We're not fans of Valentine's Day menus, or Valentine's-themed cocktails, especially if they involve raspberry purées or some crap like that. But we like that Cotogna barman Jason "Buffalo" LoGrasso already had a drink on his menu called the Valentino, named of course for one of America's first true pop icons, Rudolph Valentino, a.k.a. "the Latin lover."

As Buffalo explains, "This play on the classic Blood and Sand cocktail — Valentino stared in the 1922 film Blood and Sand, you see, and the original cocktail took its name from the 1941 film starring Rita Hayworth. In this updated version, mezcal (get it? Latin lover?) is used in place of Scotch. I use seasonal blood oranges over regular orange juice, and a mountain blackberry liqueur sits in for Cherry Heering. Finally the Carpano Italian vermouth ties the story together, because, you know, Valentino was actually Italian."

It's a playfully smoky, bright, and robust cocktail, and even if you don't have a Valentine, two of these might suffice.

Valentino

1 oz. mezcal
1 oz. Leopold Bros. Mountain Blackberry Liqueur
1 oz. Carpano Antica vermouth
4 Blood orange slices

Muddle the blood orange in a shaker, add the other ingredients, ice, and shake vigorously at least 20 times. Strain into a cocktail glass.