Avocado: You may have heard of it. The current lord of the fruit kingdom is officially everywhere, the most visible (and notorious) sign of its cultural sway the dish known as avocado toast. So naturally, it was just a matter of time before someone created an avocado toast shot.
It’s fitting that that someone is Faith Railey, beverage manager at recently opened AvoEatery in Trinity Groves, where the ubiquitous superfruit graces every dish in some way. The same goes for Railey’s 10-drink house cocktail lineup, and with this weekend’s launch of AvoEatery’s brunch menu, the avocado toast shot made its debut.
Railey’s $5 shot is a mini-smoothie mix of avocado-infused Prairie vodka, spinach syrup, lime and a rim coated with a mix of salt, cayenne and panko breadcrumbs. It’s tasty enough to enjoy as a sipper, savoring every bit of crisp from that clever rim.
Avocados are no stranger to cocktails in the occasional sense, typically muddled or infused; their flesh offers velvety texture without the cloying sweetness of banana and a Grinch-green shade that’s visually arresting. Rich in healthy fats that are the current craze, avocado appeals in cocktails, too: “It’s like blending in butter to your coffee,” New York City’s Ariel Arce told Vogue in 2016. “It adds a deep, creamy and rich flavor while still keeping the drink light.”
In Dallas, Meso Maya’s tasty avocado margarita capitalizes on the fruit’s sweet muddled creaminess, while the since-departed avocado gimlet at Moxie’s gleaned the fruit’s savory flavor into rosemary-and-infused gin. But a full-on cocktail lineup forged from avocado? Railey, formerly of Republic Texas Tavern in North Dallas, took it as a challenge, putting simple but crafty avocado spins on established classics.
“We tried to use the entire tree, not just the fruit,” she says. “I think we used everything except for the bark. And the pits.”
Suddenly, the pink neon sign screaming from one side of AvoEatery makes sense. “Be Anything But Predictable,” it says in words you might imagine coming straight from an avocado itself (if an avocado could talk). It’s like, “Y’all! I can do anything!”
Yes, little avocado. Yes you can.
Until she joined AvoEatery, Railey’s avocado interest had been minimal. “I’ve always liked avocados,” she says. “But I would just eat them for breakfast.”
Now, ‘cados are her avocation, and you’ll find ingredients on the menu like an “avocado elixir” – a slightly sweet, amber-colored tea made from steeped avocado leaves – which flavors the Pinkies Up, a vodka sour variation. Or the avocado syrup (“my baby,” she says) that adds a light touch to the Avo Colada.
Naturally, there’s an Avo ‘Rita, and it’s a winner, livened up with melon liqueur and a rim of hibiscus salt. The Lemon Blossom employs floral avocado honey in a bourbon variation of the gin-based Bee’s Knees. Meanwhile, the formidable Avo Old Fashioned hews close to the traditional cocktail with the addition of Railey’s avocado-chocolate bitters, which like her “elixir” is crafted from the leaves of the avocado tree.
“We wanted to make sure we paid respect to the cocktail movement and how far it’s progressed,” says James Hamous, AvoEatery’s operations manager. “But we have to make it approachable.”
The oddball of the group is the Let It Go, which really isn’t a cocktail at all, just a pour of tequila lapped around an avocado iceberg. The short glass promotes sipping, because you’ll want to give the frozen avocado time to melt – or will you?
A wooden spoon served with the drink makes it an interactive experience: You can coax the cube around the glass, chip avo-nibbles out of it or break it into chunks. Either way, the melting avocado cube gradually adds savory silkiness to the tequila, testing your will with its ever more murky green tint.
Whatever drink you choose, you might want to offer a toast to the once lowly, lumpy avocado, which now rules the land. As Railey now says, “it’s more than just a fruit.”