FEATURED BARTENDER

Featured Featured BARtender

EVELYN SAM

SAN FRANCISCO, CA

Evelyn Sam has served as Empori-

um Arcade Bar San Francisco’s

manager for the past four years and has worked as a bartender for the venue for more than four and a half years. With more than 12 years of experience in the beverage industry, Sam is passionate about crafting cocktails that not only pair well with a delicious meal and tantalize the palate but also the eyes.

Prior to her current role, Sam worked as a bartender for a number of Bay Area nightclubs and bars, including Hue

Lounge & Nightclub, Ez5 Bar, Escape

Lounge Oakland Airport, The End Up and Temple Nightclub SF. Additionally, she was a barback for Horizon Lounge, a waitress for Battambang Cambodian

Restaurant, a promoter for 9:59 DJs and a nightclub promoter for NxLevel

Entertainment.

When she began her beverage industry career in 2010, Sam was guided by her two mentors Jon Niemczyk and Heather Haas. She attributes her bartending skills as well as her humbleness and patience to her mentors in the early days of her career as she navigated her way as a female barback in the male-dominated field. Additionally, her current regional manager Steve Funkhouser continues to inspire Sam to keep learning and building upon her managerial and bartending skills.

At Emporium Arcade Bar, Sam not only prepares batch cocktails, maintains a fully stocked and efficient bar and crafts one-of-a-kind cocktail recipes but also manages over 20 staff members and a 1,000-person capacity venue. In addition, she is tasked with maintaining daily operational duties, facilitating the implementation of new product strategies and training and supervising staff.

In the coming months, she hopes to increase productivity of the venue by providing additional ways to ease the workload of the staff and increase the efficiency of the distribution of products. She also aims to help the bar develop a stronger social media presence through promotions and product photography.

SIGNATURE COCKTAIL

Apsara Collins

RECIPE: Palm sugar simple syrup dyed with butterfly pea flowers, lime juice, club soda and lemongrass and kaffir lime-infused St. George’s Terroir Gin* garnished with a lemongrass knot or stalk. ➜ To create the lemongrass and kaffir lime-infused gin, combine one 750ml bottle of dry gin, two long stalks of lemongrass with the outer layer removed and bruised, four kaffir lime leaves bruised and one to two lemon or orange peels.

What you love about this drink:

This cocktail is a whimsical take on a Collins, inspired by the celestial spirit and water nymph, the Apsara. This spirit is deeply rooted in Indian and Cambodian mythology as well as in the Hinduism and Buddhism religions.

For this cocktail I utilized lemongrass, kaffir lime, palm sugar, & butterfly pea flower, all ingredients native to my Cambodian roots. The flavors of lemongrass and kaffir dances with the notable hints of Douglas fir in the gin and the bubbles from the club soda, while the lime juice intertwines with the butterfly pea syrup.