The 2024 Spirited Awards: Top 10 Nominees

Just a month after unveiling their top-ten regional honorees, Tales of the Cocktail Foundation reveals the top-ten nominees for Spirited Award category.

That’s an impressively quick turnaround for such a monumental task.

So, let’s raise a glass (low-, full-, or zero-proof) to the judges and TOTCF for whittling down each award to just ten nominees.

My Vegas Bias is Showing…

As usual, I’m going to show my bias a bit here. Just two nominees represent Las Vegas, but they’re both incredible.

Nectaly Mendoza is up for Best US Bar Mentor, and his concept Cleaver is a top-ten nominee for Best US Restaurant Bar.

I cut began my hospitality journey in and around Chicago, so cheers to three Windy City bars who have made it to this round of the Spirited Awards.

Best Intentions is still in for Best US Bar Team and Best US Cocktail Bar. Milk Room at the Chicago Athletic Hotel is a top-ten nominee for Best US Hotel Bar, and Kumiko is up against Cleaver and eight other amazing venues for Best US Restaurant Bar.

…But so is My Canadian Bias!

Of course, I also have a “wee bit” of bias when it comes to Canada, given that KRG Hospitality was founded and is headquartered in America’s neighbor to the north. First, congratulations to Kate Boushel! She’s definitely getting the acknowledgement for her leadership and contributions that she deserves. Not only is the revered bartender and mentor a top-ten nominee for International Bartender of the Year, she’s the first Canadian to win the 2024 Altos Bartenders’ Bartender Award from North America’s 50 Best Bars.

There are also five Canadian venues in the running for a 2024 Spirited Award.

Atwater Cocktail Club, for which Boushel is the director of beverage and education, is a top-ten nominee for Best International Bar Team. Library Bar at the Fairmont Royal York is in for Best International Hotel Bar. Bar Kismet and Published on Main are both among the ten nominees for Best International Restaurant Bar. So, cheers to Halifax, Montréal, Toronto, and Vancouver.

Setting aside my bias for Vegas-based and Canadian bars, restaurants, and hotels now, congratulations to every nominee on the list below! Each team’s hard work and dedication has earned them the recognition they deserve. Cheers!

US Categories

US Bartender of the Year presented by Pernod Ricard

• Erika Flowers — Compère Lapin, New Orleans, LA
• Nicole Giampino — Platform 18/Century Grand, Phoenix, AZ
• McLain Hedges — Yacht Club, Denver, CO
• Christine Kim — Service Bar, Washington, D.C.
• Libby Lingua — Highball, Phoenix, AZ
• Caer Maiko Ferguson — Drinkwell, Austin, TX
• Kapri Robinson — Allegory, Washington, D.C.
• Isabel “Izzy” Tulloch — Milady’s, New York, NY
• Masa Urushido — Katana Kitten, New York, NY
• Takuma Watanabe — Martiny’s, New York, NY

Best US Bar Mentor presented Jameson Irish Whiskey

• Anu Apte
• Jason Asher
• Steva Casey
• Laura Cullen
• Touré Folkes
• Kate Gerwin
• Alex Jump
• Anne Louise Marquis
• Nectaly Mendoza
• Amanda Gunderson and Travis Nass

Best US Brand Ambassador presented Tales of the Cocktail Foundation

• Tad Carducci — Gruppo Montenegro
• Cameron George — Ardbeg
• A-K Hada — Bacardí Rums
• Benny Hurwitz — Campari American Whiskeys
• Stephen Kurpinsky — Mr Black Spirits
• Anna Mains — Monkey Shoulder
• Mary Palac — Campari Mexican Spirits
• Aleka Ross — Hotaling & Co
• Cesar Sandoval —Casa Lumbre Spirits
• Natasha Sofia — Mijenta Tequila

Best US Bar Team presented by William Grant & Sons

• Allegory at the Eaton Hotel — Washington, D.C.
• Best Intentions — Chicago, IL
• Century Grand — Phoenix, AZ
• Jewel of the South — New Orleans, LA
• Martiny’s — New York, NY
• Milady’s — New York, NY
• Nickel City — Austin, TX
• Pacific Cocktail Haven — San Francisco, CA
• Service Bar — Washington, D.C.
• Yacht Club — Denver, CO

Best US Cocktail Bar presented by Del Maguey Mezcal

• Bar Goto — New York, NY
• Best Intentions — Chicago, IL
• Double Chicken Please — New York, NY
• Happy Accidents — Albuquerque, NM
• Martiny’s — New York, NY
• Overstory — New York, NY
• Service Bar — Washington, D.C.
• Thunderbolt — Los Angeles, CA
• Trick Dog — San Francisco, CA
• Yacht Club — Denver, CO

