The Symphony of Manu Lauzon; Bartenders Have Stories, Too
Behind-the-scenes on Easy's spring cocktails with the man in black and bling.
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for sponsoring this series
Not long ago, Easy Bistro released its spring bar menu. Several new drinks, with nods to George Strait, old school NBA and the man in black.
"Johnny Cash," said head bartender, Manu Lauzon.
The drink is called Ring of Fire.
"A somewhat bitter, smoky, sweet and sour hint of spice," he said.
Next to it? Tropical Sour, a zero-proof cocktail that's part of the N/A cocktail vision Manu's been working on for some five or six years.
Neither Ring of Fire nor Tropical Sour — their recipes are below — created themselves out of the blue. Both were inventions; you might even call them songs.
Both drinks come from the same man: Manu.
The man in black and bling.
Nine years ago, he left LA for Chattanooga. (The outdoor scene, schools, a better place to raise his children.)
He found Easy, and Easy found him, and Manu's become a powerhouse legend, one of the most noteworthy bartenders in modern Chattanooga. As Chef Erik Niel puts it: "he's the fucking man."
Manu's presided over the creation of Easy's draft cocktail system, authored 100s of drinks, witnessed the restaurant's first Michelin-recognition, and added his own chapters to the Ye Old Bar Bible, a bar-book-of-everything that sits behind the Easy bar.
"This is a living document," he said. All of Easy's drink recipes — notes, updates, edits — are recorded here.
For Manu, it all begins in the same place:
Listening.
Months before the Ring of Fire and Tropical Storm debut, Manu and Easy's bar team — Dakota Hack, Rylan Thompson, Ally Spalding, Joe Dominick — spent hours and days behind the bar, going back-and-forth on ideas, sharing recipes written on napkins, iNotes, sipping each others' creation, before taking the whittled-down list to Chef Niel.
It was "R and D," as Manu called it, and it felt not unlike band practice.
"They come to me with ideas and then we swap ideas back and forth almost like we are jamming," he said.
(A B-side cut: "A Savage Gulp.")
As we talked, Manu sliced up late winter rutabaga. He wanted to add a honey base. In California, farmers' markets were abundant. He still seeks out seasonal produce for the cocktail menu. (You can take the bartender out of California, but you can't take ...)
"I started when I was 15," he said. "Working in an old hotel restaurant." One thing led to another; he found himself working in LA for the early 2000s onward, with a young family.
Sometimes, he dreams drinks. Example: Easy's Lillet Lady Lay, "a kind of wild fever dream. I woke up and wrote it down," he said.
"An equal parts play on the Bob Dylan song that had Lillet as one of the ingredients."
With Manu, the Easy Bistro bar can feel like a song.
"I'm a bartender by trade," he said, "and a musician by choice."
Snow Flies
the snow flies like thoughts from the skies
they come down, down down down
the snow flies like sand in your eyes
spins you round, round round round
When he was a boy, his parents lived off-grid. "Wandering minstrels," Manu calls them. His mother made strawberry and dandelion wine. Manu had a goat who ate the clothes off the line, chickens, honeybees and a horse named Candy.
Going to school, he didn't realize he was the only one in his class without a TV. (Incidentally, class was canceled during potato harvest season.)
They all played music. His life was a song.
"That created a reverence for that kind of self-sustained, communal living," he said.
He took to the guitar. Keyboards. In school, he studied the French horn, violin and the sax. He had an amazing mentor.
"My father," he said. "A multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and music therapist."
Later, he began writing music, and ultimately started a band. Originally, it wasn't bartending that made him feel most alive.
It was performing.
He's played in bands, toured, took the stage solo, figures he's written more than 100 songs.
"It's a lifelong journey," he said.
Sometimes, his songs start as poems.
the snow tries when the music dies
to hear sound, sound sound sound
the snow spies as the wanderer cries
we are found, found found found
the snow piles and the ground smiles
they are one, one one one
In his career, he's heard thousands of stories, flowing across barstool to bartender in a nightly exchange. Drinks served, then stories just tumble out, cued by Bartender's Code tone — almost therapeutic, always sensitive — Manu sets.
"Meet the guest where they're at," he said. "Be a good listener.
"Find the drink they are looking for or this feeling they need or help them enhance the feelings they already have."
A man like that? He carries home stories, piling up like riverbank sticks and stones. Yours.
And his, too.
This winter, we turned the tables: at the Easy bar, we asked him to open up, as the story flow reversed directions, like a tide going back out, from bar across to barstool.
Stories about music sounded just like bartending tales. Both are kissing cousins, similar in their expression for him.
"The creative aspect of music and bartending is what I love," he said. "And the thread I see between them."
So, Dylan and Johnny Cash have their influence on Easy's cocktail program. Manu hears it all, mixed together.
"In bartending, as much as in music, there are patterns that are replicated. Classics you can go back to and study and learn, and do your own interpretation and riff on," he said.
"Also that joy of creating something from nothing and sharing it with people. It's also rewarding."
Like Ring of Fire and Tropical Storm.
(The Ring of Fire recipe can be found here.)
"I would love to make you one of these drinks I am most proud of," he said.
