Reviving Gage & Tollner and Reinventing Tropical Cocktails | St. John Frizell & Garret Richard

Recorded live before an audience at Sunken Harbor Club in Brooklyn.Why This Episode Matters Gage & Tollner’s revival shows how a historic restaurant can be preserved without turning it into a museum.  Sunken Harbor Club demonstrates how tropical cocktail history can be reworked through modern technique, research, and strong storytelling.  St. John and Garret offer practical insight into crowdfunding, opening during COVID, and building a destination bar above a landmark restaurant.  The conversation connects serious non-alcoholic cocktails, classic steakhouse drinks, the Martini, and Charles H. Baker Jr. to the larger evolution of cocktail culture.The ConversationThe live conversation opens with Mark admitting that it took him several meetings to realize writer St. John Frizell and bartender “Sinjin” Frizell were the same person. Francis recalls Garret recognizing The Restaurant Guys at Tales of the Cocktail, back when being recognized in public was still a notable event.From there, St. John tells the improbable story of finding Gage & Tollner’s landmarked interior beneath the remains of a TGI Fridays, an Arby’s, and a makeshift mall. He explains how 450 crowdfunding investors helped revive the historic Brooklyn oyster and chophouse and how the restaurant was preparing to open when COVID closed New York.Garret traces Sunken Harbor Club from a weekly pop-up to one of the country’s most distinctive cocktail bars. He explores forgotten tropical formats, historic steakhouse drinks, the challenge of creating serious non-alcoholic cocktails, and the timelessness of the Martini. The conversation also reaches Charles H. Baker Jr., his amazing life and the idea that a great drink can be built as much on story and context as on the recipe itself.Timestamps00:00 Live from Sunken Harbor Club02:00 St. John, Sinjin and a James Bond pronunciation lesson04:00 Garret’s first encounter with The Restaurant Guys05:30 The opening cocktails and Sunken Harbor’s menu philosophy08:30 Gage & Tollner prepares to open as COVID closes New York11:00 How the Sunken Harbor Club began as a weekly pop-up14:00 Finding Gage & Tollner behind false walls17:00 Raising $450,000 from 450 crowdfunding investors20:00 Reconstructing forgotten cocktails and the Cross Current25:30 Historic steakhouse drinks meet tropical cocktails30:30 Why serious non-alcoholic cocktails are so difficult42:00 Martinis, Charles H. Baker and cocktails built around storiesBiosSt. John Frizell is a writer, restaurateur and co-owner of Gage & Tollner and Sunken Harbor Club in Brooklyn. His work has appeared in publications including Bon Appétit, Saveur and Punch, and he is also the founder of the acclaimed Red Hook restaurant and bar Fort Defiance and a noted authority on cocktail writer and adventurer Charles H. Baker Jr. Garret Richard is the Chief Cocktail Officer of Sunken Harbor Club and the co-author, with Ben Schaffer, of Tropical Standard. His career includes acclaimed cocktail programs at Existing Conditions, Slowly Shirley, ZZ’s Clam Bar and Exotica, and VinePair named him its 2024 Next Wave Bartender of the Year.InfoSunken Harbor ClubBrooklyn, New YorkGage & TollnerBrooklyn, New YorkTropical StandardBy Garret Richard and Ben SchafferWe're bringing our kitchen to the farm!Join us at Dreyer Farms in Cranford, NJ for a Table-to-Farm Dinner.Sunday, September 13 @ 5:30https://www.stageleft.com/event/91326-table-to-farm-dinner/ Subscribe: Restaurant Guys' Regularhttps://restaurantguysregulars.buzzsprout.com/Magyar Bankhttps://www.magbank.com/Stage Left Wine Shophttps://www.stageleftwineshop.com/Our PlacesStage Left Steakhttps://www.stageleft.com/Catherine Lombardi Restauranthttps://www.catherinelombardi.com/Stage Left Wineshophttps://www.stageleftwineshop.com/Reach Out to The [email protected]