Bartender Isler Thomas creates a signature drink for Tiya, a modern Indian restaurant in the SF neighborhood.

When bartender Isler Thomas creates cocktails, he likes to give the drinks a sense of place. He started using the city’s landmarks as inspiration for drinks as a young bartender in Mumbai, and later used this approach at his New Delhi restaurant, Rooh. Today, Thomas is the 25-year-old head mixologist at San Francisco’s modern Indian restaurant Tiya, where he uses the city’s neighborhoods as inspiration for his cocktails. “First you have to go there to understand the culture,” Thomas says. “We have to adapt everything and get along with them. Then it will be easier to put it under glass.”

When you sit at Tiya’s bar, Thomas and his team will create your cocktails and you’ll enjoy a tour of the town from Thomas’s point of view. For example, Japantown is a highball made with Japanese whiskey, strawberries, cherry blossoms, tree bud leaves, and acid, a drink inspired by Japanese tea. Embarcadero takes inspiration from farmers markets to create a drink that combines mezcal and aperitif with banana, tangerine, apricot, and tarragon. “Creativity comes from within, and this program pays homage to this city,” Thomas says.

Thomas’ first cocktail playground was Raspberry Rhinoceros, a club in the waterfront district of Juhu, Mumbai, about 9,000 miles east of San Francisco. Affectionately known as “Razz” by its regulars, it has served as an ever-evolving musical destination for high-energy local indie metal bands. Thomas, who lost his father when he was in high school, never dreamed that his family would help fund his culinary education. Instead, with a little guidance from his older brother Roger Gomez, he worked in the back room of a local Juhu restaurant, taking whatever jobs he could.

Thomas started working at La’s in 2016 at the age of 17 and occasionally dabbled in cocktails. The next eight years proved that he was unwittingly setting the stage for an avant-garde San Francisco dining scene. “Working at Raz was heaven,” Thomas says. “It was a great learning experience with some of the best people in the industry,” he said, pointing to the connections he made with some of India’s bar and entertainment aces, including molecular mixologist Nitin Tewari of BarTrender.

Thomas further honed his skills by studying menus and experimenting with flavors. When Thomas received the seal of approval from his mentor, Tewari, for his take on the Old Maid, a classic cocktail of gin, simple syrup, cucumber and lime, he added flavors of coconut and green chartreuse. Thomas felt confident.

By 2018, Thomas was on a plane to New Delhi to work at a 150-year-old historic mansion-turned-haveli under the guidance of chef Sujan Sarkar and “startender” Annu Jha, and to work at Lou’s Bar. The program has been strengthened. new delhi. Thomas represented Lou at the 2019 Campari Red Hands Asian Games. Thomas’ cocktail “Roots” – a bright combination of Campari, sweet vermouth and watermelon soda – won over the judges and made Thomas the first runner-up of the year. Like most achievements, and in typical South Asian fashion, this honor was only realized when his mother finally realized what he had done for his job. “When my mother saw my certificate, she cried tears of pride and joy,” Thomas says. “That’s when I knew I had won,” he says after his win, when people started tagging him in their social media posts. “I was fascinated…It was like being in a new galaxy. It was so much fun.”

When Thomas stepped off the plane for the first time in San Francisco in 2022, he was overwhelmed with excitement. “It’s a dream come true.” He worked briefly at Lou Palo Alto, where Tewari oversaw the bar program, and then at Lou San Francisco. He also developed drinks for Emeryville’s Pippal and Santana Row’s Fitur, before reuniting with Tiya restaurateurs brothers Sujan and Pujan Sarkar. Thomas credits his journey thus far to mentors like his older brother (who now works at Siful Chicago), Tewari and Jha. He also has unwavering loyalty to Chef Sujan Sarkar, who supported him on his journey and gave him the freedom to develop a bar program for Tiya. Here, teammates Umesh Gupta and Sid Tikire share Thomas’ enthusiasm and the vision of two chefs, and together they create a menu of cocktails and non-alcoholic beverages. Thomas trusts his team to execute every drink to perfection because he feels they share a greater vision.

Thomas loves tropical cocktails and talks about how much he enjoys bringing drinks that sing the stories of people and cultures in communities both here and abroad. To create Tiya’s San Francisco-inspired cocktails, the team first spends a lot of time learning about the city’s different regions. While the restaurant prepares for evening service, the drinks team is experimenting with ingredients. Thomas said: Subtract one, add one…but we keep creating until we achieve what we want. ”

Even before the drink is put into the glass, every element of the drink goes through dozens of man-hours of trial and error using rotary evaporators, ultrasonic macerators, nitrogen, and blowtorches, ensuring that every drink goes beyond traditional cocktail programs. It becomes a thing. Thomas credits books such as Cocktail Codex, The Art of Fermentation, and Liquid Intelligence as inspirations for him and his team.

Similar to Tiya’s approach to modern Indian cuisine, Thomas also sees opportunities to evolve classic dishes like mango lassi. Tiya’s Marina Cocktail is a riff on lassi, using clear rum and mango along with coconut yoghurt to transform the cream into an ethereal frothy mousse adorned with a sprinkle of pistachio. He recommends a floral drink like Marina to pair with the appetizer. Main dishes such as the butter chicken, which features an unexpectedly decadent red pepper sauce, pair well with the bold, smoky Castro Valley, a ghee-washed version of the Old Fashioned with the spicy flavors of barbecue. This spice- and spirit-forward cocktail easily cuts through rich dishes and provides a balanced course.

India is considered the birthplace of gin and tonics, so Tiya continues with its theme of drinks rooted in the land. The drinks menu features three types of gin: Indian, Japanese and Spanish. Each has regional nuances, such as the aromatic combination of saffron and turmeric in an Indian gin, the herbal flavors of rosemary and sundried fruit in a Spanish G&T, or the earthy drink of Japanese gin, black tea, and yuzu. The bar also includes three non-alcoholic drinks to rival the booze options. He encourages all guests to look for the right combination for each course and fully understand the intricacies of how each course overlaps in the way he envisions it.

Led by Thomas, Tiya’s bar exudes an elegant and luxurious experience filled with vivid storytelling, exquisite cocktails and an energetic team. “Creativity comes from within, and this program pays homage to this city,” Thomas says. “You can share your preferences about what you like, so as artists we can prepare something for you or curate something for you.

“I tell stories, share layers of experience, and take (you) into the mind space where we created the cocktails. I’m not creating cocktails for the industry. This I create cocktails for every patron who walks into the space. I put my heart and soul into it, and we work hard every day as a team to achieve excellence.”

Tiya is located at 3213 Scott Street in San Francisco. The restaurant offers a traditional tasting menu for $95, with wine pairings available for an additional $55. They also offer a similarly priced vegan menu and a la carte menu. Reservations are highly recommended, including for the bar. Reservations can be made up to two weeks in advance.