#central 214

[barmoire]

Ponies, polo, and.... cocktails

This drink at Central 214 benefits literacy programs. Get over there immediately and order one.

The…

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[barmoire]

Because film festivals need cocktails too: Central 214 offering DIFF specials

The Psycho Smash, one of Central 214's DIFF cocktails.

Film festivals are a lot of work. Waiting in line, waiting in line: It's enough to drive you to drink.

Luckily, Central 214 at Dallas' Hotel Palomar -- headquarters for the Dallas International Film Festival -- has your best interests in mind. The bar at the Graham Dodds restaurant is featuring two cocktails designed especially for the event by head bartender Amber West.

"I was trying to think of all the great movies," says West, who recalls enjoying moviegoing in the days "before I became a working, crazy mommy."

She came up with the Citizen Kane, whose plot unfolds with High West rye, orange liqueur, maple syrup, lemon and finally a nod to that fateful word, Rosebud.

Then there's the citrus-y fresh Psycho Smash, a delicious sweet-tea frenzy of Angel's Envy whiskey, simple syrup, mint, lemon and Angostura bitters. No doubt Mother would be proud.

"Everyone loves a smash," West says between lunch guests, including an HBO documentary maker and an L.A. actress whose film was going to debut that night. "Plus I thought 'psycho' and 'angel' would go well together. I thought it would be kind of cute."

The $8 drinks will run the duration of the festival, which ends Sunday, and are the '8' part of Central 214's "2-4-6-8 " happy-hour promotion of specially priced appetizers.

-- Marc Ramirez, posted 4/10/13