Kenta Goto

Part 1: Bartender Life in New York, One of the World’s Toughest Markets

Kenta Goto is the owner-bartender at both Bar Goto and Bar Goto Niban. Back in 2011, when he was the head bartender at the renowned Pegu Club, he won the American Bartender of the Year award in the Spirited Awards^® at Tales of the Cocktail 2011. He is the only Japanese person to have received the prize. We asked Mr. Goto, a key figure of Japanese bartenders working in the U.S., about his bar and his path to a lasting place at the top of his profession.

⇒Read Part 2: “Unlike Japan, Bars Have Immersed Themselves into Everyday Life in New York.”

Text: Reiko Suga / Photography: Koichi Mitsui / Composition: Contentsbrain / 
English Translation: LIBER
Interview Location: Bar Goto Niban (474 Bergen St, Brooklyn, NY 11217, USA)

Fulfillment from a part-time gig led to a decision to make tending bar into a living

Tell us how you got started as a bartender.

I came to America in 1997. I went to school at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) in New York and finished a two-year program there, where I studied as a patterner⋆. After graduating, I had a few job leads in fashion, but I didn't think I could live on the wages they were offering. I also didn't want to just go back to Japan, so I jumped into the bar business to make ends meet.

★ patterner: Refers to someone who creates patterns for fashion designers to follow.Some of the only bars in New York specializing in cocktails at the time were Angel's Share and Milk & Honey. Most of the work was in restaurant bars and most bartenders worked part-time, so I remember that few of them did it as their main job.

I first tended bar in a restaurant part-time so I could pay my bills. One thing about bartending is that you can quickly see the results of your work. You will see customers’ reactions, and if they like your service and products you can see their happiness.

It can also be very fun because you meet lots of people every day, and some of them start coming in to see you. Witnessing that they gradually became my regulars gave me joy. As someone who moved from Japan, I felt like I was given some kind of acceptance from NYC. That’s what made me want to do more in bartending, and it was right around that time that “craft bartending” started getting noticed, and more bartenders started having a career mindset. 

An astonishing, life-changing
encounter at the Pegu Club

When I first started meeting bartenders who worked full-time, I realized they were on a totally different level from me. For example, one worked at a bar four days a week and then would take gigs doing parties or other events on two other days, making enough to live in New York City. It was eye-opening for me to learn that bartending could be a career. Those folks also recommended some books on cocktails for me to read.

That’s when things changed. I started immersing myself in my studies. I also found out about books by reputable Japanese figures in the bar scene of Tokyo's Ginza district: Hisashi Kishi, the owner-bartender at Star Bar Ginza and Kazuo Ueda, the owner-bartender at Tender. I devoured their books, watched their YouTube channels, and studied how they think and how they mix cocktails.

Pegu Club opened in the summer of 2005, and that bar changed my life. When I first went there as a customer in 2006, I was amazed. Everything, from the interior to the way the bartenders handled the shakers, and of course the quality of their cocktails, was excellent. Every cocktail I ordered was delicious. I really wanted to work there.

At the time, Pegu Club was one of the biggest names in the bar business, and it was always a place you’d think of when somebody was talking about cocktails. Pegu also got media coverage and tons of people from the industry went to check it out. It was an influential bar.

Today, many of the cocktail menus you see across the U.S. and in major global cities have a modern classic style. Audrey Sanders, who was the owner of Pegu Club popularized this style that took the time-honored standard cocktail and elevated it to a modern form while preserving it. People weren’t even using the words “modern classic” at the time. She was a trailblazer.

You had a fateful encounter at Pegu Club.

Back then, I had just started thinking about a career as a bartender, so I figured if I was going to shoot for the top in New York, I had to put myself in a place where I could grow.

While I was wanting to work at Pegu Club, I happened to see an online job ad at the end of 2006 for a bartender position. It didn’t say at which bar, but I had a hunch it might be Pegu Club.

About three days after I sent an application, Audrey Sanders, Pegu Club’s owner, emailed me directly. I was nervous going into that interview. A week later as a second interview of sorts, Audrey surprised me at my work and asked me to make her cocktails on the spot. She asked me to make a gin sour, which no one else had ordered during the time I was there. It wasn’t a common order at the time. I put a gin sour together and served it to her. She didn’t even taste it, but asked me, “Which gin did you use, and why?” I wasn’t ready for that question, and I’m not sure I gave a very good answer. I don’t know exactly what she saw in me, but she said, “I can start you with one shift a week. I’ll show you how I mix cocktails and all the processes, and I’ll explain why I do it that way.” So in January 2007, I started my career at the Pegu Club, where I wanted to be more than anywhere else.

The uniform was a collared shirt with a tie and vest. The first time I put it on, I thought about how Japanese baseball players put on a uniform over their suit when a Major League club announces they’ve signed them. I was really happy even being given only one shift a week to start. It was a foot in the door, and a big opportunity for my future. 

After some years, I became Pegu Club's head bartender. I worked there for seven years. I was able to put many drinks on the menu, get media recognition, and build a customer base. In December 2013, I started preparing to open my own bar.

So you then went out on your own and opened Bar Goto in Manhattan in July 2015.

Bar Goto Niban. A golden Japanese painting hangs behind the bar counter, producing a stylish Japanese ambience.

I opened Bar Goto in Manhattan in July 2015 and Bar Goto Niban in Brooklyn in January 2020. They both have the same concept of being a place that blends New York and Tokyo. It brings Japanese tastes to an American bar.

The interior in both locations has a bar counter made of walnut wood, with gold accents throughout the space. At Bar Goto I put up my grandmother's kimono, and at Bar Goto Niban I feature a golden Japanese painting behind the counter. These visual elements, to me, make it feel like Japan.

⇒Read Part 2: “Unlike Japan, Bars Have Immersed Themselves into Everyday Life in New York.”