Mitzva Bar

The hero of our new interview is the bar manager of Mitzva Bar Igor Pavlov. We talked about Igor’s professional path, the Jewish roots of the bar, and also about the place of provocative and bold projects in communication.

Tell us how you got into the profession?

It was about eight years ago, I was almost 18. I did an internship in college, it ended earlier than expected, and that’s when I had some free time. My older brother suggested: “Do you want to go to the bar and run as a waiter? It’s quite simple, easy, and you can make some money.” In general, I have always managed to win people over, so I thought: “why not?”

I came for an interview, passed it, and they hired me.

After about a month of working as a waiter, we got into a conversation with Stepan Balabanov (the bar manager at that time), and the next day he called me and said: “I agreed with the manager, so now you will work in our bar.” I say: “More money?” He says: "More." I didn’t yet know how this would tie in with my studies, and I said that I agreed for now, but we’ll see. This was the beginning of my thorny (and not so thorny) path behind the bar.

In total, I worked in three establishments. This, accordingly, is the De Facto bar - my first place. A year later, my boss and I mutually decided that I would no longer work there. Frustrated, I went across the street to the Rock and Roll bar, where we were friends with the staff, and by coincidence, I got a job there for exactly five years. There we met Pasha Barkov, our previous bar manager here. He left Rock a few years ago, ended up at Mitzva Bar and invited me here too. And now I’ve been here for three years now.

What professional achievements are you most proud of?

Hard to tell. I, like all people in general, rejoice at my regalia, victories in competitions and the like. Of course, I am proud to be a bar manager at one of the top establishments in Russia. It's cool, although I can't say that it was very difficult for me. I adequately evaluate what I did and what decisions I made, they brought me to this position.

B artenders are usually interested in different areas - molecular drinks, tinctures, fermentation... Do you have any specifics, a favorite area?

Yes, there are a lot of directions in modern bartending. Some people play games with equipment, if funds allow, others devote more time to serving, unusual garnishes for drinks, others are interested in food pairing - a combination of food and cocktails. I've always liked the trend of mixology, where you mix a drink from something you already have. You don’t brew some complicated cordials and syrups, but simply take several bottles of alcohol and select the balance perfectly so that the drink comes out literally from under the knife, from what you have on hand. Firstly, it’s very cool if this really works out. Secondly, this is a tribute to the good old classics, because in fact, this is how all cocktails were created: someone mixed something successfully, and it remained for centuries.

Are some complex things not at all interesting?

Naturally, I'm curious about everything. In order to be in trend, you must know at least a little about everything. This involves not only practice, but also reading books and articles. These are mainly foreign resources, because, unfortunately, everything we have now arrives with a slight delay from Europe and America. Plus, working at Mitzva Bar implies some kind of representation in the international arena - we bring many guests from different countries. They, in turn, bring something new and tell us something interesting. In any case, to be in trend, you must be absolutely versatile.

You supervised one of the courses at the Roman Toroschin training center . How was your teaching experience?

It was quite spontaneous, my former colleague from the bar, Eric Adinaev, who is the current curator at the Roman Toroschin Center, came up to me one day and asked: “Do you want to read some course, teach young guys?” I asked what kind of course it was, he said that for bartenders, not completely beginners, with a year or two of experience, most of the guys are from the regions.

Then I got in touch with a person who was planning a training program with me, implying something like a general introductory course to cocktail bars for guys who already know what twhat is a shaker, how to pour, how to shake, some techniques, cocktails and so on, and you need to introduce them to the pitfalls of the profession. For example, how to properly work with the seasonality of the products you use for drinks. Or something about hospitality with an emphasis on the specifics of a cocktail bar, because after all, party places imply a completely different balance of communication with guests. At first it turned out a little blurry, I adjusted the program several times, and in the end it turned out to be just a little bit about the cocktail bar.

Did you enjoy teaching the kids?

Yes, this was the first such experience. Naturally, I was very worried the first time, but the group was quite adequate, nice guys. The course lasted six hours: three hours with a break, and out of habit, it seemed endlessly long to me. I like to speak quickly, laying out information in detail, so it was difficult - I did not know how to properly allocate time, because in any case this is live communication, and everything happens right here and now. So the first time turned out to be a little chaotic - out of fear, I told everything at a fast pace in two hours, and then called a friend for advice on what else I could talk about in the remaining four. But in the end everything turned out great!

Tell us what the concept of Mitzva Bar is, why it is interesting to professionals and guests?

It's easier to start with what we tell every guest when they come to us. We are a Jewish cocktail bar and our specialty is cocktails. We are not a kosher bar because that means a lot of things. For example, following Kashrut is a serious collection of rules, which also regulates the use of various ingredients and the non-use of them together under different conditions.