Best US Hotel Bar presented by Grey Goose

• Allegory at the Eaton Hotel — Washington, D.C.
• Champagne Bar at the Four Seasons Surf Club — Miami, FL
• Chandelier Bar at the Four Seasons New Orleans — New Orleans, LA
• Dear Irving on Hudson at the Aliz Hotel — New York, NY
• Little Rituals at the Residence Inn/Courtyard by Marriott — Phoenix, AZ
• Milk Room at the Chicago Athletic Hotel — Chicago, IL
• Nubeluz at The Ritz-Carlton New York, NoMad — New York, NY
• Pacific Standard at the KEX Portland — Portland, OR
• Raines Law Room at the William — New York, NY
• The Sazerac Bar at The Roosevelt New Orleans — New Orleans, LA

Best US Restaurant Bar presented by Tales of the Cocktail Foundation

• Accomplice Bar — Los Angeles, CA
• Amazonia — Washington D.C.
• Bresca — Washington, DC
• Cleaver – Butchered Meats, Seafood & Classic Cocktails — Las Vegas, NV
• Crown Shy — New York, NY
• Gramercy Tavern — New York, NY
• Grey Ghost — Detroit, MI
• Jaguar Sun — Miami, FL
• Kumiko — Chicago, IL
• Palomar — Portland, OR

Best New US Cocktail Bar presented by Diageo Bar Academy

• Cobra — Columbus, OH
• Equal Measure — Boston, MA
• FYPM — Phoenix, AZ
• Jolie — New Orleans, LA
• Medium Cool Cocktail Lounge — Miami Beach, FL
• Murray’s Tavern — Austin, TX
• Paradise Lost — New York, NY
• Pretty Decent — Louisville, KY
• Superbueno — New York, NY
• Wild Child — Kansas City, MO

Continue reading for the top-ten nominees in the International, Global, and Media & Writing categories on KRGHospitality.com.

Chef Duffy x NRA Show: Live Menu Read

We’re sharing tips from Chef Brian Duffy‘s live menu reads at this year’s National Restaurant Association Show in Chicago.

These informative sessions are always standouts at industry trade shows and conferences. Both the operator who submits their menu anonymously and the audience gain valuable insight into menu programming and development.

In ten minutes or less, the Chef Duffy shares wisdom that’ll boost guest engagement; streamline and energize the kitchen; and help save on labor and food costs. And he won’t even Bar Rescue anyone who submits a menu. That is to say, no, he doesn’t yell at anyone while giving them tips for fixing their menu.

As Chef Duffy pointed out during his latest live menu reads, an operator’s menu has the potential to create generational wealth. However, it must be programmed properly for it to reach that potential.

So, ask yourself a question right now about your menu: Would you be proud for your menu, in its current state, to be plastered across a billboard? If not, I have another question for you: Why aren’t you taking the time to rectify that situation?

Your menu is your concept’s billboard. Treat it as such.

Oh, and one note for the NRA Show before we dive in: These sessions deserve at least two hours. One hour just isn’t enough given how impactful Chef Duffy’s live menu reads are for operators.

Menu Programming 101

There’s a logical reason why Chef Duffy is never short on menus to review. In fact, he addressed the situation directly at the 2024 NRA Show.

“Everybody has the same shit on their menu,” he stated frankly.

One explanation for why menus seem so similar makes a lot of sense.

“We’ve been told what to put on our menu buy our purveyors,” said Chef Duffy during his live menu read.

For the most part, operators are given the same product catalogs. These are circulated nationally, not regionally. So, everyone is ordering the same items. Clearly, Chef Duffy is fed up with this situation.

“We’re not here to do the same things that everyone else is,” declared Chef Duffy. “I don’t want to see that anymore.”

Menu #1: Sports Bar

This first menu featured a vibrant design that instilled a sense of patriotism. Chef Duffy theorized that he’d feel good spending time in this space, based on the menu’s appearance.

However, he wasn’t a fan of the layout of the menu. Taking up valuable real estate was a large catering ad, placed directly in the center.

In the top left were salads. “‘Add chicken to any salad,'” read Chef Duffy. “No shit. Why are we stopping at chicken? We can add anything to a salad.”

Based on his knowledge of food costs and the menu’s pricing, Chef Duffy deduced that the operator’s food costs were too high. In fact, he estimated that food costs were more than 31 percent. The burgers, he surmised, were running a 35-percent cost.

