During our reno period I had a chance to hang in NYC with some chef friends,
both in their respective kitchens and socially. Quickly I noticed the
cocktail trend has grown significantly during the past two years. Clearly
NYC was, and now still is, one of the pioneer cities for creating some of
the legendary drinks. To this day there still are a lot of old school
bartenders out there pouring signature drinks and sometimes the simple route
can be so the way to go. But this new wave of bartenders are really trying
to push the bar higher. Honestly, these guy are working, well, like
chefs, creating, mixing and mulling their own concoctions. Some taking a
refreshing sting on retro drinks and some using molecular techniques for
both the “wow” factor as well as flavor. Now let me clarify something: I am
not (or shall I say, was not!) a “cocktail ” type of person, until I saw the
amount of love these bartenders were putting into their drinks. I know what
it’s like to pour my heart and soul into a dish, so respectfully I opened my
mind and starting putting my faith into their creations. Night after night
I became hooked and found myself going to certain bars for a certain drink.
Even if I had to wait in line for an hour in a stinky hot dog diner in a
basement waiting to be escorted through a phone booth into a tiny bar that
seated maybe twenty people…(no, I am not kidding)… Yes, I slowly became
one of those people who would say, “oh you have to go to this bar and try the
bartender’s version of a Manhattan”. After trying just about every place in
the city that had a cocktail program, my brother and I decided we need to
have a serious program at Ame as well. Off we went around town here in
Toronto and we quickly decided the only guy who would really “get” what we
were looking for was Frankie, the owner and head bartender of Bar
Chef. Frankie used to work at rain as a bartender and we always admired his
passion to create and serve cocktails. Now at Bar Chef, he hasn’t stopped
with his passion, and it seems he is one of the founding fathers of a
movement happening here in Toronto. Frankie graciously put us on to our
current bartender, Moses. I remember our first interview with Moses and
Michael and I were very clear as to what we are looking for… the boundaries
were simple: the drinks had to have a Asian influence, be original, made in
-house from scratch, and, obviously, tasty. I said he could have full access to
the kitchen and our knowledge of techniques and suggested he work with us to
get a basic understanding on how to treat fruits and vegetables with some
love so they may return the favor in his drinks. And that he did, he also
compiled a team of fellow bartenders that share his passion. This team of
bandits are starting every day at the same time the kitchen starts, juicing and
creating everything by hand and heart. Now I realize we are not the only
game in town with a serious cocktail scene, but I feel we are now part of
that culture that is growing and I for one am proud to say clearly we are
doing our part to help this “movement” along… let’s hope it just continues
to blossom into the norm as we all need a good drink now and again…..g