One
of the clearest memories from that evening was meeting Tony Abou-Ganim who was making Negronis that night under the
twinkling Campari sign. It was my first
introduction to Tony, a undeniable legend in the bartending world.
When
Negroni Week started a few years ago, Tony was one of the first high-profile
bartenders to get behind the philanthropic mission, and organized a bike ride
to fundraise for his charity, The Helen David
Relief Fund. This year, the ride is hosted in 7 cities (I
will be riding the Santa Fe ride – you can sponsor me here), and will be raising money one
Negroni at a time at bars nationwide.
Without
further ado, Tony Abou-Ganim:
Gastronomista: You were bartending before many new cocktail
fans understood the difference between an Old Fashioned and a Manhattan. How
have you seen the cocktail world change over the years?
Tony Abou-Ganim: I started my bartending career in 1980, and I
was very lucky to grow up in a bar family. I learned under my watchful eye of
my Uncle Charlie and Cousin Helen David who ran the Brass Rail in Port Huron.
It was a neighborhood bar that served the classics so I learned the difference
between a Manhattan and an Old Fashioned very early on.
Back
then, when you told someone you were a bartender for a living, they would
follow that question with, "Well, what do you want to do?" It really
wasn't looked upon as a career choice or a profession to aspire to. It was a part-time
job, or that gig you had while you finished college or worked on your acting
career.
Technique
was lacking. Education was nonexistent. And there were a lot of artificially-flavored
cocktail mixes out there. I had a very fortunate beginning, and then a lot of
jobs along the way featuring everything from juice on the gun, to mixing
gallons of margaritas with powdered mix, to tequilas and artificial triple
secs.
Today,
a young bartender maybe has only worked at Pegu Club or Herbs & Rye or one
of these craft cocktail bars, and doesn't know anything about artificial
imitation mixes and crappy spirits. It's a really great time in the American
bar today to see the evolution and journey.
Gastronomista: It's changed so much even in my short tenure
in the industry so I can only imagine how shocking it is to you to see it change
so drastically.
Abou-Ganim: Yeah, and I was lucky along the way to work
with some really great bartenders in some really great bars that might have
been a little ahead of the curve. Like, Jack
Flick at the Balboa Cafe.
Boz Scaggs at the Blue Light in San Francisco back in the
early and mid '80s.
I was lucky to land in some
places that embraced cocktails before it was, I hate to say, “cool” or “trendy”
to do so. But that was the way it was always done in those bars. Again, I think I was very
lucky. When young bartenders ask me "What
does it take to become a great bartender?" I say, "Work with some
great bartenders." It's not going to happen overnight, and it's not
going to happen in five years or ten years. It's a lifetime commitment.
My goal is always to be
better today than I was yesterday, and better tomorrow than I am right now. I never really rest on any laurels, and there's no shortage of things
to learn. If anybody thinks they know it all, let them do something else.
Gastronomista: How did you get your start as a bartender and
what continues to be the most rewarding part of your job?
Abou-Ganim: I grew up in a bar family. My cousin, Helen
David, opened the Brass Rail Bar so I was always around it. My father was able
to convince her to make me a bartender in 1980. She was hesitant to do it
because she wanted to send me to culinary school. Being a chef was a much more
respected profession in the culinary arts than a bartender at that time.
Thank
God she let up and took me under her wing. She's
always been my number-one inspiration and mentor. I'm quite sure if it wasn't
for Helen and the rest of my bartending family, I would be doing something
totally different today.
Gastronomista: Why is she your number one inspiration?
Abou-Ganim: Not only did she teach me the business of the
bar and bartending, but the most important element of the bar business: being hospitable. She always treated her
guests at the bar like she would guests in her home. She considered the bar to
be her living room, not a place of employment. She always said, "Treat all your guests like ladies and
gentlemen until they prove they're not."
It
was always a smile and a “hello.” She remembered
everyone's name and what they liked to drink.
She always offered a kind word, helped out, sponsored all the charitable
organizations, did softball, hockey, basketball. I mean, she was philanthropic.
She was very committed to the community.
It was more than just a job
or a business, it was a life-long commitment. Those lessons are what drive me today,
forty years later.
Abou-Ganim: Well, like I said, Helen opened the Brass Rail Bar in 1937. Three years after the repeal of prohibition. We went through the Great Depression. Her father died, and left her and her mother with an ice cream parlor. Her mother said "During the Great Depression, no one's spending money on ice cream. We have to turn the ice cream parlor into a saloon or we're going to be put out on the street." Helen said, "Mom, proper ladies don't run saloons." And her mother said, "A lady's a lady no matter where you put her, but she's got to have a buck in her pocket."