By the way, Chef Duffy always puts two slices of cheese on his burgers to fill the top out more. This delivers a more visually appealing experience, and a better bite.

On the topic of pricing, operators must maintain balance. For example, this first menu priced the addition of two slices of bacon at $3.50, but a chicken breast was six dollars. Two Chicago hotdogs cost more than a burger.

For more menu reads and insights, continue reading on KRGHospitality.com.

Chef Duffy x NRA Show: Balance

I’m not done with the invaluable menu tips and tricks shared by Chef Brian Duffy during his 2024 National Restaurant Association Show live menu reads.

The KRG Hospitality team attends and speaks at multiple hospitality industry trade shows, conferences, and expos each year. When reviewing the education on offer, I always search for Chef Duffy’s name to see if he’s doing live menu reads.

And why have I developed this habit? Simple: The amount of insights one can take back to their business and implement immediately. Consider the impact one of Chef Duffy’s asides can have just on the guest experience.

As an example, when addressing the burger section of an anonymous operator’s menu, he casually mentioned that he always adds two slices of cheese to a cheeseburger to fill the top out more.

There’s also his tip for housemade, signature seasoning blends. Don’t make a quart, make ten pounds and store the blend in a flat tray, labeled clearly. Chef Duffy’s reads aren’t a breakdown of tips that only the operator who submitted the menu will find beneficial; everyone who pays attention will walk away with valuable advice.

At this year’s NRA Show, Chef Duffy had only enough time to get through three menu reads. However, he still packed his session with helpful advice. So, after reviewing all the notes I took, I decided I’d need to write two articles.

Let’s go!

Achieving Balance: Food Costs

In yesterday’s article, available here, I touched on one of Chef Duffy’s key points: achieving balance.

He made this point in response to a sports bar menu that had a couple pricing issues. One involved add-ons, with two slices of bacon costing $3.50 while a chicken breast was six dollars. And then there were the daily specials: two Chicago-style hotdogs cost more than a burger.

However, there’s more to balancing a menu—and the kitchen—than ensuring pricing makes sense to guests.

By now, we’ve all heard and read ad nauseam that costs are rising. In fact, we’ve all experienced these increases. Streamlining the menu, including production, can help mitigate this issue.

As Chef Duffy said during his menu reads, he’d rather execute 25 items perfectly than produce 50 items that suck. I can say that we wholeheartedly agree with this sentiment.

In part, we agree because we favor smaller menus. Offering fewer menu items made perfectly—consistently so—with cross-utilized ingredients as often as possible reduces food costs. There’s also that pesky fallacy of choice inherent to a bloated menu.

But there’s another benefit: kitchen team satisfaction and retention. An overwhelmed kitchen team is an unhappy kitchen team, and an unhappy kitchen team will look for the exits. Losing a single team member costs an operator thousands of dollars, let alone an entire team.

For more tips from Chef Brian Duffy, continue reading on KRGHospitality.com.

2024 World’s 50 Best Restaurants: 51 to 100

The World’s 50 Best Restaurants is excited to announce numbers 51 through 100 on this year’s list ahead of the awards ceremony in Las Vegas on June 5.

Those who are curious or in need of a refresher can click here for last year’s 51 through 100. Our coverage on numbers 1 through 50 from 2023 is here.

More than 1,000 independent voters—consisting of chefs, journalists, and foodies on the go—helped to form this year’s list. These same experts cast their votes to create the 2024 World’s 50 Best Restaurant ranking, numbers one through fifty.

But let’s get back to restaurants 51 through 100. Twelve of the extended list are new entries to the list. That means that a quarter of the back 50 restaurant are new to the World’s 50 Best Restaurants.

Along those lines, three are re-entries. These restaurants are Mil in Cusco, Peru; Willem Hiele in Oudenburg, West Flanders, Belgium; and Indian Accent in New Delhi, India.

Just three of the restaurants on the extended list are in the US, with one in Chicago and two in New York City. Unfortunately, none are located in Canada. Hopefully, at least one restaurant in the Great White North will find itself ranked somewhere among the top fifty.

Now, I don’t often defer to a press release to provide you with more information. However, everything you could want to know about not just this half of the list but also the awards ceremony on June 5 in Las Vegas is included in the official press release, which can be reviewed on our website. This includes how to watch the awards live as each restaurant and their position is revealed.

Congratulations to restaurants 51 through 100 for 2024! And cheers and good luck to numbers one through fifty!

For much more information, continue reading on KRGHospitality.com.