Basil Mojito

Careful, dude, it's creeper weed. A football player named Mike always showed up to our high school English class with about a dozen assorted candy bars. He'd start out looking a little squinty-eyed, then gradually become stoned out of his gourd as the class went on. Mike also sold pot: His specialty was "creeper" weed, and he was his own best advertising. Since alcohol is my vice of choice, I hadn't thought of Mike in years -- until I went to Panzano and tried the Basil Mojito ($8), made with Bacardi Light rum, fresh lime juice, simple syrup and club soda. Technically, basil is an herb rather than a weed -- but technically, marijuana isn't a weed, either. (According to the Encarta Dictionary, hemp is a plant.) And talk about a creeper cocktail: While basil doesn't sound as tasty as the mint you traditionally find in a mojito, it makes for a much better drink. The Basil Mojito didn't have the overly minty barb of most mojitos, and it went down very easily. The bartender said he came up with the drink one night when the joint was so crowded he was "in the weeds." The bar ran out of mint, and he scurried back to the kitchen to grab some from the herb bin -- but what looked like mint turned out to be basil. He used it anyway, and bar patrons who unknowingly switched herbs mid-mojito-binge said the new batch was the best they'd ever had. The rest is history. And speaking of history, the creative, diverse and distinctive cocktails at Panzano inspired the creation of Drink of the Week a few years ago, when a couple of Westworders imbibing there decided it was time to tout our town's most liquid assets. I will always and forever be under their influence.