Earlier in the life of this blog, you visited Archive for breakfast with me. Archive is such a special place that it deserves to be featured for more than just breakfast coffee and scones. It has a whole second side to it as the coffee shop gradually turns into a bar as the day wears on (which is exemplified by the "Coffee & Bar" string art on their wall!). The nightlife at Archive can be varied. I've been there on some busy weekend nights when it's hopping and crowded, or weekday nights when it's chill and relaxed.
I've never had a bad experience at Archive. The bartenders are not only super knowledgeable, but also creative. I've visited before with people who have an idea of the type of drink they want and explain it to a bartender who thinks for a moment then whips something amazing up. They won't find you pretentious or out of line if you ask a bunch of questions or want their advice. You can tell they actually love what they do and want to do it well. If you have a chance, sit at the bar and watch the bartenders at work shaking the drinks with flair, using wood chips and smoke, shaving off lemon zest, etc. It really is the detail of it all that gets me. I love details in pretty much all aspects of life, so I love the little things they do like the fact that the drinks are made so carefully, that they use metal straws (which caused me to get some of my own), and that they have really interesting and varied types of ice (I know that might seem dumb, but their crushed ice is perfect and their huge block ice cubes are classy).
When my cousin and her boyfriend from Long Island, New York (who currently reside in southern California for school) came to visit, I knew that I needed to take them to Archive. First they came and checked out my downtown loft-ish apartment. It was really fun to hear their reactions and their estimates of what an apartment like this would go for in NYC and how lucky they thought I was to live in a place like I do. Sometimes I kind of forget that I live in a cool place!
It was a Sunday night which can be a somewhat dead time for the city of Salem, but we knew Archive would have some life left in it still. We walked a block over and were met by a pleasant sight when we got to Archive - the lights were all turned down low and candles were flickering on all of the tables. A bartender seated our group of five at one of the larger long solid wood tables and passed out menus.
Before long we were also handed little slips of paper where we could request sultry songs to be played. We had fun thinking up some slow jams to request and waiting to hear them.
Archive has a drink menu that changes fairly frequently and that is quite unique. It seems that they are always thinking up interesting new flavor combinations. I've had some really great drinks there over the couple years they've been open. My favorites so far have been Tequila Daisy - a lemony drink with blueberries (which I loved so much that my friend once made a cheesecake version of the drink for me for my bday), and Tequila Thyme - not sure if I'm remembering the name right, but it came in a tall glass with a sprig of thyme in it. I also once tried a few sips of a friend's glass of this super interesting drink called Yaquina Mountain that basically tasted exactly like Oregon in a cup (one of the ingredients was moss tincture!). And last Christmas I had the Candle in the Dark (Gin, Port, Cinnamon, etc) which was pretty much the best Christmassy drink ever. So what I'm trying to say is, try one of their specialty drinks on the menu and you probably won't be disappointed. But, if you want to get even fancier, feel free to get creative in your ordering. Also, I have to point out, they do have food too. We didn't get any food on this visit, but they have some fun and unique dinner options as well as snacks. My friends and I especially like their rotating gourmet popcorn recipes.
This time around, I think I ordered the Household General. I feel that things with shrubs in them are pretty classy :).
My brother got the Tiki Madness which definitely looked like a little slice of paradise.
The most interesting drink at our table though was ordered by my cousin's boyfriend. I unfortunately don't recall the name of, but maybe it was The Marriage, and it looked awesome. I love to watch the Archive guys make interesting drinks that involve smoke, but I had never seen one like this before. It was delivered to our table under a glass cover that reminded me of the enchanted rose in Beauty and the Beast. Within the glass was a haze of smoke which was, I'm sure, enhancing the flavor of the drink as it swirled. The bartender let it sit for a moment, then dramatically lifted the glass. It was pretty cool.
We also had fun watching one of the bartenders climb their ladder to retrieve a bottle.
We enjoyed sipping our drinks, chilling in the candlelight, listening to some slow jams, and chatting. Our out of town guests were thoroughly impressed by the parts of Salem that they had seen. Given their NY and Cali leanings, the Salem-ites of the group were surprised by how much they liked Salem! It was fun to see the city through their eyes.
The night got later and we wrapped up our time together and walked back towards my apartment building. As we said our goodbyes, my cousin's boyfriend rummaged around in their car then pulled out a vinyl record he wanted us to have. That, my friends, was the perfect hipster ending to the evening. And yes I do have a record player :)
No comments:
Post a Comment