Contest: A cocktail before dinner?

Liberace played here

​It was once a sign of elegance and sophistication to have a cocktail before dinner, particularly in the 1960s, the true glory years of the martini, the daiquiri, the vodka gimlet (the favorite cocktail of the mad film star Norma Desmond) and the Manhattan. And if a restaurant had a cozy cocktail lounge adjacent to the dining room, all the better. Sometimes the lounge was as famous as the actual restaurant and sometimes the restaurant even had a signature cocktail, like the sweet-tart apple daiquiri served at the old Stephenson’s Apple Farm restaurant.

This week’s contest focuses on the cocktails and lounges that were part of Kansas City’s restaurant history. The first commenter to correctly guess all five questions by midnight tonight — March 23 — will win a vintage copy of the swingin’ 1965 cookbook Saucepans and the Single Girl. Only one prize will be given and there will be no substitutions.

The questions follow the jump.