Today we’d like to introduce you to Matthew Korzelius.
Hi Matthew, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
As far as careers in hospitality go, I’m a bit of a latecomer. I’ve worked in food and beverage for most of my life, but through my first 30 years, it was really just a means to a paycheck. My partner at the time (eventually my wife) was diagnosed with brain cancer while she was still in college. What followed was a long stretch of our lives where we needed to just be able to pick up and spend what was often weeks at a time in different parts of the country, to see doctors, try experimental clinical. trials, etc. To say the least, I was unfocused. Kali fought hard for a long time but unfortunately passed away. I was 29 years old and entirely adrift. I had zero idea what I was going to do with myself. Out of nowhere, I was asked to join a bar team in Buffalo NY at a (now closed) cocktail bar that I had been frequenting. It was the first time I had seen technique, precision, practical flair and hospitality pulled off in a such a way and I had become transfixed. I cut my teeth there, juicing, making syrups, and just generally getting a feel for everything that had to happen when the sun was still up to make a place like that tick. In the meantime I was bartending a local neighborhood bar restaurant on Grand Island (a literal island suburb that sits between Buffalo and Niagara falls) and got a feel for the “neighborhood bar” thing.
Next, I moved near my Mom and Brother out to Wilmington, NC. I found a bartending job before too long at a Restaurant named “manna” (lower case “m” is purposeful). It was a small team, but had developed a bit of a solid reputation for its thoughtful and creative bar program. It was here that I started really get an understanding of building menu’s, R&D’ing cocktails, pricing and all that. It was during these years that I went through the classic cocktail bartender ego explosion. I felt I could do no wrong. I had truly become a great barman! I was in need to a true humbling. It was on its way.
I knew that I needed to take a major step and really wanted to move to a bigger city, but also knew that even though I had now been bartending for almost 5 years, it was a pretty short resume. My breadth of experience was pretty narrow.
Long story short, I set my sights on BAR 5 Day. For those unfamiliar, BAR 5 is essentially a 5 day long masterclass on Spirits, Technique, history and hospitality. It takes place once a year in NYC (it has since moved to NJ I believe). It’s hard to get in, it’s exhausting to prepare for and it’s extremely difficult to pass. The testing involves (in part) short answer and long form essays, a blind tasting section and practical exam (actual bartending in a high pressure, makeshift environment). Little did I know at the time that the team at the Roosevelt Room (at the time only about 2 years old) were great believers in the Bar 5 program so this is where I met my now business partners Dennis & Justin, as well as the GM of the Roosevelt Room (at the. time), Alex. We struck up a conversation and next thing you know, he told me to give him a call “you know…if you pass”. Well, I passed and a month later we (myself and my partner Emma) were driving to Texas to start what has now become an 8 year long adventure.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
There’s seldom such thing as a smooth road in hospitality. Our bar requires some ego-death to approach it the way it’s meant to be approached. A thing that I think happens with modern bartenders is that there’s no end to the lesson. There’s no set pathway to excellence. It comes with time, experience and a whole lot of failure. There’s no easy way to get there. The only way you can truly become great is by being decidedly NOT great for a long time. The way out is through, right? The struggle for most bartenders is allowing yourself to be bad at something long enough to become good at it. The most difficult part is acknowledging that the more you learn, the more you’ll find you don’t know.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about The Roosevelt Room?
The Roosevelt Room is a unique animal. In short, it’s a cocktail bar. Our “soul” is probably found among our lengthy “Classic Cocktails” selection, currently 53 cocktails long and organized by era, it’s the first thing that really gets our guest’s attention, illuminated above our extensive selection of backbar spirits. Outside of the familiar, we also feature a large selection oh house cocktails, developed over the years by our team. We try to balance modern and forward thinking techniques with approachability, making sure that no matter the guest, we have exactly the perfect drink for you.
We also pride ourselves on consistency. Not always easily achieved from bartender to bartender as everyone picks up their own habits and hardline set of rules for how drinks are to be made over the course of their careers. That said, we operate with a rigorous training program that myself, my business partner Justin Lavenue and our Lead Bartender Armando oversee. Once a trainee has entered the program, it generally take up to a year of rigorous menu testing and technique training (About 6 hours face to face each week) before they “graduate” and get their leather apron. By then, we can all but guarantee that no matter who the bartender is, you’ll be able to trust that your cocktail will be made exactly the same, every time.
Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
I definitely have had my share of mentors throughout the years, but usually for short pockets of my career. I definitely find that in this industry, mentors find you. The best mentors are those who are still excited about what it is that they do. When they find someone young and less experience with some raw talent and a little fire, it relights the fires in the girzzled vet. My advice for a young bartender would be to look for the ones who are “team-builders”. There’s a lot of professionals out there who are way more interested in building their personal brand and the bar is just a means to that end. Then you’ve got the people who are more into conducting the symphony over playing the solo. These are the people that will give you their time and energy.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://therooseveltroomatx.com
- Instagram: @rooseveltroomatx
- Other: @ultimatt_maniac
