Okratini (1971)

[Beverly Flanigan]

At 03:04 PM 8/21/2003 -0400, you wrote:
>At 1:43 PM -0400 8/21/03, Bapopik at AOL.COM wrote:
>>OKRATINI
>>
>>    Larry once posted about this drink.
>>    I went through about 75 hits for "cocktail" and "inventor" or "invented."
>>There were no big surprises, but I did come up with the "Okratini" and the
>>"Cocktail Suit."
>>
>>
>>    18 March 1971, COSHOCTON TRIBUNE (Coshocton, Ohio), pg.7B, col. 5:
>>    In New York, a Tex-Mex restaurant has invented a cocktail called the
>>"okratini."  Essentially it's a martini, but is served with a pickled
>>okra pod
>>instead of an olive.
>I can't believe it.  Scooped by the Coshocton Trib!  Well, it's good
>to know, before I applied for a patent.  Thanks, Barry.
>
>--Larry, who was drinking okratinis in the 60's in L.A., but never
>got written up in Coshocton.
>
>P.S.  I wonder what they mean by "essentially".  Of course, an *echt*
>okratini requires not just any old picked okra pod, but one from a
>jar of Talk O' Texas HOT Crisp OKRA PICKLES (look for the cowboy and
>lasso on the label).

And if you knew Coschocton, you'd be really surprised!  It's a small
eastern Ohio town that boasts a quaint pioneer village and a working canal
boat ride for tourists (I've been there twice).  I suspect someone picked
up this tidbit of trivia either on a trip to New York or second-hand
through another newspaper.