Ritz-Carlton Magazine - Spring 2013 - (Page 108)

R AISING T HE BAR From top left to right: Lay in a muddle; Parallel 37’s bar menu includes specialty drinks that change with the seasons. 108 w w w. r i t z c a r lt o n . c o m as a snowboarder living in Colorado, where she supplemented her income by working as a cook. When she moved to the Bay Area with a group of restaurant industry friends in 1999, she took a job in the pastry department at the now-defunct Zero Degrees. (Like cocktail mixing, pastry making is a science of absolutes: There’s no winging it, no handfuls of this and bits of that.) When the bar manager at the café’s sister restaurant, MC2, offered to train Lay as a bartender, she took him up on the offer. Since then, Lay has worked on the cocktail programs at some of the city’s best-known restaurants — including Range, Epic Roasthouse, Town Hall and the now-closed Frisson. As part of the opening team at Parallel 37 in late 2011, Lay put her stamp on the cocktail program from the beginning. “I try to bring the kitchen to the cocktail,” says Lay. “I like to use the same ingredients that our chefs use and expose our guests to new things.” So, like any good chef, Lay shops the city’s justly famous farmers markets looking for the first rhubarb of the season or the most fragrant bunches of basil. right: courtesy of the ritz-carlton “I try to brIng the kItchen to the cocktaIl,” lay says. But the area’s fecundity isn’t limited to produce. Lay is drawn to spice merchants, too — places like Whole Spice at Napa’s Oxbow Market, and Oaktown Spice, near Lay’s home in the East Bay. Recent purchases include lemon juice powder and dehydrated Moroccan lime. “I don’t necessarily know what I’m going to do with these,” says Lay. “But they inspire me to try new things.” She and her team are always looking for locally produced spirits, too, taking advantage of a region that is increasingly known as a source of bespoke liquor. Anchor Distilling’s Junipero gin is justly famous, for instance, but during a recent outing to a local retailer, Lay discovered Uncle Val’s, a new small-batch botanical gin produced in nearby Sonoma. She also has edited her beer list to include only domestic craft beers, including many from nearby breweries, such as the Harvest Amber from the Oakland Brewing Co., and the Speakeasy Prohibition brewed in San Francisco less than five miles from the hotel. During her first year at Parallel 37, Lay worked alongside Ron Siegel, one of the region’s most celebrated chefs — known for bringing a Japanese flair to haute French cuisine. But in January, she gained a new collaborator in the kitchen: Michael Rotondo, the former executive chef at Charlie Trotter’s in Chicago, is now heading up the kitchen. “Michael and I both seek inspiration from the same places, wine country and the farmers markets,” says Lay. “We often gravitate toward similar ingredients.” The result? “Food and cocktails that work together,” Lay says — just like the chef and the master cocktail craftsman. http://WWW.RITZCARLTON.COM

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Ritz-Carlton Magazine - Spring 2013

Ritz-Carlton Magazine - Spring 2013
Contents
Contributors
Editor’s Letter
President’s Letter
Falling in Love With ... Los Angeles
Design
Technology
On the Boulevards
Shopping
Jewelry
Watches
Family
Local Knowledge
Sports
Abu Dhabi
Seoul
Fashion
Culinary
Let Us Stay With You
Heritage

Ritz-Carlton Magazine - Spring 2013