Sara Chaudhuri, Lead Bartender on the One Michelin-starred Bresca and a Tales of the Cocktail Prime 10 Semifinalist, leverages her background in graphic design to craft Bresca’s Ethos cocktail menu, mixing life experiences with nostalgia and sentiment via distinctive elements.
Her journey within the trade started whereas learning artwork in New York, the place she found her ardour for hospitality whereas working at bars. Upon returning to D.C., she gained her first Michelin-star expertise at Rose’s Luxurious, the place she discovered an outlet for her creativity in crafting cocktails. Two years in the past, she joined Bresca and now leads their cocktail program.
Visitors at Bresca can count on top-tier meals and cocktails, coupled with distinctive hospitality. Sara ensures customized touches, equivalent to welcome playing cards for particular events and treats for company’ pets, making everybody really feel at dwelling whereas having fun with beautiful drinks. “We’re very honored to be the most effective restaurant bars in Washington D.C., and I really like having the ability to use the sources supplied by the Michelin kitchen at Bresca and the 2 Michelin Star Chef’s Counter at Jônt in creating our cocktails. Working with pastry groups particularly has allowed me to actually give attention to the creations of garnishes that intensify and improve the cocktail.”
Earlier than taking on the bar at Bresca, Sara admired the omakase cocktail flight referred to as “Flavour,” which highlighted completely different singular elements. Impressed by this idea, she developed “Ethos,” a cocktail expertise that creates a deeper emotional reference to company via the evocative energy of flavors. Every cocktail in Ethos follows an emotional narrative, representing a sense, mind-set, or second in time, structured as a journey via the day.
“The cocktails go from ‘Daylight,’ the enjoyment of the solar hitting your face on a chilly day, to ‘Yard Occasion,’ a energetic margarita variation with your folks, to ‘Selfcare,’ a clarified milk punch that reminds you of a face wash and climbing into heat sheets, adopted by ‘Heat,’ a Manhattan that evokes the heat of seeing an outdated good friend, and eventually, ‘Leisure,’ having the remainder of the day to your self. Ethos II options 5 completely different expressive cocktails: Dew, Bodega, Cinema, House, and Fireplace.”
The Daylight, a cocktail impressed by the Airmail, was the primary cocktail within the Ethos expertise. “The thought was to create a common expertise in a glass: feeling the daylight hitting your face on a chilly day. You know the way when the solar hits you, you’re feeling that tingle and hope? That’s what the Champagne within the cocktail was speculated to signify. The cocktail additionally had Iichiko Shochu for the umami taste and St. Germain as a result of the elderflower blooms within the solar similar to pleasure blooms in the beginning of a brand new day. It was a cocktail to have a good time journey and new beginnings.” Sara’s strategy not solely connects with company on a private stage but in addition serves as a inventive platform for Sara to experiment with advanced cocktail-making strategies.
Sara’s inspiration comes from The Taste Bible, which is her second favourite useful resource after consulting the Michelin Star cooks she works with. She usually makes use of it to attach completely different taste concepts and create unusual combos, equivalent to including raspberry to the rice tuile within the Dawn/Sundown cocktail as an alternative of beet for added complexity. The guide contains private anecdotes from cooks about their signature dishes and philosophies, providing helpful insights for bartending. For bartenders who’re enthusiastic about creating progressive cocktails and balancing shade and taste, Sara affords the following tips: All the time prioritize style. Categorical your self via your drinks, treating them as an artwork kind. Steadiness is essential, significantly with acids and vinegars. Lastly, be keen to discard components that don’t work, even for those who love them, to make sure the cocktail stays scrumptious, as that’s the precedence.
