photograph by bruce vanwyngarden
Lili Clark and a “Harvest Moon.”
When you walk into Acre, it feels elegant and welcoming — at once cozy and spacious, with its high, timbered ceilings and rustic wood-framed bar. Behind that bar, you’ll usually find bar manager Lili Clark, who brings her own brand of creative drink-making to chef/owner Wally Joe’s iconic East Memphis establishment.
A 2012 graduate of St. Benedict at Auburndale, Clark says, wryly, “I grew up in the hip and happening part of town: Cordova. Strip malls, T.J. Maxx — that was the place to be.”
After a stint at the University of Memphis, Clark began working in the kitchen at Jason’s Deli, then moved on to Mulan in Cooper-Young for three years, where she gained her first experience at mixology.
“They had all these great ingredients — lemongrass, Thai basil, various peppercorns — and they let the bartenders experiment,” she says. “When they came up with something good, the owners would say, ‘Put it on the menu.’ I wasn’t a bartender, but they let me play around. I was sort of an unofficial bar back, and that’s where I got the mindset for creating cocktails.”
“I’ve been working on a pumpkin-curry-rum drink, kind of like a pumpkin-curry daiquiri … I’m thinking of calling it ‘Harvest Moon.’ What do you think?” — Lili Clark
Clark’s first real bartending job was at Terrace at The River Inn on Mud Island. “It was fast-paced in the summertime,” she says. “I like to call it ‘Nineties-style’ bartending: every kind of sweet liqueur, every flavor of Schnapps, lots of basic drinks. But they also had a ‘Bartender’s Surprise’ on the menu, and that was literally whatever the bartender felt like making, so I would have a lot of fun.”
Next came three years at Catherine & Mary’s, Andy Ticer and Michael Hudman’s downtown Tuscan restaurant, where Clark continued to hone her bartending skills, until getting the urge to move on.
“After three years, I wanted to expand my horizons,” she says. “I loved it there, but I was thinking, ‘How do I move up from here?’”
The answer to that question was Acre. “What drew me to Acre was the fact that I would get to create the menu,” Clark says. “Wally views the cocktail menu as the bar manager’s thing. When we change it, we’ll do a tasting and he’ll say what he thinks, but he respects and trusts what you do. I feel like I have something of my own here.”
Like most bartenders I’ve interviewed, Clark understands that the trade involves some performance-art. “You’re definitely taking on a role of sorts,” she says, “but I feel like it’s authentically me. I sing and play music with the windows down on the way to work. It gets me going and kind of gets me in my groove, so I can intuitively move forward into the night ahead.”
Having been tipped off that she would be asked to make me a drink, Clark is ready with a surprise: “I was thinking I might do one for you that’s going to be on my fall menu,” she says. “I’ve been working on a pumpkin-curry-rum drink, kind of like a pumpkin-curry daiquiri.”
“Well … that’s definitely a new one for me,” I say.
“I try to use stuff that might take you by surprise, something that not everyone else is doing.”
“A pumpkin-curry daiquiri? I’d say you’ve succeeded.”
“I’d never worked with pumpkin before,” she says, “and when you think of pumpkin spice you don’t think of pumpkin curry, but it’s pretty common in Indian cuisine. You should know, you will be the first customer to taste one.”
“I’m honored,” I say, as Clark sets the cocktail on the bar. And it is a lovely drink, indeed, with a dance of flavors — herbs, spice, rum, cardamom — none of which overpower the sense that you’re having a real cocktail. I would order one of these.
“This is delightful,” I say. “And unexpected.”
“That’s what I try to do,” she says. “Give you an unexpected flavor. It’s got Angostura rum, pumpkin-curry cordial, cardamom syrup, lime juice, and Montenegro Amaro. And the rosemary garnish gives it a nice aromatic touch. I’m thinking of calling it ‘Harvest Moon.’ What do you think?”
“I think that’s just perfect.”
Acre is located at 690 S. Perkins Road.
