Oscar Simoza

Coming Up

Early shifts behind the bar at Johnny D’s in Somerville, Massachusetts, and Beat Hotel (now Beat Brew Hall) in Harvard Square, Massachusetts, gave Oscar Simoza a practical base in service. Those rooms shaped a style built on reading the room, working with pace, and keeping the bar steady under pressure. The work was not limited to pouring drinks; it was about managing tempo, holding attention, and making the room feel settled. Today, the scope of Oscar Simoza’s work runs across multiple posts: bartender of Silvertone, director of spirits of BCB3 Hospitality Group, beverage program lead for jm curley and Bogie’s Place, curator of the beverage program at The Wig Shop of BiNA Family Hospitality (since 2022), and bartender of The Wig Shop (since 2024). The range of those roles points to a career built through accumulation: handling the bar, shaping programs, and carrying a point of view from one setting to another.

Where They Are Now

That position calls for a bartender who treats hospitality as a full system, not just a sequence of drinks. At The Wig Shop, that approach shows up in a program that reads as cohesive and lived-in rather than assembled for effect.

Signature

Oscar Simoza’s signature cocktails include Mala Vida’s advice, Pony Star, Channing Ta-Yum, Vapin’ in Vegas, and Rise & Grind. The names suggest a bar language that is playful without losing control, with each drink carrying its own identity before it reaches the guest. They sit within a body of work that balances wit and precision, the kind of balance a bartender needs when the menu is meant to stay with people.

In Their Words “I realized that the people I was working with in the industry or the bar people, they were very, very welcoming and encouraging.” “I realized the city was actually taking me in. And by the “city” I mean the people I got to meet through the bar.” Those lines frame the bar as a working environment shaped by peer support and repeat contact. For Oscar Simoza, hospitality reads less like an abstract ideal than a daily exchange, with the city defined by the people encountered across the bar.

Honors

Oscar Simoza’s honors include James Beard Award semifinalist, Outstanding Professional in Cocktail Service (2025) and Culture Shaker (2021). The recognition follows a path that runs from early bar shifts in Somerville and Harvard Square to a larger role within Boston hospitality. In those honors, as in the work itself, the measure is consistency: a professional voice built through steady service and a clear point of view.