Virtual Hospitality with Drew Cranisky, MAFS ‘14

MAFS alum Drew Cranisky ‘14 found his way to our Food Studies program in 2012 after discovering a love of cooking, honed first in his home kitchen and later, in restaurants. Now, as the manager of Independent Brewing Company in the midst of an ongoing pandemic, Drew is finding creative, often virtual, ways to create community via food and drink. In fact, alumni can join Drew on Saturday, October 10 for an “At Home” Mimosa & Blood Mary Brunch Live Demonstration as part of our Chatham Alumni Reunion Weekend @ Home. We caught up with Drew to learn more about his tips for hosting virtual get-togethers and at-home cocktail recommendations. Check it out and be sure to join Drew this Saturday—

Drew Cranisky, MAFS ‘14

Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and what led you to study in chatham’s food studies program?

Drew Cranisky: I moved here in 2012, and right before that I had gotten interested in food. I was at a point in my life where I didn't know what I was really doing. I'd done AmeriCorps for a few years after undergrad. While I was trying to figure things out, I got really into cooking at home and learning more about food. I started working in the kitchen of a restaurant and that got me interested in maybe going to culinary school. But, I realized that wasn't what I wanted, and I stumbled across this field of food studies and it seemed perfect. It was coming at food from a lot of different angles, not just the culinary side of things. It seemed to fit pretty perfectly, and the other compelling reason was that it brought me to Pittsburgh where I have a lot of family.

How did your experience in the program influence your career as a bartender and also as a writer?

DC: I thought I'd go more in the direction of writing. That was my focus in school. For a while, I was writing for a lot of local publications. I continue to contribute to Table Magazine. I interned with them while I was at Chatham so that was a pretty direct connection. I've moved away from a lot of the writing but I still do a little bit. I found a bar and restaurant in Squirrel Hill that I just really liked. I fit in well with the people there, and worked my way up. Now I'm managing there which takes up most of my time. Chatham still works in in unexpected ways. [Chatham] taught me to think about food and drink from a larger perspective, rather than just, I'm making a drink or a dish for someone. You get a lot more perspective from what I learned.

What bar do you manage now?

DC:  The Independent Brewing Company in Squirrel Hill, it has the same owners as Hidden Harbor and Lorelei in East Liberty. It's been interesting throughout the pandemic because Hidden Harbor and Independent have in some ways combined into one bar. The past six or seven months have been very different from what I normally do. I've been working in the kitchen a bit, wherever anyone is needed. We are working together as a team to try to get through this. This has obviously been a hard time for everybody but the [bar and restaurant] industry has taken a big hit.

What's something that every brunch should feature?

DC: I am inclined to have good drinks at a brunch; I think that's part of the fun. For this upcoming Chatham event, I'm talking about the Bloody Mary which is definitely one of my favorite drinks. It ought to be at every brunch. Why not? It's a drink that is so customizable. That's something I want to talk about on Saturday, even though I'm "teaching" people how to make one, you can do what you want with it and that's the fun of it. 

Do you have any book recommendations for beginning bartenders?

DC: There's a bartender and writer named Jeffrey Morgenthaler. He's based in Portland, Oregon, and I often find myself going to his stuff. He has written a few books, one of them is called The Bar Book, it has some recipes and a lot of technique. It's an awesome resource for anyone who is just starting out bartending because it lays a lot of groundwork and teaches you some basics. He has a blog that he updates sort of randomly but I find a lot of good stuff there. There's a writer named David Wondrich, who is actually from Pittsburgh. He was born in Squirrel Hill, which is neat but he has become pretty well-known. He has written several books and has done a lot of drink writing that you can find online. When I'm looking for a basic recipe for something, his writing is often a good place to start. Another book I like a lot is The Drunken Botanist by Amy Stewart, it really gets into the plants that go into our drinks. There are a million out there but those are some personal favorites.

What tips do you have for hosting a virtual dinner party or a virtual brunch?

DC: I have become something of a Zoom expert throughout this because I host a trivia night on Zoom every week. I used to host an in-person, pub quiz every Tuesday night at Franktuary in Lawrenceville. And when all of this started, I immediately switched over to virtual and I've been doing it ever since. Zoom obviously has its limitations, but it is an awesome way to approximate getting together in a safe way and there's a lot you can do with it. As far as hosting a party, one thing I recommend is being pretty conservative with the number of people. Anytime you have a Zoom call over 10 or so people, it can be pretty chaotic. The one time we did it we only had two other couples and that was the right number of people. Do some planning in advance—a lot of friends I know have done things where they all make the same recipe and compare notes.

For those who are missing pre-COVID nightlife, what ideas do you have for recreating the feeling of a fun night out?

DC: I would encourage everyone to continue supporting restaurants and getting takeout from them. There's some amount of seating going on at places; if you feel good about that and places are doing it in a safe way, that's certainly your prerogative. A lot of places are doing fun, family-style meals. Some places are doing meal kits where they give you all the stuff you need and you put it together at home. That can be a fun way of feeling like you're getting food from a restaurant but also adding the experience of cooking it. It's really important to not just say well, restaurants are closed so I'm not going to support restaurants anymore. That's how we'll lose all of our favorite restaurants. The predictions are pretty dire, I've seen estimates of three quarters of restaurants closing by the end of this. That might be extreme but it might not be. As you're able, try to get takeout. It really does make a difference to people in this industry.

As far as recreating the feeling of a night out, realistically it's never the same. There's something magical about going out to a bar or restaurant and being taken care of. You're not going to have that exactly at home, but you can think about the things that you love and try to recreate some of them. Try to match the music. If it's a cocktail bar and you love one of the recipes, those are so often available online. Put those pieces together and figure out, what is it about that place that's special and can I do a bit of that at home?

Throughout quarantine, a lot of people have gotten into cooking and I think that's a good side effect. People have a new interest in food and I think the same can apply to cocktails. Why not? There's no rocket science to making a cocktail, so there's no reason you can't do it at home. If there's ever a time to just jump in and say I'm going to buy a bunch of special ingredients and make this crazy Tiki cocktail that I really like, why not now?  I would urge people to experiment and build up their home bar and play around. I don't personally feel safe sitting down at a bar right now and probably won't for a while so you might as well hone your chops at home.

What can alumni look forward to during your event on Saturday?

DC: I think this event on Saturday is gonna be a lot of fun. I think what's really fun about bartending and about cocktails is that it's always a conversation. There's not a lot of hard and fast rules in the world of bartending. There's a lot of personal preference and there's always a lot of questionable history because the people writing the history of cocktails were also drinking the cocktails. Some things may have been exaggerated or forgotten. There are always interesting tidbits to sort out, it's malleable. I'm excited get into some of that stuff and teach people how to make a couple of good drinks. We're doing the classic Bloody Mary and then I'm going to talk a little bit about a drink called a Negroni Sbagliato which is a riff on my favorite drink, the Negroni. It's a little bittersweet. It has sparkling wine so it's got that brunchy feel but it's a little more interesting than a mimosa. I'm excited to share that with people and I think it'll be a good time.

Interested in joining Drew this Saturday? Register here.