Profession: Bartender
At: New York City
Tom has journeyed his way across this entire country working in fine bars and restaurants in cities such as Minneapolis, Santa Fe, San Francisco, Aspen, Chicago, Kansas City, Dallas, Louisville, Washington D.C. and New York City.
Most notably, was his stint at Judy Rogers’ Zuni Café in San Francisco where his knowledge of food and wine was polished and refined to a much higher level. It was there, at the Zuni in the late 80‘s, where he was first introduced to the “fresh” cocktail under the tutelage of Sylvie Laly.
He then brought this philosophy to NYC and incorporated it and refined it further in numerous Tri-State area restaurants and bars. He most proudly worked hand in hand with Sasha Petraske as part of the opening bar staff at The John Dory Oyster Bar at the Ace Hotel in NYC and also with Sasha at Milk and Honey NYC. He was honored to be the Head Bartender at the Beagle, during its all too brief - but epic - life on Avenue A.
Tom had the rare fortune to work with Julie Reiner as her head bartender in the opening of bar 54 in 2014 at the Hyatt Times Square.
You can now find him behind the stick at Attaboy and The Raines Law Room and is currently head bartender at Dear Irving where he has the joy of working closely with Meaghan Dorman. Tom is also designing the cocktail program at Upland Restaurant NYC.
In 2014, he had the opportunity to travel to Jerez Spain where he was one of a very small hand- picked group of bartenders and sommeliers that were on a sherry intensive trip to the bodegas in Andalusia, under the brilliant guidance of Steve Olson.
In Tom's quest for fresh and delicious drinks, he created a handcrafted quinine tonic – Tomr’s Tonic – that has taken off like wild fire. He started a new beverage category (tonic syrups) and a company, and this now in numerous watering holes and retail outlets throughout the United States, with distribution worldwide including Europe, Hong Kong, Australia, and Canada. Tomr’s Tonic was also named one of the top 10 new products in the world for Tales of the Cocktail 2012, and ranked number two in the top five new food products of 2011 in Food and Wine Magazine (number one was butter... awesome).
“It is not a Sling without Cherry Heering”
Tom's New World Sling
Glass: Sling
Garnish: Mint, pineapple and cherry
Method: Shake first 5 ingredients with ice and strain into glass filled with crushed ice. Drizzle Cherry Herring over drink.
• 1½ shot Cachaça
• ½ shot Mezcal Vida
• ½ shot Green Chartreuse
• ¾ shot Lime juice
• ½ shot Orgeat (almond) syrup
• float ½ Cherry Heering
