McKenzie Steele Foster started bartending four years ago, but her primary hustle is acting. She found her side gig at one of the top cocktail bars in SLC, and she says the two jobs are analogous. “As an actor, you have to figure out what your ‘survival job’ is, the one that pays the bills in between jobs,” she says. “With bartending, I get to be creative in the same way as acting. A bartender is on stage. We play a role for our customers in curating an experience.”
Click the image below to vote for Fruits of My Labor:
THE DRINK
She found her inspiration for Fruits of My Labor by striving to create a variation on the traditional sangrita, a Mexican back to tequila. Sangrita is often just a tomato mix, but Foster created hers with a zesty mix of peppers, persimmon and—wait for it—dried crickets backing up a jolt of mezcal. “With a sangrita, you are putting the mix in the hands of the drinker. They add as much or as little as they want,” she says.
Fruits of My Labor
1.5 oz. Wahaka mezcal served in a copita with a sangrita back (below)
Sangrita back: Roast peppers and mix in a blender with fresh ginger, persimmon juice, cactus fruit juice, mint, Thai baseil and jalapeños. Rim the glass with cricket salt.
Try it at Post Office Place
16 W. Market St., SLC
801-519-9595
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