Quenching summer

Young Chang

It’s the three-bears syndrome of summer.

Drink A is too sweet.

Drink B isn’t sweet enough.

Drink C is just right.

When it’s summer and it’s hot and not even ice water does the

trick, all that’s left to save you from the thirst that won’t get

quenched is flavor -- but flavor with a special oomph that really can

cool you down.

Area drink connoisseurs shared their thoughts on what that oomph

could be.

“I think it’s the lime,” said Lindy Rhodes, an employee at Tony’s

Place in Costa Mesa. “Any kind of citrus stuff is so refreshing.”

At this cocktail venue, the popular nonalcoholic choice during

summer is soda water with lots of lime on ice. If it’s evening and

you’re looking for an alcoholic refresher, Rhodes’ patrons ask for

fruity vodka concoctions. Vodka with cranberry and pineapple or vodka

with orange and pineapple.

“They find those to be very refreshing,” Rhodes said.

Matt Legge, a manager at Newport Landing restaurant in Newport

Beach, agrees that lime is the flavor of summer. One recommendation

is the Lime Daiquiri, which can be made with or without alcohol. With

heavy doses of crushed ice, lime and a parasol that tops off the

cherry and orange garnish, it looks and tastes the part of a summer

solution.

Joe Goldberg, owner of The Helm in Costa Mesa, stands by a drink

he calls the Opie. The guy who came up with the vodka/lemonade-on-ice

mix looked like Ron Howard, he said, so staffers at The Helm decided

on the name “Opie.”

Another drink with a catchy name there is the Double D, an

incarnation of what a bartender named Dana first called Dana’s

Delight. It’s 2/3 Campari, 1/3 champagne, a lot of crushed ice and a

twist of lemon.

For a fruitier taste, Legge likes a blended number called the

Tropicolada. Containing pina colada mix, mangoes, bananas, pineapple

rum and coconut rum, it’s most in demand now, Legge said.

“Rums take away from just the sweetness of the mango, bananas and

the pina colada,” he said.

But if you prefer coffee over rum, David Todd at Totally Coffee in

Costa Mesa recommends something with enough espresso grounds, a

flavor that adds an abrupt layer of bitterness to the sweetness of

most blended coffee drinks.

Called Espresso Le Creme, the ice cream-based drink is made with

low fat ice cream (not powder), two shots of espresso, one shot of

dry espresso (as it looks before it’s drawn through the machine) and

ice.

“We want to stay pure to the coffee thing too,” Todd said. “It’s

for a coffee lover.”