How Anthony Lucero went from busser to bar manager at Barndoor 49 in Bay Shore

When Barndoor 49 recently opened in Bay Shore, it did so with a focused menu of house cocktails — among them No Sleep Till . . . , a drink, which combines Brooklyn Gin with lemongrass Kombrewcha, citrus and muddled herbs.

Besides referencing the home turf of both the gin and the Beastie Boys, the drink’s name could also unintentionally describe the dogged rise of its creator.

“That drink is my baby,” said Anthony Lucero, Barndoor 49’s bar manager, who began working with the restaurant’s owners, Gina and Lenny Jaworowski, when he was still a teenager.

Lucero moved from Elmhurst, Queens, to Bay Shore with his family in 2006, and five years later was hired to work Sunday brunch at Barndoor 49’s predecessor, Milk and Sugar.

Lucero also bussed tables and eventually managed Milk and Sugar’s sister business, the Victorian Room. It was there that he started mixing cocktails for special events. “One thing led to another, and people began responding to drinks at the Victorian Room,” Lucero said, including one that blended mint- and peach-infused Bulleit Bourbon with iced tea.

As Lucero wended his way through a few other local restaurant kitchens, he learned that the same ethos that informs cooking — striking a balance between disparate elements and flavors — could be carried into the world of mixing drinks. When the Jaworowskis closed Milk and Sugar and began transforming it into Barndoor 49, and then tapped Lucero as bar manager, he had a clear idea of his approach. “I don’t consider myself a mixologist. I consider myself someone who slings some drinks,” Lucero said, and he wanted to do so using mostly New York-produced spirits. “I didn’t want to do anything too crazy, just variations on the classics.”

Those include Off the Wagon ($11), which blends Catskills Straight Rye Whiskey, sweet vermouth and cherry bitters for a riff on the Manhattan (it comes in a wood-smoked glass); and a Raspberry Lemon Mule ($12) infused with ginger shrub, for a twist on the Moscow Mule.

And that Mint Bourbon Peach Tea ($12) is still on the menu, too.

Barn Door 49 is at 49 W. Main St., Bay Shore; 631-969-3655, barndoor49.com