Originally from Denville, New Jersey, John has spent his entire working life in the bar and restaurant industry. While studying theater at a conservatory in Cincinnati, he got his first bar job at a gay nightclub called Below Zero Lounge. After moving to New York City in 2011, his life consisted of scattered serving jobs and the occasional audition. Though acting had been his first impulse, he found there to be something missing from his professional life. Eventually, he landed his first job as a bartender and, once he began to dive deeper and deeper into cocktails, he never looked back. A chance meeting got him a job at Danny Meyer's Maialino, where he fell in love with Italian wine, amaro and grappa. After that, he had the good fortune of training under cocktail titan Meaghan Dorman and then-head bartender Adam Minegar at The Raines Law Room, and the rest is history. Over the years John has worked at a number of cocktail destinations on both coasts, including both locations of Dear Irving, Apotheke's Los Angeles incarnation, the Lower East Side's Banzarbar and Freemans Restaurant, as well as the Brooklyn Peruvian legend Llama Inn. During the stage of the COVID-19 pandemic when bars and restaurants were closed, John created the canon of celebratory and educational material you see in this online collection.
These days, John can be found behind the bar at Forsythia, a beautiful little Italian restaurant on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Designing the program there represents a fusion of two his greatest loves: cocktails and Italian spirits and drinking culture. If you find yourself in the neighborhood, swing by and grab a stool at his tiny 6-seat bar, available for walk ins 5:30-9:30, Tuesday through Saturday.