Let’s all raise our glasses to Jeff Koons, the artist of the moment — with a retrospective at the Whitney, a (very) revealing spread in Vanity Fair and “Split-Rocker,” the 37-foot-tall sculpture/topiary he designed for Rockefeller Center.
And what better drink to toast him with than a “Split-Rocker” Margarita — by Jeff Koons.
Yes, in addition to all his other activities, the James Franco of the art set designed a cocktail for Rockefeller Center’s Summer Garden and Bar.
“It sort of developed organically,” says Rachel Insler, a spokeswoman for the Rock Center eatery. (She’s talking about the drink, not the sculpture.) Koons had been coming by Rock Center for weeks, preparing for the “Split-Rocker” installation and the summer party where it would debut. As the party approached, Insler says, there was talk about Koons coming up with a summer cocktail. “He had a lot of frozen margaritas — well, not a lot, but a few.” You might say he was half-gassed.
Suddenly, an idea dawned: a classic frozen margarita teamed half and half with a strawberry margarita. Parameters were given to the mixologist, who fashioned the drink.
“The bartender shakes [classic and strawberry margaritas] into the glass at the same time to get a vertical split,” Insler says.
Since the café started offering the “Split-Rocker” on June 30 — at $14 a pop — it’s become one of the Summer Garden and Bar’s top five selling cocktails.
“It’s definitely the kind of thing you’ll see a server walking by with and say, ‘What’s that?’ ” Insler says.
It’s available at the cafe through Sept. 12, when the sculpture comes down — but the drink may be offered longer if it continues to sell. Not only that, Insler says, but “if you ask nicely at the Sea Grill, they’ll give you one.”