Results tagged: PDT

Want a little technology with your cocktail? If so, be sure to stop by the bar at L'Ecole, the restaurant of the French Culinary Institute, where techno-genius Dave Arnold works side by side with beverage-master Alexis Kahn to create cocktails on the cutting edge.

Laren Spirer: L'Ecole is the restaurant of the FCI, run by students in the Career Culinary program. As such, does your approach to creating the cocktail list differ in any way from a traditional restaurant?

Alexis: The front of the house is run by professionals so the students are just in the back. So in a lot of ways we set up the cocktail program just like any other restaurant. I think what's different is that we have access to a lot of people like Dave and to students who are very interested in cocktails so there's a lot more brainstorming and fresh ideas being circulated than in a regular restaurant setting. We're trying to have a balanced list with seasonal ingredients with cocktails that'll be interesting to people, but there's a little more innovation and creativity. We also change our list more than a lot of other restaurants - every couple of weeks, when we come up with something new.

Dave -- you run the Culinary Technology department and co-author the Cooking Issues blog with Nils Noren. Do you utilize any of the high-tech techniques you write about as part of the cocktail program?

Paul Tanguay and Tad Carducci channel their love of the romance, traditions and hospitality that surround the art of the drink into Tippling Bros., their NYC-based beverage consulting business. From developing innovative wine and beer-based cocktails to running cocktail competitions and educational seminars they're focused on fulfilling a common goal--to help the world drink better. Laren Spirer sat down with Tanguay and Carducci recently to find out how they got started, the story behind their "mock tequila" and what they eat and drink when they're off the clock.

LS: How did the two of you meet and decide to create the Tippling Brothers?

Tad Carducci: We took a class about three years ago - the first ever BAR (Beverage Alcohol Resource) class - and we met there and instantly kind of clicked. We have similar sensibilities, and we realized that we had a very good friend in common. Since that class, we immediately started talking about this idea - wouldn't it be great if we could take the passion and the knowledge and start our own thing?

Paul Tanguay: Start educating, start teaching, start spreading our knowledge.

TC: A few months later, we both quit our jobs and did it. Obviously we had lined up a few clients, and since then we've been going at it. Tippling Brothers has its own life now; it has grown faster than we anticipated it would.