845: Kenta Goto’s Bartender’s Guide Is a Must-Read for Professionals and Amateurs Alike

Kenta Goto (0:08)

So my bartending career started after I came to New York.

So Bar Goto is a combination of what I learned from Pegu Club and who I am as a Japanese person. So that's why it is a New York bar with a Japanese soul.

Aliza Abarbanel (0:28)

This is TASTE. I'm your host, Aliza Abarbanel.

Kenta Goto is a bartender and the owner and operator of two acclaimed cocktail bars, Bar Goto on New York's Lower East Side and Bar Goto Niban in Brooklyn. Born and raised in Tokyo, Goto moved to New York and worked at the lauded cocktail bar Pegu Club for seven years before opening his own bar. Now he's sharing his considerable wisdom in a debut cookbook, The Goto Bartender's Guide. Today on the show, we chat about developing his cocktail skills and his signature approach towards drinks and how home bartenders can do the same. Kenta Goto, this is TASTE. Thank you for coming on the podcast.

Kenta Goto (1:11)

Thank you.

Aliza Abarbanel (1:12)

I'm really happy to have you in the studio today. I really think that Bar Goto and The Second Location are two of my favorite bars in New York. So to get to talk to the person who made them is really special for me.

Kenta Goto (1:24)

That's great to hear.

Aliza Abarbanel (1:26)

I think of them as almost institutions. I guess it's been 13 years since you opened the first one?

Kenta Goto (1:33)

Definitely. We're going to hit 13 years. Yeah. Right now, our Lower East Side location is in 11 years in business.

The one in Brooklyn, Bar Goto Niban is going to be, yeah, it is six years now. Right.

Aliza Abarbanel (1:49)

That one opened in 2020?

Kenta Goto (1:52)

2020, exactly. One month before pandemic came, but- Bad timing. It was bad timing. I'm not sure exactly how we survive, but we did.

It's been great.

Aliza Abarbanel (2:06)

I'm excited to talk to you about the bars and about your really beautiful new book, The Goto Bartender's Guide. But first, I want to ask you if you can tell me about the last memorable meal you had.

Kenta Goto (2:18)

Oh, yeah.

That would be the steak that my wife and I cooked together. So a friend of mine, food chef, yeah, kind enough to give us some nice cut. And also, fresh wasabi root. Then we have this aged soy sauce that we love. You just need a little bit. But yeah, so that's what we had last week, and that was fantastic.

Aliza Abarbanel (2:47)

Wow. I've heard that it's hard to find actual wasabi in New York. Do you feel like that's true?

Kenta Goto (2:53)

I mean, you can buy it at the Japanese grocery stores. But the one that I go to in my neighborhood, the price tag is like $38, almost $40. So I never buy it. So it's nice to have somebody just give it to me.

Aliza Abarbanel (3:11)

Yeah, it's good to have friends that are chefs. And something I learned about you while reading this book is that you grew up in your mom's restaurant in Tokyo. And I'm curious how that kind of shaped you and the way that you work in food.

Kenta Goto (3:25)

Right. So yeah, my mother had a okonomiyaki restaurant, which we serve at our Manhattan location. Although I completely changed the recipe. And then other than the fact that we serve okonomiyaki, there's nothing that what my mother actually did. But so she had this restaurant for about 11, 12 years. It was not exactly my choice, but I was always helping her. Right. Because my mother tell me to do so, so I did. Then when I was younger, I did not realize it. But after I came to New York, started living in New York, and then, yeah, my life in New York did not exactly start as I planned. So I struggled. So there was a time that I wasn't exactly sure what I was doing in my life. And then I always remember that I had a great time working at my mother's restaurant.

Just chopping cabbage and making doughs and then lots of cleaning. But just witnessing very like a joy between my mother and the customers, something I vividly remember even now.

So I decided to just pursue what I think I'm more comfortable with. And once I made that switch in my head, everything was clear. I just started getting into bartending.

Aliza Abarbanel (5:07)

You came to New York and you were working at a Japanese firm here, right? So you were kind of still in the Japanese work culture even though you were in New York?