Bartenders? They're chefs, too.
BROOKLINE - John Gertsen polished a chrome device that could have been plucked from the set of "All About Eve."
"It's the Ice-o-Mat Bucketeer - the Sherman tank of ice crushers," he says of the 1950s-era apparatus he scored on
Meanwhile, Misty Kalkofen, bar manager at Green Street in Cambridge, and Jackson Cannon, Eastern Standard's bar manager, discussed strategic placement of ice bins, silver platters, and liquor bottles with the intensity of a director blocking an action scene.
It was two hours before guests started streaming into the James Beard Taste America event last Friday. Boston was one of 20 cities to host a foodfest, a benefit for the James Beard Foundation's 20th anniversary. Each city put its own mark on the fete: Pittsburgh, for example, welcomed back superstar chef Thomas Keller. In New Orleans, pastry chef Emily Luchetti prepared desserts at three different restaurants.
Boston's signature? The three bartenders created cocktails featured alongside epicurean nibbles whipped up by the city's best chefs. The inclusion signals a shift in how the food community views cocktails - and the fine art of mixology.
"People really want to have a cocktail that are not only full of flavor, they want to feel a lot of creativity and nurturing has gone into it, just like the meals they have in restaurants today," said Susan Ungaro, president of the James Beard Foundation. "The reemergence of cocktails using only fresh ingredients is something that the foundation applauds. Having cocktailians adds a level of respect for what these great craftsmen are doing. They're chefs, too."
This is also the first year the foundation featured a signature cocktail at a nationwide event. The winner was chosen from submissions from bartenders across the country. Coincidentally, the winning recipe came from Scott Marshall, a bartender at CityBar and the Beehive. Ungaro said the fact that the winning drink came from a bartender in Boston only drove home the idea of spotlighting cocktails.
"The Beard Foundation's decision to include mixology as part of the Boston event is a testament to the growing understanding of crafted drinks as components of and high expressions in the culinary arts," Cannon said.
In developing cocktail lists at their bars, Cannon, Kalkofen, and Gertsen give scholarly attention to classic cocktails and their legacies, use vintage recipes as the foundation for their own formulas, and put a premium on fresh, made-from-scratch ingredients - not unlike chefs in kitchens. It's all part of a grand renaissance that's flourished across the country in recent years. Tales of the Cocktail, an annual conference held in New Orleans since 2003, drew 12,000 attendees this year, up almost 50 percent from the approximately 8,000 who attended in 2006. The event is to spirits what Cannes is to film, with seminars, tastings, and new product previews. The local bartenders at the James Beard event were among the cognoscenti down in New Orleans.
At Veronique, guests nibbling on organic beef cheek and prime tuna Wellington seemed to think recognition of bartenders' true craft has been a long time coming.
"Making drinks is as much an art as food," said Abby Capobianco, who works in pharmaceuticals, as she sipped Kalkofen's Joe's Fashion, a gin drink with Apple Jack and Punt y Mes rounded out with her fresh five-spice mixture. "Have to know how to craft a cocktail or else it's just booze."
