TROY>> On Friday Elda Abate will open the doors to not one, but two, of her businesses on Fourth Street in Troy. Both businesses revolve around the bar and restaurant industry, which Abate has grown up and played a role in for the last 30-plus years.

“I take it very seriously,” said Abate in a press release. The first of her businesses is a New York State licensed private career school called Star Bartenders Institute (120 Fourth St.), for which Abate wrote the 142-page textbook herself.

“This is a great career. You can take this anywhere in the country, get a job, and make cash,” said Abate, who has studied and worked her craft in New York, Los Angeles, and Miami’s South Beach. “There is a difference between tending bar and being a bartender.”

Abate teaches students how to fully set up and break down a bar and how to make all modern drinks including shots, martinis, manhattans, margaritas, frozen drinks, as well as specialty drinks like mojitos and Old Fashioneds. She also stresses the importance of perfect pouring, legal issues like the Dram Shop Act, the seriousness of serving alcohol, and running a clean business. “I devote a solid 40 hours of intensive training to my students and they are fully prepped with wealth of skills and knowledge to take anywhere in the nation and to any type of establishment,” said Abate.

A 4 p.m. ribbon cutting will be held at Star Bartenders Institute to officially open the school. Former students of the school’s 40-hour program will be on hand to demonstrate their bartending skills and to share their post-graduation success stories. 

Across the street Abate’s second business, Bar Troy (121 Fourth St.), will celebrate an official opening at 4:30 p.m. “This was once home to the oldest bar in Troy,” said Abate. Bar Troy is a celebration of Italian- American culture, which Abate and her family descend from. “We serve Italian organic wines, an array of beers, have a beautiful martini and cocktail menu, espressos, cappuccinos and lattes, and we’ve introduced a food menu that is bar food done right, which I am very proud of.” The menu makes references to Troy places and people, and Abate said that she is having fun watching it evolve.  

Abate is curating an eclectic mix of Bar Troy customers. From RPI and Sage students to business professionals, Abate said that “from 26, to 36, to 56, we have an array of age groups that get along. Bar Troy has a warm, inviting tone to it.” Friday night’s two official ceremonies will include ribbon cuttings, bartending demonstrations, light complimentary fare, and many other planned activities including tastings courtesy of Troy’s Recognize Vodka, Clifton-Park-based Shmaltz Brewing Company, and Albany’s Nine Pin Cider. 

More information can be found at www.starbartendersinstitute.com and www.bartroy.com.

Photo provided.