"It's called Bittersweet Symphony."
Bittersweet Symphony is one of Manu's first Easy drinks, appearing six years ago. You won't spot it on the menu; it's a secret menu item.
"This was one of my first equal parts endeavors," he said.
Equal parts is all about balance. The Bittersweet Symphony has equal parts Roku Gin, Tempus Fugit Kina, Amaro Dillei and a lemon twist.
"So much of bartending is about balance," he said.
"Nothing should really stand out as out of place. Everything should work together harmoniously."
Not long ago, Manu turned 51. His kids are all in college, moved out. Manu's looking over his shoulders at what's been. Ahead at what may come.
Mid-life.
"A rebirth," he said.
no no more trials for so many miles
no not one, none none none
the snow drifts as the sky lifts
the moon’s come, come come come
the towering cliff into night sifts the light
run sun run, run run run.
Maybe he'll release a poetry collection. Maybe start performing again.
The taste of love is sweet, Johnny Cash sang.
The future can be, too.
"I've got to get my callouses back," he said.
As an encore, here's one more song from Manu followed by the recipe for Tropical Sour.
sliver moon
I thought about you around noon
hoping to see you again soon
like a busted balloon
sliver moon
radiant sun
I stayed up till half past one
after the day was done
thinking about the one
radiant sun
now I’m lying alone on my back in the grass
wishing that time wouldn’t go by so fast
so many hours and days have passed
but somehow the memory of you seems to last
clever star
admiring you from afar
wondering how you are
you guide me driving in my car
clever star
distant cloud
I think about you out loud
standing alone in a crowd
so gentle yet so proud
distant cloud
now I’m lying alone on my back in the grass
wishing that time wouldn’t go by so fast
so many hours and days have passed
but somehow the memory of you seems to last
endless sky
you make me ask myself why
someone could never cry
this feeling will never die
endless sky
sliver moon
I thought about you around noon
hoping to see you again soon
like a busted balloon
sliver moon
Tropical Sour:
1 oz Orange Citrus Syrup
1 oz Kiwi Syrup
1 oz Lemon Juice
.5 oz Grapefruit Celery Shrub
2 bar spoons Luxardo Cherry juice
1 pinch Cardamom Seeds (muddled)
1 egg white
Combine all with ice, shake, strain, dry shake with egg white, fine strain into Coupe glass, express lemon, Luxardo Cherry juice garnish.
Story ideas, questions, feedback? Interested in partnering with us? Email: david@foodasaverb.com
This story is 100% human generated; no AI chatbot was used in the creation of this content.
food as a verb thanks our sustaining partner:
food as a verb thanks our story sponsor:
Easy Bistro & Bar
Not long ago, Easy Bistro released its spring bar menu. Several new drinks, with nods to George Strait, old school NBA and the man in black.
"Johnny Cash," said head bartender, Manu Lauzon.
The drink is called Ring of Fire.
"A somewhat bitter, smoky, sweet and sour hint of spice," he said.
Next to it? Tropical Sour, a zero-proof cocktail that's part of the N/A cocktail vision Manu's been working on for some five or six years.
Neither Ring of Fire nor Tropical Sour — their recipes are below — created themselves out of the blue. Both were inventions; you might even call them songs.
Both drinks come from the same man: Manu.
The man in black and bling.
Nine years ago, he left LA for Chattanooga. (The outdoor scene, schools, a better place to raise his children.)
He found Easy, and Easy found him, and Manu's become a powerhouse legend, one of the most noteworthy bartenders in modern Chattanooga. As Chef Erik Niel puts it: "he's the fucking man."
Manu's presided over the creation of Easy's draft cocktail system, authored 100s of drinks, witnessed the restaurant's first Michelin-recognition, and added his own chapters to the Ye Old Bar Bible, a bar-book-of-everything that sits behind the Easy bar.
"This is a living document," he said. All of Easy's drink recipes — notes, updates, edits — are recorded here.
For Manu, it all begins in the same place:
Listening.
Months before the Ring of Fire and Tropical Storm debut, Manu and Easy's bar team — Dakota Hack, Rylan Thompson, Ally Spalding, Joe Dominick — spent hours and days behind the bar, going back-and-forth on ideas, sharing recipes written on napkins, iNotes, sipping each others' creation, before taking the whittled-down list to Chef Niel.
It was "R and D," as Manu called it, and it felt not unlike band practice.
"They come to me with ideas and then we swap ideas back and forth almost like we are jamming," he said.
(A B-side cut: "A Savage Gulp.")
As we talked, Manu sliced up late winter rutabaga. He wanted to add a honey base. In California, farmers' markets were abundant. He still seeks out seasonal produce for the cocktail menu. (You can take the bartender out of California, but you can't take ...)
"I started when I was 15," he said. "Working in an old hotel restaurant." One thing led to another; he found himself working in LA for the early 2000s onward, with a young family.
Sometimes, he dreams drinks. Example: Easy's Lillet Lady Lay, "a kind of wild fever dream. I woke up and wrote it down," he said.
"An equal parts play on the Bob Dylan song that had Lillet as one of the ingredients."
With Manu, the Easy Bistro bar can feel like a song.
"I'm a bartender by trade," he said, "and a musician by choice."
Snow Flies
the snow flies like thoughts from the skies
they come down, down down down
the snow flies like sand in your eyes
spins you round, round round round
When he was a boy, his parents lived off-grid. "Wandering minstrels," Manu calls them. His mother made strawberry and dandelion wine. Manu had a goat who ate the clothes off the line, chickens, honeybees and a horse named Candy.
Going to school, he didn't realize he was the only one in his class without a TV. (Incidentally, class was canceled during potato harvest season.)
They all played music. His life was a song.
"That created a reverence for that kind of self-sustained, communal living," he said.
He took to the guitar. Keyboards. In school, he studied the French horn, violin and the sax. He had an amazing mentor.
"My father," he said. "A multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and music therapist."
Later, he began writing music, and ultimately started a band. Originally, it wasn't bartending that made him feel most alive.
It was performing.
He's played in bands, toured, took the stage solo, figures he's written more than 100 songs.
"It's a lifelong journey," he said.
Sometimes, his songs start as poems.
the snow tries when the music dies
to hear sound, sound sound sound
the snow spies as the wanderer cries
we are found, found found found
the snow piles and the ground smiles
they are one, one one one
In his career, he's heard thousands of stories, flowing across barstool to bartender in a nightly exchange. Drinks served, then stories just tumble out, cued by Bartender's Code tone — almost therapeutic, always sensitive — Manu sets.
"Meet the guest where they're at," he said. "Be a good listener.
"Find the drink they are looking for or this feeling they need or help them enhance the feelings they already have."
A man like that? He carries home stories, piling up like riverbank sticks and stones. Yours.
And his, too.
This winter, we turned the tables: at the Easy bar, we asked him to open up, as the story flow reversed directions, like a tide going back out, from bar across to barstool.
Stories about music sounded just like bartending tales. Both are kissing cousins, similar in their expression for him.
"The creative aspect of music and bartending is what I love," he said. "And the thread I see between them."
So, Dylan and Johnny Cash have their influence on Easy's cocktail program. Manu hears it all, mixed together.
"In bartending, as much as in music, there are patterns that are replicated. Classics you can go back to and study and learn, and do your own interpretation and riff on," he said.
"Also that joy of creating something from nothing and sharing it with people. It's also rewarding."
Like Ring of Fire and Tropical Storm.
(The Ring of Fire recipe can be found here.)
"I would love to make you one of these drinks I am most proud of," he said.
"It's called Bittersweet Symphony."
Bittersweet Symphony is one of Manu's first Easy drinks, appearing six years ago. You won't spot it on the menu; it's a secret menu item.
"This was one of my first equal parts endeavors," he said.
Equal parts is all about balance. The Bittersweet Symphony has equal parts Roku Gin, Tempus Fugit Kina, Amaro Dillei and a lemon twist.
"So much of bartending is about balance," he said.
"Nothing should really stand out as out of place. Everything should work together harmoniously."
Not long ago, Manu turned 51. His kids are all in college, moved out. Manu's looking over his shoulders at what's been. Ahead at what may come.
Mid-life.
"A rebirth," he said.
no no more trials for so many miles
no not one, none none none
the snow drifts as the sky lifts
the moon’s come, come come come
the towering cliff into night sifts the light
run sun run, run run run.
Maybe he'll release a poetry collection. Maybe start performing again.
The taste of love is sweet, Johnny Cash sang.
The future can be, too.
"I've got to get my callouses back," he said.
As an encore, here's one more song from Manu followed by the recipe for Tropical Sour.
sliver moon
I thought about you around noon
hoping to see you again soon
like a busted balloon
sliver moon
radiant sun
I stayed up till half past one
after the day was done
thinking about the one
radiant sun
now I’m lying alone on my back in the grass
wishing that time wouldn’t go by so fast
so many hours and days have passed
but somehow the memory of you seems to last
clever star
admiring you from afar
wondering how you are
you guide me driving in my car
clever star
distant cloud
I think about you out loud
standing alone in a crowd
so gentle yet so proud
distant cloud
now I’m lying alone on my back in the grass
wishing that time wouldn’t go by so fast
so many hours and days have passed
but somehow the memory of you seems to last
endless sky
you make me ask myself why
someone could never cry
this feeling will never die
endless sky
sliver moon
I thought about you around noon
hoping to see you again soon
like a busted balloon
sliver moon
Tropical Sour:
1 oz Orange Citrus Syrup
1 oz Kiwi Syrup
1 oz Lemon Juice
.5 oz Grapefruit Celery Shrub
2 bar spoons Luxardo Cherry juice
1 pinch Cardamom Seeds (muddled)
1 egg white
Combine all with ice, shake, strain, dry shake with egg white, fine strain into Coupe glass, express lemon, Luxardo Cherry juice garnish.
Story ideas, questions, feedback? Interested in partnering with us? Email: david@foodasaverb.com
This story is 100% human generated; no AI chatbot was used in the creation of this content.
Food as a verb thanks our story sponsor:
Food as a Verb Thanks our sustaining partner:
Food as a verb thanks our story sponsor:
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