New Beverage Director Diane Corcoran Reveals Three Dots and a Dash's New Menus

Four months after taking over for Paul McGee as beverage director for eight Lettuce Entertain You restaurants, Diane Corcoran will soon debut the new cocktail menu at Three Dots and a Dash. Corcoran has made changes to established tiki cocktails, replaced 10 others and added a new group drink.

"My thought process on this was to just freshen it up," Corcoran says. She usually changes cocktail menus twice a year, but Three Dots' menu hadn't been updated in "about a year." The opportunity to add "fresh flavors" and have more "fun with it," was important to her. The menu is poised to go live in about two weeks.

The new drinks include classics like the Saturn (Navy strength gin, passion fruit, lemon, falernum, orgeat) and the Mai Tai (aged rhum agricole, Jamaican rum, lime, curacao, orgeat, mint), as well as a new one the Aku Aku Lapu, which serves two and comes in a glass featuring three seahorses.

There's also a whole section devoted to Painkillers (oddly enough, these do not come with a skull asterisk next to them asking guests to sip delicately due to their strength) this time out. This includes new item Painkiller No. 639 featuring Virgin Island and Jamaican rums, lemon, passion fruit, mango and coconut cream. And that new group drink, dubbed Blood of the Kapu Tiki serving four to five, comes in a ship glass featuring aged rum, aged rhum agricole, grapefruit, lime, curacao, grednadine, absinthe and Angostura bitters.

"I think that people are ready for these kind of cocktails and to have fun with it. Cocktails got a little serious for awhile, I think," Corcoran says. "Tiki is fun and people really enjoy that and are embracing it."

Chef Doug Psaltis (RPM Steak, Ramen-san) has also revamped the Polynesian food menu, bringing in a number of new items, such as the Captain's Pu Pu Platter (with coconut shrimp, spring rolls, pork buns, crispy wings, 5-spice ribs and Thai fried chicken), as well as flaming shrimp, grilled short ribs and Hawaiian dip. Psaltis' new food menu is already in place.

With regards to her former boss McGee's new tiki bar, Lost Lake, Corcoran says she hasn't had a chance to visit yet, but that she has "heard very good things." She says that it is hard for her to discuss the topic, adding that the move took her by surprise.

You can look over Corcoran and Psaltis' menus in full below.

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