Before us, there were two establishments here: the first was a bar with fluffy carpets and a discus ball, and the second was called Twins, and it employed only twins, from cooks to waiters, which was quite crazy. And one of our founders, Daniil Goldman, came to the current concept of Mitzva Bar literally thanks to a coincidence of circumstances. At the time of coming up with the concept, renovations were already underway in the space, and when they were clearing all the old walls and wallpaper, they accidentally discovered Jewish scriptures on the walls in the corridor. Dani’s last name is quite telling, and the following thought came to mind: “Why not fulfill an old dream and make a Jewish bar with a play on words in the name? The idea is funny, and there’s nothing like it anywhere.”

We are definitely the only Jewish bar in Russia. Dana was always interested in alcohol, working in the HoReCa segment, and in general, cocktail culture absorbed him. So he began to get interested, travel and look at other cocktail bars, eventually deciding what it would be like: simple Jewish food, as it is in Israel, and also interesting cocktails. “Mitzvah” swung for a long time from food to cocktails: first towards food, and then people began to come here specifically for cocktails. For this, thanks to the first team, who did a great job and created a cool cocktail menu.

Due to the fact that we are a mono-concept Jewish bar, it is great and difficult for us at the same time, because we are actually obliged to provide some rare exclusive product with a Jewish theme and bring it all to cocktails.

What is it expressed in?

In fact, most of it is taken from the culture at large. We take some basic cocktail, let it be a sour with protein, and our task is to come up with what will be in it. We have the sour base, the sweet part and the egg white. A simple structure that needs to be played out so that it looks organically in a Jewish bar and is our way. The guys find a legend about the Templars on the Internet - Jewish culture also involves various secret societies, for example, the Masons and the like, and during their campaigns the Templars used a secret potion that they invented and developed themselves. It consisted of coconut water, aloe, hemp oil and a few other ingredients. We thought it sounded interesting, so we infused vodka with bananas, made homemade aloe syrup, and now we have a sweet part, a strong aromatic part, and that's it - one of the best-selling cocktails in our bar is ready.

Is the Jewish community friendly with you?

I’d be lying if I said that we’re somehow close friends, but from time to time we intersect at various points with the Jewish Museum and the Tolerance Center, and the Moscow Choralthe synagogue often supports us in the digital field.

Has it ever happened that guests said: “This is not at all Jewish”?

Most often this was said by guests who had nothing to do with religion.

We love a little sarcasm when communicating with guests and sometimes jokingly call our service a BDSM service, because we allow ourselves to play a little with the guest if the situation allows it. And there was a case when an adult man, a Jew, came with his family, they liked everything: the food was cool, the drinks were very tasty, but he got caught up in something, and I was forced to stop the argument with the phrase: “I don’t know better.” , than you, you can tell me.” This, of course, hurt him a little.

Speaking of things that might offend you, the year before last you released a rather frank calendar , how did your guests and colleagues react to it? How did you come up with the idea of doing such a shoot with your colleagues?

The idea for the calendar itself came from our marketers, one of them, Arthur Friedman, was inspired by the collaboration of an artist and a photographer - they made a cool nude calendar for some organization, where its employees were the models. So the idea comes from there.

As for experiences, we have all known each other closely and for a long time, so no one was particularly embarrassed about their naturalness. So the shooting took place quite freely, no one was particularly constrained. Guests and colleagues in the industry really liked the idea and the result; every year they now ask, “When is your next shoot?”

After all, this is a public work space, did the calendar cause any rejection?

In fact, we were expecting a mixed reaction and were a little worried, but almost everything we do for the digital space is quite often provocative. We are always prepared in advance that someone may not like it. Of course, there are and will always be questions “Why do you need this?”, but where would we be without them?

Let's return to the topic of the bar. In one interview you said that you like to drink Aviation, but what do you like to cook?

Depends on the guest and his request. Personally, I like to cook everything, but the classics are closer. I really like to play a game with guests when they come and say: “I want anything, just without vodka. I don’t like it/I already drank it today/I just don’t want it.” This sounds like a challenge to me, and I will try to make him a cocktail with vodka, but hide it in such a way that he will never guess in his life. At the moment when the guest takes the last sip, I ask if he liked the drink, and he says that he really liked it, and then comes the moment of recognition that it is almost pure vodka. You should have seen these faces!

It’s fun to break stereotypes about lowering/increasing degrees, fighting the fear that something will go wrong. I try to teach guests how to drink correctly, this seems important to me, because many people still believe in all sorts of myths and are afraid to try something new because they are worried about how alcohol will affect them.

Can a guest's opinion influence the decision about a menu item?

We always listen to the opinions of our guests, and if we collect several repeated negative reviews about a particular cocktail, then, of course, we work through it and adjust the balance.

How often do you update your menu? What inspired you to create it, besides Jewish culture? Is it difficult?

Usually once a year, sometimes more often. Along the way, we add all sorts of classic cocktails, or rework old classics in a different way, or even combine two cocktails into one and serve it as neoclassical.

What guides us when creating a new menu directly related to our theme? The last topic was secret societies, but not the typical and well-known ones. We took, for example, the Nizhny Novgorod Masonic lodge, which was called “Ovid” in honor of the ancient Roman writer. We have this cocktail with an authentic Russian presentation - a painted cup like from a tea set, and the ingredients, accordingly, are Russian either by origin or by association: peas, asparagus, orange, a littlevodka. All this added up to an unexpectedly nutty taste, hence the grated hazelnuts for decoration.

Are you inspired by any media or cultural events? TV series, for example, exhibitions.

There are really many sources for this. We were not inspired by TV series in terms of drinks, but a couple of years ago, in order to celebrate our favorite Jewish holiday, Purim, we chose the aesthetics of “The Young Pope, it turned out very cool. Mainly, of course, we study history, art and people. For example, in our previous cocktail menu, we dedicated a cocktail to Diego Rivera, the famous artist, husband of Frida Kahlo.

Do you implement trends in your menu? How relevant is this to you?

Despite the fact that we have an original bar with its own foundations, in order to keep up with the times, we are obliged to follow what is now popular. Minimalism and clarification - the discoloration of drinks - will be fashionable for quite some time. So that it is as transparent, easy, simple, nude as possible. But there is also a tendency that in a year the fashion for huge hamburgers made from decorations will return, so that it will all be super Instagrammable, because social networks are taking over the world, and our industry too. It’s cool when a guest is brought something that he wants to photograph.

Speaking of Instagrammability, do you select dishes for this purpose?

Yes, tableware is a huge task and problem, because finding something really cool is not always easy, and besides, it is often quite expensive. There are problems with the fact that you find some specific glasses and make them to order, and your master then moves to another city. Or something went wrong with the material and you can't make a second batch. We have to constantly look for new craftsmen who make things even more expensive, communication is more difficult, and their production is even further away. We all always strive to do something unique and with a piece of ourselves. So, searching for new dishes takes quite a lot of time.

What equipment and tools do you use most often at the bar? Favorite things?

I still use the same spoon that I bought eight years ago - it used to be matte, but now almost all of it has worn off and become glossy. If I fly somewhere abroad or do guest shifts, participate in events, I always take this spoon with me, without it it’s hard both physically and mentally - that’s how attached I am to this little thing.

Is there any story related to the work?

Yes, a lot of funny things, every shift there is something funny in any way. One time they brought me a chameleon to replace it and gave it to me. I was so dumbfounded that I just walked with him for an hour, I couldn’t work.

Do they come to visit with animals?

Yes, we treat all animals absolutely adequately. We have a large cohort of our bar friends who come with their dogs. Or take a regular guest who walks around with a huge Maine Coon cat - his name is Jim Beam, and he weighs 60 kilograms, a truly gigantic beast!

How often do your colleagues come to visit you? How common is this in the community?

I will always say that the bar community is one of the most friendly and united of all professional communities. Everyone goes to visit each other absolutely all the time, not only to us at Mitzva Bar, we also go often. Firstly, you need to maintain a positive reputation for your establishment, watch what the guys cook, what techniques they use, what ingredients. And at the same time, you are also friends with everyone, so you manage to combine business with pleasure.

Is there any excitement in having a colleague say “wow” about your work?

There is such a thing, naturally. Working in a bar involves constant competition, because if you are the first to come up with something, then you can sell it cool, be an innovator, and everyone else will repeat it. There is always some element of competition. Over the past many years, there has been nothing new in the bar, this is both sad and obvious, because everything that is used was already invented once. It's just the cyclical nature of trends and techniques. Someone is just finishing it upin its own way and presents it in a package in which no one has ever seen it before. But, yes, there is a desire to surprise. You sit and inadvertently think that you should make this thing green instead of red, everyone will probably be stunned :)

Did it work?

Yes, I can’t say that it worked out exactly. Yes, we were the first to do something, or differently from others, or we used something for other purposes, and it turned out cool and tasty, but I can’t name exact examples.

What do you think it takes to become a professional in your field? A happy professional?

Well, everyone has their own happiness, and probably everyone has their own professional happiness too. Some strive for a position, some for a salary, some for a goal in the form of winning a competition or world recognition, some for opening their own bar. But working in the hospitality industry starts with love for guests. It can be its own, different. You always need to provide the guest with great service and position it so that you are the owner of the bar, and he is your guest. And you need to make everything so comfortable that he will definitely return to you.