Drink of the Week

A large Buddha behind the bar in the Tom Tom Room, formerly the site of Tommy Tsunami's, was supposed to be enveloped in smoke, but after a few sputters and grunts, it was clear that the Buddha had performance anxiety. Happily, this was the only performance problem I experienced at the Tom Tom Room, where I wisely followed this saying of Buddha: "Only truths that can be tested are real." After thoroughly testing the entire list of "adult beverages," I concluded that they are all real -- real good. The drink that got me most excited was the Shochu-tini ($8), a combination of Shochu (a traditional Japanese distilled liquor), Absolut Mandarin, ginger, guava and lime that resulted in a lusciously anomalous floral taste, like a cool, fragrant bath mixture that you'd love to immerse yourself in on a hot day. But then the Wet Pear Saketini, the Asian Mojito and the Cucumber Cosmo were also extremely pleasurable. So was Tom Tom's happy hour, which runs from 5 to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday, and includes complementary chilled sake with every adult beverage purchased, along with the chef's choice of two pieces of sushi roll and a robata (Japanese shish kebab). But no matter when you drop by, if you just can't get it up for yet another cosmopolitan, the drinks at the Tom Tom Room are bound to get a rise out of you.