Punch makes a classic comeback

At the Edison downtown, bartender Marcos Tello -- dressed in one of his natty striped-flannel vest-and-pants numbers from La Rosa Vintage in San Francisco and gray patent leather John Fluevog wing tips -- is peeling a dozen lemons with a trusty potato peeler (he peels them in careful spirals, so that each peel remains in one long strip -- the easier to fish them out with a bar spoon later). He places the peels in sugar and, biceps bulging, begins to muddle, and muddle, and muddle.

By Betty Hallock

December 31, 2008