The DD’s Special Cocktail
Posted: July 18th, 2009 | 2 Comments »
A good friend sent me a copy of the DD’s Cocktails guide published around 1939. DD’s was a chain of nighttime venues in Shanghai that moved around a bit but included a Cafe on Bubbling Well Road (Nanjing West Road) and a nightclub on the Avenue Joffre (Huai Hai Road). Pretty classy joints by all accounts. Obviously the cocktail guide is a nice little promotional for them with plenty of recipes and some risque drawings that would certainly have attracted my custom.
So as it’s hot and the weekend’s here perhaps it’s time to recreate the DD’s Special which sounds mighty fine to me:
The DD’s Special Cocktail
1/2 vodka
1/4 French Vermouth
1/4 Italian Vermouth
1 teaspoonful Grenadine
1 teaspoonful white curacao
1 dash sugar syrup
Shake well and strain into a cocktail glass. Add a cherry.
Enjoy
Did my fatherinlaw (deceased) own this, or was he a partner in this in the 1940-50 or so? Louis Lanuzel..wife Zinna, family..relocated to Vancouver Canada.
This is the granddaughter of Louis F. Lanuzel and Zina Lanuzel. My grandfather was French and previously married to someone named Raissa Neumovna (Russian descent? We didn’t even know about marriage until he was 80!). My grandfather divorced in 1940 and married my grandmother (Russian descent-born in Harbin, China) in 1941. My mom grew up there in Shanghai, China until age 12 (1952) in house, 2 top floors of apartment building, and family spent summers in the mountains. All have shared many stories over the years about living in China back then, Shanghai (and even about DD’s)…very affluent life apparently. Sounds like DD’s catered to a very glamorous affluent crowd. I would welcome any further information you might have!