The Red Room\u2019s<\/a> bar director.<\/p>\nThe bar can also make video game-inspired drinks off-menu, based on a customer\u2019s favorite game. The bartender improvises a cocktail that best represents it.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe like to curveball or two,\u201d Metcalf said. \u201cYou know, especially on a mellow night when we can take our time and talk to you about why you like that game and what it meant to you.\u201d<\/p>\n
A menu built by video game nerds<\/p>\n
The menu grew out of the bartenders themselves.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re a bunch of goofballs who are like video game nerds, and we love movies and books and that\u2019s what we would talk about when we\u2019re [bartending],\u201d Metcalf said. \u201cThat\u2019s how we pass the time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Building the menu was a team effort \u2014 tasting the drinks, tweaking them and picking favorites \u2014 and it included soliciting feedback from customers.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause even though we may think they\u2019re perfect, we ultimately rely on everybody out here as the real needle mover,\u201d Metcalf said.<\/p>\n
The Dead Eye is an interactive cocktail. It comes with a Lucky Lights cigarette candy dipped in angostura bitters to give it a Marlboro Red look. The touch is a nod to Red Dead Redemption\u2019s mechanics, in which cigarettes restore the player\u2019s \u201cdead eye\u201d \u2014 an ability to slow down time \u2014 and herbs are used to craft tonics, weapons and food for the journey.<\/p>\n
A cocktail that plays like the game<\/p>\n
\u201cHow can we include as many video game aspects into one drink as possible and kind of paint a picture through a cocktail, or remind you of your favorite time that you\u2019ve ever played the game,\u201d Metcalf said.<\/p>\n
Adrian Mendoza, a Fresno resident who has visited The Red Room for roughly two years, tried the Dead Eye and has played Red Dead Redemption II.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember [there] was a candy cigarette. It makes sense for Red Dead,\u201d Mendoza said. \u201cI remember it was good. It was tasty.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ryian Herrera, a bartender at The Red Room, said his favorite is the First Aid Spray, which he created for the menu. He said the drink took some finesse \u2014 it had to appeal to Resident Evil fans who might be put off by a cocktail tied to a zombie horror plot.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can\u2019t make the cocktails scary because then people are going to be like, \u2018I don\u2019t want to drink that,’\u201d Herrera said.<\/p>\n
A trading card with every drink<\/p>\n
The menu also includes six more drinks that aren\u2019t all game-inspired. One, the \u201cGotta Catch \u2018Em All,\u201d comes with a Pok\u00e9mon card. Inspired by Pok\u00e9mon, it mixes vodka, gin, strawberry, ginger, gentian and citrus for $16, and it\u2019s the current best seller. The cards come from the staff\u2019s own collections \u2014 repeats or ones they don\u2019t want to keep.<\/p>\n
Herrera, a trading card collector like Metcalf, said handing one out with every drink is part of the fun.<\/p>\n
Metcalf said one in every seven or eight drinks comes with a rare Pok\u00e9mon card, marked by a star in a bottom corner. The staff also hands out full-art cards.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomething that we like to be able to share is really cool,\u201d Herrera said.<\/p>\n
The video game menu<\/p>\n
Elixir (Final Fantasy) \u2014 vodka, almond, ginger, vanilla, baking spice, lemon, bubbles, foam. $16
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\nFirst Aid Spray (Resident Evil) \u2014 gin, amaro, black tea, bergamot, lemon, bubbles, rosemary. $16
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\nPaRappa the Rapper (Kick! Punch!) \u2014 white rum, blood orange, lime, honey, ginger, clarified. $15
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\nOut of Mana! (Skyrim) \u2014 gin, baiju, strawberry, elderflower, cura\u00e7ao, lime. $15
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\nEye of a Witcher (The Witcher 3) \u2014 pisco, amaro, pineapple, turmeric, strawberry, absinthe. $15
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\nCertified Badass (Borderlands) \u2014 blanco tequila, pox, kumquat, vanilla, baking spice, celery root, corn. $15
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\nColor Theory (Expedition 33) \u2014 gin, apalogue aronia, vanilla, violette, claret, bitters. $17
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\nDead Eye (Red Dead Redemption) \u2014 rye, sarsaparilla, rosemary, tobacco, bitters. $15
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\nGotta Catch \u2018Em All (Pok\u00e9mon) \u2014 vodka, gin, strawberry, ginger, gentian, citrus. $16<\/p>\n
If you go<\/p>\n
The Red Room at Pardini\u2019s, 2257 W. Shaw Ave., next to The Annex Kitchen
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\nHours: Wednesday-Thursday, 5-10:30 p.m.; Friday-Saturday, 5-11:30 p.m.; Sunday (open, hours per website)
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\nAperitivo (happy) hour: 5-7 p.m., $3 off cocktails, $2 off wine by the glass
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\nAperitivo special: two cocktails plus a charcuterie board or sandwich, $35
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\nCan be reserved for private events<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Red Room\u2019s video game menu with the Dead Eye cocktail and Lucky Lights candy. Photo provided by…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":463633,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[182583,416,2333,112,182584,114,113,182585,45196,182586,182587,182588],"class_list":["post-463632","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fresno","tag-central-valley-food-and-drink","tag-cocktails","tag-editors-picks","tag-fresno","tag-fresno-bars","tag-fresno-headlines","tag-fresno-news","tag-pardinis","tag-pokemon","tag-red-dead-redemption","tag-the-red-room","tag-video-game-cocktails"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463632","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=463632"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463632\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/463633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=463632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=463632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=463632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}