Drink Title Upsets Staten Island Patrons
One would think, at some point in the education received by online culinary school students, that there would be a course that covers damage control. Or, at the very least, that these courses would come with some level of advice pertaining to how to establish a solid public relations presence. While this may be offered by many schools, it would certainly benefit the proprietors of one Staten Island restaurant, which recently came under fire for naming a drink in a manner that many might describe as tasteless. The cocktail has drawn the attention of numerous patrons and has a number of individuals speaking out against the restaurant as not only offensive but also insensitive. Take a look at some of the details surrounding the story:
The cocktail
According to DNA Info, a cocktail entitled the ‘roofie colada’ was recently added to the menu at a popular Staten Island gastropub known as the Phunky Elephant. The name, for those of you who aren’t familiar, is a nod to a popular date rape drug known as Rohypnol, a substance that, when ingested, causes individuals to pass out and remain unresponsive for hours at a time. The cocktail itself, of course, doesn’t contain any of the illicit substance, but is rather made from such benign (and admittedly delicious) ingredients as Kahlua, vanilla vodka, ice cream, fried donuts, chocolate syrup and whipped cream.
Grievances and explanations
The restaurant has insisted in multiple forms, according to Consumerist, that the name of the cocktail is an homage to a moment from an episode of the popular animated series “Family Guy.” That said, it’s still making waves with a number of patrons who feel as though naming a drink after a drug used to induce non-consensual intercourse is offensive. One such individual, Jeremiah Jurkiewicz, works at the College of Staten Island’s LGBTQ Center, and expressed his discontent after being snubbed when he voiced a complaint:
“We brought it up at the restaurant to a chef and another woman recently brought it up to wait staff and was laughed at,” Jurkiewicz said in a statement. “Obviously they’re not wanting to change it. It speaks to a rape culture in society and how its sustained by this type of language and this ignorance of the situation.”
