LAY OF
THE
LAND
Parallel 37’s
bartender,
Camber
lay, finds
insPiration
in the
bay area’s
bounty
it’s 4 o’clock in the afternoon,
and Camber Lay has just arrived for work at
Parallel 37 at The Ritz-Carlton, San Francisco. The lead
bartender and creator of the restaurant’s celebrated cocktail
program, Lay begins setting up for the night, making sure that
she has enough glassware and that the rack is fully stocked
with spirits. Zesters, bar knives, shakers and strainers —
essential tools of the bartending trade — are freshly washed
and drying on folded white towels. Lay arranges
by Jan newberry
bunches of herbs she picked up from
PHOTOGraPHS by aya braCKeTT
the kitchen and gathers a supply of fresh fruit.
It’s a ritual familiar to bartenders everywhere — except that
neither Lay nor her staff slices limes or cuts strips of peel from
lemons and oranges ahead of time to use as twists. “It’s my
biggest pet peeve,” says Lay. “I hate it when the lime on the edge
104
w w w. r i t z c a r lt o n . c o m
http://WWW.RITZCARLTON.COM
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Ritz-Carlton Magazine - Spring 2013