Okratini (1971)

[Laurence Horn]

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).