Working Classics: How Does a Bartender Work?

Chantal Tseng has been working as a bartender for 16 years, and has been designing her own cocktails for almost as long. She now operates out of the Reading Room at Petworth Citizen, a small, book-lined bar within a larger Washington, D.C. restaurant. Each week, she develops a new menu of drinks inspired by her recent reading, building experiences around the work of authors such as Graham Greene, Italo Calvino, and Ryunosuke Akutagawa.  And in a Slate Plus extra, Tseng reads Lewis Carroll’s poem “The Jabberwocky” before explaining how she makes a sherry cocktail that it inspired. If you’re a member, enjoy bonus segments and interview transcripts from Working, plus other great podcast exclusives. slate.com/workingplus. Email: [email protected] Twitter: @Jacob_Brogan