So,
on June 15, 1937, they opened the Brass Rail Bar, and she ran it nearly 70
years until her death at the age of 91 in 2006. Along the way, she survived
breast cancer twice.
I,
selfishly, wanted to do something to keep her memory alive. She was always so
good about giving back, I thought, “We could do something in her memory help
those less fortunate in our industry.”
In
setting up the Helen David Relief Fund, it really is by bartenders for bartenders. It benefits bartenders and their
families who've been affected by breast cancer.
Now
we're in a position, finally, where we've been able to help three or four
people that are coping with breast cancer. It's not with the medical costs—we really
can't help with that—but the rent still needs to get paid, the electric still
has to get paid, groceries need to be bought, your kid needs a new pair of
glasses. Those are the expenses we're assisting with. That way we let the
person and their family concentrate on the most important thing: getting
better.
The Negroni is my favorite cocktail, and has
been for most of my bartending career. I was very lucky to learn it from David
O'Malley in 1991, long before anyone knew that it wasn't an imported beer.
It's been part of
my journey. So when Negroni Week started with a philanthropic mission, I said, “This is absolutely perfect.” I've been a bicycle rider on
and off for a long, long time. I thought, "Well, why don't we do a bike
ride to raise awareness and funds for the Helen David Relief Fund during
Negroni Week?"
Last
year we expanded to four cities, and this year we're slated for seven. I've had
inquiries about how to get involved from another half a dozen different
chapters or individuals in different cities asking, "How can we
participate? How can we get involved?"
The
goal: to have a ride in every major city in America one day. Like you said,
awareness is so important. If we can help a lot of bartenders, we’re achieving the
mission.
Gastronomista: Are you riding all the rides?
Abou-Ganim: I'm riding six of the seven. I'm going to
miss Chicago, unfortunately, but for the other six I will be out there riding. It
was virtually impossible to do all seven. I booked the tickets the other day,
and it's the craziest ticket I've ever seen in my life. I rode in all four last
year.
Gastronomista: Negroni Week is now in its fifth year and it has become
the spirit industry's signature global philanthropic effort. How do you think
the Negroni Week bike ride has helped create awareness for Negroni Week and the
important of philanthropy within the cocktail community?
Abou-Ganim: That would be hard for me to quantify. You
know, Moniek [Pullen at
the United States Bartenders’ Guild] has really
stepped up and is helping quite a bit.
I
would say that promoting Team Negroni and our bicycle rides has brought more
attention to Negroni Week. Whatever
charity you choose to donate to is great, as long as you actually make those
donations and not just say you're going to do it.
Moniek
has done a great job. Hopefully a lot of people and a lot of accounts will
choose the Helen David Relief Fund as their charity, and will be accountable
and send in those donations.
You
don't need to be a USBG member to benefit or participate. You don't even have
to be a bartender to ride. You can be a bar enthusiast, a customer, a friend or
a relative. We only ask each individual rider to raise a minimum of $250.00,
which probably could cover the cost of the Team Negroni kit. The kits this year
are absolutely gorgeous.
It seems
like the Team Negroni bike rides are starting to get momentum. If you can’t
participate in a ride, I encourage you to get involved by raising funds and
awareness. Make a donation, or sell Negronis during Negroni Week at your
establishment. We'd love it if you chose the Helen David Relief Fund as your
charity of choice. Then next year, we can get you on board and schedule a ride in
your city.
Abou-Ganim: I think it's always been important.
Unfortunately, in the bartending industry (for the 37 years I've been involved)
has always struggled with benefits. If
we did get healthcare or health insurance, it was expensive or it wasn't good.
It was rare that you got a benefit package similar to other career professions,
if you were a doctor or a lawyer or a truck driver, for instance.
You
touched on something that was the other half of the coin of setting up the
bicycle team. Yes, it's about raising awareness and funds for the Helen David
Relief Fund to help bartenders that are struggling with breast cancer, but it's
also to say, "Take a look at your own health." Here's the opportunity to take a positive stance on making you a better
person.
That’s why it's not a five-mile fun ride. It’s
a 40-mile ride. It is an achievable distance for everyone, but you’re not going
to simply jump on your mountain bike that you haven't ridden in six years and
join the ride! It's about making a commitment—like anything in life—to make
yourself better and to make bicycle riding a part of that journey.
Gastronomista: That wasn't one of my initial questions but while talking
to you, it made me think that over the years, you've probably seen people
really struggle and maybe yourself have really struggled, just trying to get
health insurance.
