John Gertsen
Boston, Massachusetts
No. 9 Park
9 Park Street @ Beacon Street
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Signature drink: palmyra
(mint, lime juice, Rain vodka)
Molecular gastronomy -- the increasingly popular scientific experimentation of crazy ingredients and equipment -- is very hot. And Boston-based bartender John Gersten has found a way to mix new techniques with old-world traditions. Having studied biology and biochemistry in college, he has no problems tinkering. In Gersten's Venezuelan daiquiri, for example, he creates a gelatin foam using a whipped cream canister and nitrous oxide and then adds that to the top of a glass. The final product allows people to smell and taste the foam before tasting the actual concoction; it's like the foam on a cappuccino. He's intrigued by texture and not afraid to labor over a fussy recipe (the Ramos Fixx -- made of gin, egg white, cream, lemon juice, lime juice, simple syrup and orange blossom water -- requires 10 minutes of shaking). He's especially enamored of pre-Prohibition recipes that make use of gin or brandy, as well as egg whites or egg yolks. Yes, he's quite the egghead.
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Photo: courtesy of John Gertsen
