Adan Velis of Lolita’s with the Humo y Arce cocktail (Photo by Jay Paul)
In recent months, cocktail guru Adan Velis has been building a drink menu of juicy favorites as bar manager at Lolita’s. Collaborating with the Carytown restaurant’s owners, sisters Karina and Rosio Garcia, he’s tapping into his Mexican heritage and relishing the wealth of ingredients at his fingertips from the house kitchen: chiles, herbs, tomatillos, chocolate. Introducing fresh versions of beloved classics, Velis brings heavyweight experience: He previously worked for restaurateur and television personality Aarón Sánchez, and he was responsible for the vibe-setting cocktail selections at The Jungle Room and Sabai.
Richmond magazine: What are some of your favorites from the winter drink menu?
Adan Velis: We’re making our own Oaxacan Old Fashioned with ancho chile-honey syrup and orange bitters; it’s spicy and smoky. And there’s a sotol drink. Sotol is a spirit made in northern Chihuahua [Mexico]; it’s also called the desert spoon plant. It has the mineral grassiness of tequila and the smoke of mezcal. That’s infused with celery and mixed with a tomatillo-citrus agave and Ancho Reyes [liqueur], so it’s a vegetal, citrus-forward cocktail called Tears of a Chola. Our espresso martini syrup is made with Abuelita chocolate, and we use reposado tequila.
RM: Is there a drink that has that changed or influenced the way you think about your craft?
Velis: I was working with [acclaimed New York bartender and spirits writer] Naren Young at the time; we worked together at a restaurant in Soho, New York. It was 2011, and the cocktail boom had just taken hold. He took me to Milk & Honey, and I had a Penicillin made by [the creator of the drink] Sam Ross himself, and I was like, this is just … the greatest drink I’ve ever had.
RM: Where do you drink on your nights off?
Velis: I could give you the typical bartender’s answer that I just go for a burger and a beer. I don’t get to make the rounds too much, but I’ll say this — I really like Steve Yang’s cocktails at Brenner Pass.
