Aussie Drinks to Pique the Palate

I knew there was something odd about the restaurant as soon as I saw it. Looking down through the windows of the attractive room, I couldn’t help noticing that there didn’t seem to be anybody eating inside. But we obeyed the order to “hop around the corner” and went into Aussie’s, 8401 Melrose Ave., (213) 655-8787. Here we found three people sitting dejectedly at the bar. “No dinner, mate,” said one, “the stove’s blown up.” Then he brightened, went behind the bar and said cheerily, “But have a drink anyway.”

He rejected one friend’s choice of a martini as “not very Australian.” “Have an Aussie drink, mate,” he said, picking up the tools of his trade. The first potion he mixed was, I think, called a “Koala Cooler.” He seemed hurt when I said it was too sweet but said he could fix it--which he did by pouring in about half a bottle of vodka. I drank it as I began to read the menu; with each sip the food sounded increasingly delicious. “I wish I were eating fried coconut prawns right now,” I sighed to one friend. “Personally I’d like a peppersteak,” he replied. A third thought that the Aussie casserole sounded hearty and delicious, while the fourth was mourning the creamy Pavlova he was not going to be eating for dessert.

While I was boning up on what we were missing, the bartender was working on yet another drink. “Try this,” he said, handing over something with an unprintable name. It was absolutely delicious. “What was in that thing, anyway?” I asked as we staggered out the door in search of sustenance. “Oh,” he said casually, “orange juice, cream . . . and 13 different kinds of liquor.” OK, so we didn’t have any dinner. The way I see it, what we did have was an authentically Australian experience.