333 Pacific’s Pier View Cocktail

One of the newest items on 333 Pacific’s drink menu is bar manager Kevin Kitchen’s Pier View cocktail. Named in honor of the third-of-a-mile-long Oceanside Pier that serves as the restaurant’s nighttime vista, Kitchen’s concoction is a fruity potion with a nostalgic twist of taste.

“We were planning on adding a couple more components,” he says, “but when we tasted it with cranberry and pineapple juice, I ended up having one of those Alfred Hitchcock flashbacks to my childhood. I was eating fruit cocktail. I had a strong memory of sitting there with my brothers and fighting over the cherry. I thought it tasted just like Dole fruit cocktail syrup.”

A much lighter version of this viscous varietal from a can — at only 150 calories — Kitchen says, the Pier View, like its namesake, is also a visual delight,

“When you shake it properly, really hard,” he says, “because of the pineapple juice, you get a really fine froth over the top of the drink that looks neat.”

And the Pier View has an added feature — “We garnish it with a cherry because, as we tell people, that way you don’t have to fight over it.”

Kitchen Proof: With a mix of fruit flavors, the Pier View also shows a gentle suggestion of the vodka underneath, which reminds your taste buds that they’ve grown up since last they’ve had fruit cocktail.

333 Pacific’s Pier View Cocktail

In a cocktail shaker with ice, pour:

• 2 oz. Pinnacle mango vodka
• 1/2 oz. pineapple juice
• 1/2 oz. cranberry juice

After vigorous shaking, pour into a martini glass, garnish with the provocative maraschino, and let bygones be bygones.