Results tagged: The Spotted Pig

By Laren Spirer

Don't let Brian McGrory's charm, Scottish lilt, and good looks fool you -- he's a man on a mission. His mission? To get you to love gin. As the Beverage Director at Double Crown and Madam Geneva, Brian has one of the city's most extensive gin list at his disposal, as well as several other tricks up his sleeve.

How did you get into the cocktail business?

I got into the business by default. I was in San Francisco during the whole dot com crash and I couldn't get any work whatsoever. I was unemployed and ended up bar backing at this great music club called Café Du Nord for about eight months. We had the most amazing old school bartender who was so into classic cocktails, his bitters, and little mixtures. He actually taught me everything - all the basics of bartending. It wasn't this huge luxury establishment, but it was an institution. He was very passionate about freshness and balance and drinks tasting how they should be - sugar/acid balance and presentation and all that.

Three new videos on the site this week; The Spotted Pig, Fatty Crab and EN Japanese Brasserie.

It's pretty exciting to see spring in motion. Scallops and root vegetables are a fading memory and we've moved on to asparagus, ramps and soft shell crabs.

My first seasonal encounter with the crustaceans were at The Lever House last week where Executive Chef Dan Silverman was frying them up and serving them at a steady pace. Personally, soft shells aren't my thing, nor did I taste them but they looked really beautiful and carefully prepared. In other Silverman/Lever House news, they've just released a cookbook filled with some of the house recipes and lovely photographs to boot.