Abou-Ganim, Tony (1960–), is an American bartender who was an influential figure in the early days of the craft cocktail revivals in San Francisco and Las Vegas. A would-be actor who first tended bar at his cousin’s tavern in Port Huron, Michigan, he further honed his trade in San Francisco in the 1980s and ’90s at Balboa Café and Harry Denton’s, Bay Area bars where the classic cocktail canon was still plied. In 1996, he was tapped for the relaunch of the Jazz Age Starlight Room atop the Francis Drake Hotel. Like with Dale DeGroff at the Rainbow Room in New York, the owners set Abou-Ganim and his fellow bartenders on a pedestal. See DeGroff, Dale. Abou-Ganim’s classical standards and infallibly gracious, expert service filtered down to the staff, which, over the years, would include some of the best bartenders San Francisco produced in the twenty-first century, including Marcovaldo Dionysus and Thomas Waugh. While at the Starlight, Abou-Ganim created his best-known drink, the Cable Car, made of spiced rum, curaçao, and lemon juice, with a sugared rim. He brought the craft cocktail gospel to Las Vegas in 1998, when he was asked to take command of the many bars at the Bellagio hotel and casino. There, he applied a rigorous bartending training system and a commitment to fresh juices and quality spirits theretofore not seen in the city. He, along with Francesco Lafranconi, also helped revive the United States Bartenders’ Guild by founding a chapter in Las Vegas. He left the Bellagio in 2004 and has since worked as an itinerant cocktail and bartending authority. See United States Bartenders’ Guild (USBG).
See also craft cocktail.
Simonson, Robert. A Proper Drink: How a Band of Bartenders Saved the Civilized World. Emeryville, CA: Ten Speed Press, 2016.
By: Robert Simonson