Emu egg cocktails are back; get one (and a lap dance) at Cheetahs

Cocktail maker Matthew Biancaniello will make another appearance at the World Famous Cheetahs in Hollywood, serving drinks during the gentleman’s club’s amateur “pole arts showcase” on Sunday night. And Biancaniello will have with him the emu eggs he recently scored at the Santa Monica farmers market.

Cocktail fans might remember the emu egg cocktails at the Library Bar at the Roosevelt Hotel when Biancaniello was head barman there -- frothy drinks served in the emptied (and cleaned) emu egg shells. The eggs are kind of spectacular, gloriously green-blue and several times the size of a chicken egg.

His Indian Summer cocktail (pictured above) included muddled cucumber and curry leaves with gin, topped with a cherry liqueur foam, served in the shell.

But for a while his San Diego supplier had no emu eggs because the emus had been killed by coyotes. “He bought chicks again,” Biancaniello says, “and they weren’t mature enough to lay eggs until now. It’s only from January to March that they lay eggs. I bought them all.”

Among Biancaniello’s cocktails is a kombu-infused tequila with bonito, St-Germain and emu egg foam, available (as long as supplies last) at Cheetahs on Sunday during the pole dancing show, which runs from 9:30 p.m. to 2 a.m. Admission is $10.

Emu eggs are likely to reappear on the cocktail list at Plan Check in Hollywood, where Biancaniello consulted on the drinks.

The World Famous Cheetahs, 4600 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles, (323) 660-6733, www.cheetahsclubhollywood.com. Admission $10.

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