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The Wapango may be perfect for fickle passions
• by Anne Earney • Photo by Josh Monken
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Most people have a favorite drink, the one they order every time, no matter where they are or whom they’re with. Then there are the rest of us – we don’t have any idea the first time we’re asked, we’re even more confused the second time and finally, under pressure, we just order something.
The truth is, I don’t have a favorite cocktail. I’m equally likely to randomly pick something from a drink list, ask the bar staff for recommendations or have what you’re having. That said, my current favorite (at least this month) is The Wapango. It’s the signature drink at Wapango, the pan-Latin restaurant in Chesterfield. The Wapango was right up my alley from the get-go because the recipe is seasonal. Sure, there’s only been one recipe since the restaurant opened last fall, but co-owner Todd Wyatt said he plans to change it in the spring. The recipe he’s using now really doesn’t need modifying because it’s delicious, but it will be even better when I go back a few months from now, order the same thing and get something different.
Wyatt and his partners originally wanted their signature drink to appeal to both men and women. They consulted with beverage industry representatives but in the end decided to let the customers choose what they liked by giving them different drinks to try. The seasonal fruit idea appealed to Wyatt, who chose blood oranges for the first go-round. He hinted at prickly pear as an ingredient for the spring version of the drink.
The current incarnation of The Wapango is basically a blood orange mojito, made with Bacardi O rum, blood oranges, mint, superfine sugar and agave nectar. Wyatt said the agave nectar is the “secret ingredient” in many of Wapango’s cocktails. Harvested from the agave plant, the nectar is a natural liquid sweetener with a sweeter taste than sugar (look for it in health-food stores). But even with both sugar and agave nectar, The Wapango isn’t too sweet. My husband, who ordered a dirty martini (his favorite – really), liked my drink as much as his, and he doesn’t care for overly sweet drinks.
The Wapango arrived in a 13-ounce rocks glass, over ice. It was orange, but not unnaturally so. As Wyatt said, “The key to any mojito is the muddling of the mint to make sure you are releasing all the mint flavor.” Because of that, there were bits of rind and mint floating around the bottom. (A bartender instructed me to stir it as I sipped, to keep the tasty elements suspended.)
Even if The Wapango were to stay the same, I’d be a happy drinker at Wapango. One staff favorite from the drink list is the El Cazadores, made with Cazadores Reposado tequila, Grand Marnier, lime and orange. And if I still didn’t know what I wanted to drink, I could have tried the sangria that Wapango has on tap or something from the huge selection of tequilas and rums. Wyatt also makes seasonal infusions with cachaça, a distilled sugarcane liquor that’s very popular in Brazil (one used ginger, toasted cinnamon and cranberries; another, which was infusing at the time of our visit, used raspberries), so there’s likely to be something interesting to try no matter when you go.
I realize all these choices might not appeal to everyone. My husband will continue to order his dirty martini, but I’ll love him anyhow. And I hope he’ll love me, whether my order keeps changing or not. And if The Wapango really just stays the same, then I’ll be forgiving. Because that’s what love is all about.
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