It
seems like Negroni Week (and Campari America as a company), especially with its
philanthropic mission, is trying to bring a lot of these issues to the
forefront and starting a lot of discussions that haven't previously been talked
about. That was why I wanted to touch on that point.
Why
do you think philanthropy is especially important for the cocktail community
and especially now?
Abou-Ganim: I wish I could find this exact quote, but someone once wrote, "The best thing you could do for yourself is to give back to others."
I
feel very blessed. The bar business has been very, very good to me. I've never
been rich, but I've lived richly because of this industry and this profession. Because
of that, I feel philanthropy is becoming more and more important to me, and I am
putting more and more focus and time into it.
Bartenders
are great people. They're great human beings, for the most part. And part of
being a great human being is being philanthropic and generous with your time
and resources. It's not a profession like professional athletes or stock
brokers. You don't get into bartending to become wealthy. I haven't been able
to achieve that, but it's never been my goal either. I've been extremely fortunate
to have lived a better life than most, and I feel a personal responsibility and
a fulfillment from giving back.
Like
I said earlier, Helen was such a special person to me that if I'm able to
maintain her legacy a little bit through philanthropy, that makes me feel
really good, too.
Gastronomista: The other thing that I'm hearing as well is that it was
important to Helen, and also to you, to maintain those community ties. It's almost as though, through this bike ride
and through our actions of being aware and conscious of other people and giving
back, it strengthens the community, and the hospitality that this industry's
really known for.
Abou-Ganim: It's all about hospitality. There’s a great
poem “The Man Behind the Bar” that illustrates
the point perfectly. It talks about how everyone in the community always goes
to the man behind the bar in times of need, and the bartender was always there
to help.
And that spirit has been
embedded in the community among hundreds of bars and bartenders. Bartenders are
beautiful people. I never hear a “no” as an answer.
Gastronomista: Even for a crazy request?
Abou-Ganim: I don't get very many crazy requests!
[Laughs]
Gastronomista: So, how do you continually
inspire that sense of community among bartenders?
Abou-Ganim: I
really try to encourage bartenders to think about philanthropy. Every time I
see them I ask, "Are you riding? Did you get a bike yet?" We have a
bartender, she showed up for the very first ride on this old, rusty mountain
bike. She made it about two miles. The second year, she got a motorized bike to
help her up the hill, but got two flat tires during the ride. Last year, she
bought a bike and has incorporated some modest training. She finished the
40-mile ride, and she was the top fundraiser. She's already leading the
fundraising for this year's ride.
Another
story is Sheila Rosaria. I challenged her to start riding, and she thought I
was nuts. 40 miles? She called me she said, "I barely did four miles
today." I said "You got on the bike, right on. That's great."
Within six weeks, she called and said "I just did 40 miles." And she
was out of her mind happy. She rode the Orlando Negroni Week ride and finished,
and then flew out in October and did our breast cancer 40-mile ride here in Las
Vegas. Sheila accomplished something she never thought she could do. I encourage bartenders to look to themselves
and say, "You're going to be better because of this."
Gastronomista: Do you have any good training tips for bartenders who
might be reading?
Abou-Ganim: Consistency.
Like anything, you have to make time to do it. You can't ride twice one
week and then skip the next three weeks and expect to pick back up. You need to
make the time and you need to rest. Like
serving drinks at your bar, you need to be consistent.
Don't
try to do too much too fast. Be realistic. Do a little homework. The web has endless
information on how to train and how to buy the right equipment, the right seat,
and the right shoes so you can be comfortable.
You
don't have to spend three grand on a bike. There are a lot of great used bikes
out there, but enlist the help of someone in buying the right bike. Try having
one less beer at night, and getting up an hour earlier so you can get out and
ride. And find some good rides in your area to train. I'm lucky here in Las
Vegas; there are some beautiful rides.
For
me, the travel’s been the hardest thing for my training. I just turned 57, and
I'm riding 300 miles next week. I look at my schedule and say, "I need to ride
‘X’ amount or I just won't be ready." It's been fulfilling for me personally
to lead by example.
Gastronomista: It's a good motto for life: just be consistent.
Gastronomista: What are some of your favorite bars right now?
Abou-Ganim: I'm partial to Libertine Social here in Las Vegas at Mandalay Bay. I've always
been a big fan of Julie Reiner. I
love Flatiron Lounge. That was
always one of my favorite stops when I was in New York, and I think she's even
elevated that with Clover Club. She
really brings the art of hospitality to life. The craft cocktail bar craze happened
really fast, and a lot of great bars opened up quickly. I think some opened and
skipped the importance of hospitality, but Julie was always one that embraced
it. I always enjoy going to her bar.
