Bonus: Tom Freston On Bartending

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0:38I was a bartender in a lot of places I've had a lot of service jobs in my life Do you think that working in a bar taught you about people, about life? Do you think that was an experience that you took with you? It was an essential experience It really shaped me I learned more there than, you know, having a job like in an ad agency in many ways in terms of, you know, and learning about different types of people. But I mean, I was a bartender in Aspen and St. Thomas. I was in Martha's Vineyard and New York City. I was like a king. I went through my king of the road phase and did a lot of that. So, yeah, you meet a lot of different type of people and you and you get good at it.

1:22You develop your emotional abilities. I have a friend at Apple, and he introduced me to the woman who recruits for or interviews people who want jobs at Apple. And she said that if she looks on someone's CV and they've had years of working or time working in a restaurant or, you know, as you say, a bar, they have a much better chance of getting a job as an engineer, as whatever they are, you know, a designer, an administrator, if they've actually worked in those jobs, because it does teach you. I work in a restaurant every day. And I think that I see the young people who come to work, or even for myself, it teaches you to be aware of people.

2:02It teaches you to be, you know, energetic when you're feeling tired, you know, about performing, about dealing with a problem. And I think those skills about, and I also think it teaches you about working with colleagues, don't you? How to work with others. You know, I hired, you know, when I look to hire people, I look for the exact same characteristics. I also look for people who had been traveled, who traveled, been out in the world and been somewhere and knew some cultural nuance. And, you know, the world's really the greatest classroom. So those those two qualities where people learn how to improvise and act on their feet and change, you know, and and relate to different kinds of people, really important.

2:42I mean, I take that over someone who's just had a history of internships at Goldman Sachs and, you know, not as interesting. What kind of drinks did you make? Could you make me an amazing martini? Give me a recipe for a great cocktail. Well, in those days, it wasn't this sophisticated artisan type cocktail made with some guy with a ponytail who's laboring and slicing fruit in all these directions. But a lot of it was beer, scotch and water, scotch and soda, screwdrivers. I could make a martini. I could make a Manhattan. And I was when I lived in the in the Caribbean, I like I did develop a tropical repertoire, you know, the daiquiris and pina coladas and so forth.

3:29So that was that was fun. I learned all I learned. What are you drinking? What would you have? You're having a cocktail tonight. What would you have? I'll have like a vodka martini. Do you have a hint to tell all the people listening to this how to make the perfect vodka martini? Well, you know, I was just in London at Claridge's and I had the greatest martini. And they told me, I said, wow, how did you do that? It's like not too watered down. I mean, it's stirred. You know, when people shake a martini too much, it gets a little too watery. But they would pre-mix them. You probably do this at the River Cafe.

4:02They pre-mix them and stick them in the freezer and the glass is in the freezer. So it comes out almost like this molten liquid. And it's like high. It's highly potent. and very tasty. So that's a good tip. Another one is if you like a dry martini, there's a little device you can get that's like a little aerosol and you can sort of squirt a little bit around the glass. That's what I do. I mean, I'm pretty simple in my taste, but people make an art out of martini making. You must know that for sure. My husband loved martini. My father used to make a dry martini and he would, turned out, People used to say to him, Fred, you make the greatest dry martinis.

4:45And what he did was he didn't put any vermouth at all. He was just giving people cold, really ice-cold vodka with a twist of lemon. He called it a martini. The other thing is these days the martini glasses are very large. They are. People said they're having a martini. It's like in the old days that would have been two martinis. The thing they have, we have to get off the martinis. But in the River Cafe, the big drink right now, I don't know if it's in America, is when you see espresso martinis. Have you had those? Yeah. I don't quite get them. I see these plate trays of espresso martinis going through the room.

5:23That's like a sort of an alcoholic speedball. Maybe. Yeah, maybe. But what about, is there just one bar that you worked in, a restaurant that you remember? Yeah. I worked in this great bar on Martha's Vineyard in Oak Bluffs called The Lamp Post. which was like the place where everybody on the island passed through. If you were like a trust funder or a beach bum or a rock star or a carpenter or some beautiful girl who was spending the summer, you know, with a summer job on the vineyard, everyone would hang out at the vineyard. We had these really raucous, joyous, hoppy hours. It was a fantastic spot.

6:03And I was one of the two bartenders there. So that was a great way to spend the summer. because, of course, you have your days off. I picked up a lot there. Yeah, it keeps you off the streets at night. It's a good place to meet girls, and you can make some money. And it's a trade you can travel with.

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