Ryan Lotz
Bartender, Traveler Street Hospitality | Boston
August 2020
Growing up on Staten Island, Ryan Lotz had one goal in mind: get out of Staten Island. In 2005, he moved to New England to study art history and business administration at Boston University. With an interest in hospitality, Lotz took a serving job at Chef Jeremy Sewall’s now shuttered Brookline restaurant, Lineage. Short on bartenders, Lotz took it upon himself to begin making gin and tonics. After quickly mastering Lineage’s entire cocktail menu, Lotz realized he had a knack for mixing and hospitality. Within months, he was promoted to bar manager. In 2011, Lotz joined the opening team of Jackson Cannon’s now award-winning bar, The Hawthorne. He worked alongside lover-of-all-things-Tiki, Scott Marshall, who introduced Lotz to tropical drinks.
Committed to sharing his culturally sensitive approach to Tiki, Lotz joined bartender-turned-restaurateur Ted Kilpatrick at Barbara Lynch’s flagship restaurant, No.9 Park in 2012. When Kilpatrick moved to New York, Lotz filled his role as bar manager, making it his own. He created the Tiki-devoted section on the cocktail menu and taught sold out Tiki and rum classes. In 2016, Chef Colin Lynch, who Lotz had worked with at No. 9 Park, recruited Lotz to run the bar program at his new spot: Bar Mezzana. Now as bar director for Traveler Street Hospitality, including Bar Mezzana, Black Lamb, No Relation, and (tiki bar!) Shore Leave, Lotz leads an inclusive team of talented bartenders and continues to design cocktails with class, color, and pizzaz.