I
love Nectaly Mendoza, and what he
did here in Las Vegas with Herbs and Rye.
He committed to it, and his story is one of perseverance, persistence and believing.
He's done as much for the cocktail community here in Las Vegas as anyone.
I
love going to San Francisco. That's really my second home, I think, more so
than anywhere else. Trick Dog; I
love those guys. I love everything they stand for, and they're philanthropic
through and through. They believe in community.
I
like going to bars that I feel comfortable. I don't need to go to the hippest,
coolest, hottest new bar. I need to go to the bar that makes me feel welcome
and makes me feel like I want to be there. I quote Dale DeGroff all the time. He says, "I don't go to bars. I go to bartenders." I think that
gets back to the art of hospitality. I wish I had said that, but I have to give
Dale credit on that!
There
was quite a bit of pretentiousness behind bar for a period of time, and I think
that's easing up. We're getting back to the art of hospitality. Remember, it's
never about the drink. There’s no drink good enough to make me want to deal
with an arrogant, pretentious bartender. I want to leave every bar feeling
better than when I walked in.
Gastronomista: It's all about people.
Abou-Ganim: It's
all about people. At the end of the day, it's all about people.
Gastronomista: If you could visit any bar, anywhere in world, at any
point in history, what bar would you visit and who would you have a drink with?
Abou-Ganim: I've been to the La Floridita in Cuba, stood next the Hemingway statue and drank a
daiquiri. I think it would be fun to have visited during its heyday and had a
drink with Ernest Hemingway. I think
that would have been very cool.
From
that same year and same group, I was always a big Charles Baker fan. If he showed up, that'd be cool.
I
would also go back to 1980 with Helen, my Uncle Charlie and my cousin
Tony who are both career bartenders—and who I'm named after actually! My
full name is Charles Anthony Abou-Ganim—and have a drink with my dad. That would be it.
Gastronomista: What drives the creative process for you when you're
creating cocktails? Any tricks of the trade you can share?
Abou-Ganim: Much like chefs, bartenders have a style. I'm not really “boozy.” My style's not spirit-forward,
not really strong in brown-spirit-based drinks. I do make some of those, but my
style is more defined by the long, refreshing, citrus, balanced cocktail.
If bartenders haven't
realized their own style, maybe they haven't been doing it long enough or even
considered the concept. They should go back and look at their body of work.
They’ll see some stylistic similarities they can embrace.
I always start with flavors. Like my mother said
"Never trust a skinny chef. You got to taste everything." Steve Olsen once said, "Put a book in your mind and every
time you taste something, make a note in there." I have this massive
encyclopedia of flavors now. It's fun.
When I
try something new, I might think, "This would work really well in the
summertime. It's watermelon season. They need citrus and maybe a fun sweetener,
so I'll do something with a tea reduction as a sweetener.” We have such a
plethora of ingredients available today, both spirits and liquors, and bitters.
It's endless what's available commercially. If you're so inclined, you can
really create just about anything.
But, it has to make sense. I judge a lot of cocktail competitions, and I often think "Who are you making this drink for?" Are you trying to out geek everyone or are you really making it for your guests? I think a lot of times bartenders forget who the end user is. The person who’s going to sit down, buy the drink, pay for the drink, enjoy the drink and, hopefully, recommend the drink and come back and have it again.
I
keep coming back to less is more. Keep it simple, keep it balanced. I'm
not a huge fan of homemade ingredients anymore because there is such a great
array of products available. The reason cocktail recipes and cocktail books
started were so we could have consistent drink preparation from bar-to-bar and
bartender-to-bartender.
Still,
it's all about embracing and recognizing your style, and having fun. If it's
not fun, it's way too much work.
Gastronomista: This series is sponsored by
Campari America, would you mind sharing a recipe for your favorite Negroni
variation with us?
Milano Sesquicentennial
Created by Tony Abou-Ganim
¾ oz
Campari
¾ oz
SKYY Infusions Citrus vodka½ Grand Marnier
½ oz fresh blood orange puree (Perfect Puree)
1 oz fresh lemon sour (2 parts freshly squeezed lemon juice – 1 part simple syrup)
1 teaspoon egg white
Chilled soda water
In a
mixing glass of a Boston shaker set add Campari, SKYY Infusions Citrus,
Grand Marnier, blood orange puree, fresh lemon sour & egg white; shake until
well blended. Strain into an ice filled 12 ounce Collins glass. Spritz with
chilled soda water.
This interview has been
edited.
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