Chandler Johnson’s first night behind the bar was a doozy. He was filling in at the last minute and “got thrown to the wolves on a Friday night.” By 2021, he was running that bar and later the whole restaurant. “I just fell in love with the kind of chaos of the restaurant industry,” he remembered. Johnson and his wife are longtime friends with Chef Adolpho Garcia and his wife Sophia, and they invited Johnson to join their team as they launched Dolfy’s. Chandler credits the restaurant’s success to the “incredible staff,” the “insane kitchen,” and fellow bartenders who are “so impressive, and way smarter than I am.” Johnson understands his role at the bar clearly. “Once you hit those doors,” he said, “anything that’s going on in your life leaves…this place is an escape from everything, whether it’s for you or a customer. It’s really important to…make sure they’re smiling and having a good time.”
1
servingsIngredients
2 oz London dry gin like Bombay
1/2 oz fresh lemon juice
1 oz 1/2Earl Grey Syrup (see recipe)
1/2 oz Elderflower liqueur
4-5 oz Fever-Tree tonic
Garnish Orange peel
- Early Grey Syrup
2 cups water
3 Earl Gray tea bags
2 cups sugar
Directions
- Add all ingredients except tonic to a shaker with ice. Shake briefly until just blended, but not heavily diluted. Strain into a Collins glass over ice. Top with tonic. Garnish with an orange peel.
- Earl Grey Syrup
- Bring water to a boil, reduce to a simmer and add tea bags. Simmer for 10 minutes. Turn off heat. Remove bags, add sugar and stir until dissolved. Syrup keeps in the refrigerator for 3-4 weeks.
Notes
- Johnson says one way to up your cocktail game is with interesting glassware. It doesn’t have to be expensive, and a cool looking glass can actually be inspiring. Instead of finding a glass to suit your drink, “you can have a glass where you want to find something to use in it.”
- The bartenders at Dolfy’s use the Earl Grey syrup in whiskey sours and lemon drops, where the bergamot in the tea plays well with whiskey and adds complexity to the lemon drop. Experiment with other cocktails by replacing some or all simple syrup with this one.
- Johnson recommends using a premium brand tonic like Fever-Tree. He explains, “Fever-Tree has that ‘pop’ right away. Sometimes you open up a lower brand, you open it, there’s no fizz…it’s just the flavor. It’s really important to have that spicy, carbonated mouth feel…if not, it’s kind of flat. I have never opened up anything from Fever-Tree that didn’t almost blow the top off.”
