The other evening, I ate at D.C.’s popular, high-concept Afghan restaurant, Bistro Aracosia. The high-concept quality involves not only the delicious food but the drinks.

In particular, the way the drinks are named. If you want a mix of rye and apple brandy, you might tell the waiter, “I have died to myself and I live for you,” as the 13th-century Persian poet Rumi wrote. If you have a hankering for rye, dry vermouth, and maraschino liqueur, you can call out, “I’ve disappeared from myself and my attributes.”