Feel French: Pour a Proper Ricard

Every French expat in L.A. knows it too well. Order a Ricard--France’s favorite pastis (licorice-flavored aperitif)--and you’re likely to get a rocks glass filled to the brim with ice and spirit. Maybe even a straw. It’s enough to ruin your day. Why can’t bartenders in this town pour a proper pastis--even in many French restaurants where they should know better?

We called upon Michel Visciano, owner of Chez Michel-La Brasserie des Catalans in Marseilles, France, to tell us how it’s done.

At his bar, he says, “you’ll be served 5 centiliters of Ricard in a tall 20-centiliter glass.” That’s about 1.7 ounces in a 7-ounce glass. “It should be taken in this manner, and not otherwise.” Tradition (backed up by Ricard’s website) dictates that ice be added after the water. Visciano plops in one cube, then slides the drink, along with a small pitcher of water, to the customer to add to taste. The water turns the chartreuse-colored aperitif milky white and refreshing. Undiluted, it’s strong enough to kill a horse.

Take a sip, then bring the glass to your ear. You will hear the scrubland of Provence, the cicadas. You are Jean de Florette. And that’s not La Cienega but a field of lavender.

--Thierry Peremarti