Our long trek to La Sala Rossa left me a little cold to the bone and to the heart. I was feeling tired by the time we actually go in the door of this sweet little restaurant and bar. When we finally gave our order I thought I’d splurge a bit and get myself a drink. This was the best decision I could have made that night. My absolute favorite thing about our trip to La Sala Rossa was the cocktail I ordered. I took a gamble and just ordered the cheapest drink on the alcohol menu figuring that if I didn’t like it someone else at the table would. It was a Palma Fizz and before having this drink I thought that I didn’t like vodka. Boy was I so wrong. This drink was the perfect mix of sweet, salty, and tart. It ended up opening my eyes to mixed drinks and how good they really could be. This drink blew my mind to the point I told some of my friends about it, and my mom.
Now my mother and I have a rather good relationship so we talk often both in text and on the phone. When I came to Montreal both of my parents knew that the drinking age here was 18 and not 21 like in the states. So naturally, I’ve been drinking my fair bit of wine off and on while here. Even though my mother knows this she was still sad to miss my 21st Birthday which occurred in October. Ever since last year she’s been talking about how she’s going to share my “first legal drink” with me when I’m back home. Now I definitely think my “first legal drink” has long past last year when I visited Montreal, but for my mom nothing has really changed so she’s excited regardless. I’m certainly not going to be the one to take the wind out of my moms sails and ruin her fun. After all playing along is much more fun, so naturally I told my mom all about this drink and we have some grand plans to make our own Palma Fizzes when I get back to good old stinky Pennsylvania.
For those who don’t know what a Palma Fizz is a Spanish influenced drink, hence it being offered at La Sala Rossa, that contains Vodka, Lime Juice, Spicy Ginger Beer or Ginger Syrup, and Rosewater. The Palma Fizz is a close relative of the Moscow Mule but is my personal favorite out of the two.
You can find a recipe for it here: