Murray Stenson

Coming Up

Shoreline Community College gave Murray Stenson the formal start; Seattle supplied the working education. At Benjamin's, he bartended in a room where pace and personality mattered as much as the pour. At Il Bistro, he continued in a measured register, building a style that stayed grounded in the room rather than above it. Zig Zag Cafe became a defining run, with Murray Stenson bartending there in Seattle, Washington until 2011. The period reads as a long stretch of control and consistency, the kind of service that can shape how a room moves around the bar. When he returned to Il Bistro in 2013, it signaled a familiar rhythm rather than a reset. Canon has been the current setting since 2012, and Murray Stenson’s role there extends the same preference for clarity over flourish. Across these rooms, the throughline is precision, warmth, and the discipline of matching the pace of the bar to the needs of the room.

Where They Are Now

Il Bistro and Zig Zag remain central reference points in Murray Stenson’s career, because both rooms helped define the shape of his reputation in Seattle. His style has stayed classic and unfussy: clear, direct, and suited to the spaces he chose to work in. That restraint gives the work its force. Nothing feels overworked; everything feels placed on purpose. Bartending at this level often turns on consistency, timing, and reading the room without making a display of it. Murray Stenson’s work sits in that register. The attention comes from usefulness, not performance, and from a steady hand that keeps the bar organized without calling attention to itself. That is what ties Benjamin's, Il Bistro, Zig Zag Cafe, and Canon together in one line of work.

Signature

Murray's signature dishes include The Last Word and Chas. Those names point to drinks that have stayed attached to Murray Stenson’s identity behind the bar. They mark a style that is concise and legible: drinks remembered not for ornament, but for being cleanly made and easy to recognize as part of his work.

In Their Words “I had a shift to fill.” Read together, the lines describe a working habit rather than a pose. Ten years at one bar, then the simple fact of covering a shift when needed: that is the plainspoken logic of a career built through repetition, reliability, and showing up for the room.

Recognition

Murray Stenson has received Tales of the Cocktail, Best Bartender in America (2010).