 My name is Dave Arnold. I always want to come up with new, not just drink combinations, but new techniques. That's what gets me interested. My mom, even though she was a doctor and works like an incredible amount, always found the time to kind of throw the occasional fancy dinner party. And you know, I would dress up like a page and run around and she would cook, you know, traditional stuff. The fact that even though she was really busy, she took the time to kind of do this. Kind of instilled in me this kind of desire to be in the kitchen. When I was growing up, there wasn't this kind of saturation of kind of higher-end, interesting foods. My mom always took the time to expose me to this stuff. So, you know, I was the kid who loved escargot. I was the kid who loved smoked eel. Everyone kind of would praise my food knowledge when I was a kid. When I was a senior in college, I was a philosophy major and I took an art class and I loved it. I tried to do, you know, work as a working artist, but a lot of my projects started getting extremely complicated. And I would work for years on them and do a lot of research and not finish them. I found that being part of the art world was less and less kind of what I really maybe wanted to do. I was trying to go into the food world. I was looking for a way to do that. A bunch of things happened simultaneously. I met Wiley Dufresne and started, you know, hanging out with him. He was the kind of one who showed me that my interest in technology and my interest in food could interact in a way to create new kinds of foods, do new things. He kind of introduced me to that world. There was a lot of people working on using new techniques in the food world and not as many people who were focusing specifically on the problems of cocktails. And cocktails, even though it's all flavors, they have a very different set of problems from cooking. And the knowledge doesn't apply 100% straight away. So I felt if there's a wide open field, go there. So I have a bar called Booker & Dax. The mission is to use new techniques, new technologies and to focus very, very critically on how we make drinks. We use a centrifuge, we'll use new infusion techniques, we'll, you know, milk wash, liquid nitrogen, muddle. We'll do all these things, but in the end, the drink is very simple. My hope is that the stuff that I work on helps other cooks and other bartenders, keeps them how to use something that they haven't used before and that as a result, they feel more fulfilled. People tend to say, you know, you haven't really followed kind of a linear path. Started out life, you know, working in science, got to come from a science, you know, family background, go to philosophy, go to drinks. They're all threaded together. You know, they all involve connecting your hand to your brain. I always say that our goal is to change the way we make drinks, not to change the way you drink. I'm Dave Arnold and this is my story.
 My name is Dave Arnold. I always want to come up with new, not just drink combinations, but new techniques.
 That's what gets me interested.
 My mom, even though she was a doctor and works like an incredible amount,
 always found the time to kind of throw the occasional fancy dinner party.
 And you know, I would dress up like a page and run around and she would cook, you know, traditional stuff.
 The fact that even though she was really busy, she took the time to kind of do this.
 Kind of instilled in me this kind of desire to be in the kitchen.
 When I was growing up, there wasn't this kind of saturation of kind of higher-end, interesting foods.
 My mom always took the time to expose me to this stuff.
 So, you know, I was the kid who loved escargot.
 I was the kid who loved smoked eel.
 Everyone kind of would praise my food knowledge when I was a kid.
 When I was a senior in college, I was a philosophy major and I took an art class and I loved it.
 I tried to do, you know, work as a working artist, but a lot of my projects started getting extremely complicated.
 And I would work for years on them and do a lot of research and not finish them.
 I found that being part of the art world was less and less kind of what I really maybe wanted to do.
 I was trying to go into the food world.
 I was looking for a way to do that.
 A bunch of things happened simultaneously.
 I met Wiley Dufresne and started, you know, hanging out with him.
 He was the kind of one who showed me that my interest in technology and my interest in food could interact in a way to create new kinds of foods, do new things.
 He kind of introduced me to that world.
 There was a lot of people working on using new techniques in the food world and not as many people who were focusing specifically on the problems of cocktails.
 And cocktails, even though it's all flavors, they have a very different set of problems from cooking.
 And the knowledge doesn't apply 100% straight away.
 So I felt if there's a wide open field, go there.
 So I have a bar called Booker & Dax.
 The mission is to use new techniques, new technologies and to focus very, very critically on how we make drinks.
 We use a centrifuge, we'll use new infusion techniques, we'll, you know, milk wash, liquid nitrogen, muddle.
 We'll do all these things, but in the end, the drink is very simple.
 My hope is that the stuff that I work on helps other cooks and other bartenders, keeps them how to use something that they haven't used before and that as a result, they feel more fulfilled.
 People tend to say, you know, you haven't really followed kind of a linear path.
 Started out life, you know, working in science, got to come from a science, you know, family background, go to philosophy, go to drinks.
 They're all threaded together.
 You know, they all involve connecting your hand to your brain.
 I always say that our goal is to change the way we make drinks, not to change the way you drink.
 I'm Dave Arnold and this is my story.