, are anything but conventional.
Tequila is a simple spirit made of Blue Weber agave, water and yeast. The end product is meant to taste of the mineral-rich, terracotta earth it comes from: herbaceous, citrusy and grassy. But this is not what most Americans have come to expect.
Tequila is becoming the fastest-growing spirit in the United States, but many industry experts believe that most Americans don’t know what real, additive-free tequila tastes like. Because demand is so high and continuing to rise, there are some players who pull their agave early and rely on additives to correct color or flavor profiles. It’s an issue to which some people are drawing attention.
Full disclosure — I’ve never really been an electric razor guy. Mostly because they’ve never (usually) shaved close enough, and while using a manual razor with shave cream takes more time, I’ve always appreciated the ritual and the precision it delivers. That said, I get the appeal. Electric razors have a large fanbase for good reason, and they’re undeniably clutch when you’re short on time. So when Philips Norelco — an OG in the electric shaving game and a brand that’s honed its craft for many decades — invited me to the launch event of their new i9000 Prestige Ultra, billing it as a “major milestone, a once-in-a-decade moment,” I was intrigued.
