Drink of the Week

There are two types of people — those who love the Palm, and those who don’t understand why other people love the Palm. I was a member of the latter group when I lived in Manhattan, and craggy, ancient salesmen would take me to the original Palm on Second Avenue when they were trying to impress me and make me buy something. That Palm served a great steak, but to me, a self-important young hipster, it was just an old, tired place that needed a remodel — it looked like it hadn’t been updated since it was founded in 1926 — and I would much rather have gone to the trendy Asian/Indian/Canadian fusion restaurant down the street. My transformation into a Palm-lover happened here in Denver, and it began, as so many love affairs do, at the bar. I don’t know if it was the ten-ounce martini glasses or the attractive and attentive bartenders, but after a few drinks, I became enamored of the restaurant’s old-boy clubbiness, an attribute I’d never valued back in New York City. The Palm chain may be venerable, but this Palm keeps things fresh with regular additions to its menu. The newest of the cocktails is the Citrus Mint Martini ($11), a delicious lemon-vodka mojito-like concoction made with fresh mint, Belvedere Cytrus, fresh-squeezed lemons and one key ingredient (at least according to the bartender): love. I definitely tasted the love.