Masa Urushido is the sort of person who makes good bars great. The head bartender at Katana Kitten, a Japanese-style cocktail destination in NYC, Urushido goes above and beyond to make sure each guest feels special. He might playfully slide bottles down the bar to his fellow bartenders, say, or garnish a drink with sparklers. Either way, you’re not going to forget a night out with Urushido behind the bar.
Formerly the bar manager at NYC’s Saxon + Parole, Urushido was also the Chivas Masters Global Bartending Champion.
We went seven deep — questions, that is, not drinks — with Urushido to hear what he would bring to a desert island, why New York City makes him think about Margaritas, and more.
1. What’s your desert-island drink?
Bottled Coors Light in an iced bin and Chivas Regal 25 year.
2. What’s the first drink you bought when you turned 21?
Highball with Suntory Kakubin.
3. You’re on death row. What’s your final drink?
Double Tommy’s Margarita in a pint glass made by Nacho [Jimenez].
4. You can only drink at one bar for the rest of your life. What is it?
It’s very hard to pick just one… Dino’s Bar in Nashville, Tenn.
5. What’s the best and worst bottle on your shelf?
We only have good stuff. They are all special!
6. FMK three cocktails: Negroni, Margarita, Manhattan?
[Urushido asks a colleague to explain FMK.] Wow, it is a very dramatic word to write!
F: Negroni. It’s almost always good, and something literally hard to f*ck up as well.
Marry: Margarita. All my memories drinking Margaritas in significant quantity are since I moved to New York and started working with Naren Young and Ignacio “Nacho” Jimenez. And [I am] always surrounded by beautiful souls when I enjoy drinking Tommy’s Margarita.
Kill: Manhattan. (But I love Manhattans, too!)
7. What cocktail will you never order again?
Never say never!
