Classic, modern and wildcard – those are the three categories of cocktails at Spoke, the popular blink-and-you’ll-miss-it restaurant in Davis Square. Bar Manager Cali Gold will tell you the wildcard category is named for her and her unconventional drink recipes, but in many ways the three categories together better describe Gold’s passionate approach to the cocktail game. Her drink menus show reverence for the past, a commitment to current techniques and an artist’s eye for the previously unimagined – classic, modern and wildcard, all wrapped up in one.

Gold moved to Boston from California in 2006 to study at Emerson College but a job at Myers + Chang shifted her focus – the hustle and bustle of restaurant life appealed to her and she dove headfirst into the hospitality world. It wasn’t long before Gold left school and went into food and beverage full time.

After a year at Myers + Chang, she joined the opening staff of Barbara Lynch’s Fort Point cocktail bar, Drink, as a barback. Lynch had assembled an all-star team of Boston bartenders who could execute the vision of a bar with exceptional craft cocktails and no menu. Gold thrived. She spent four years in what amounted to a mixology seminary, learning from some of the best in the city and becoming a senior bartender herself.

In 2013, Gold met Felisha “Flea” Foster who was opening Spoke. She was brought on board as a bartender, working with Foster to develop the bar program and was quickly promoted to Bar Manager. “The original plan was for the focus to be on wine,” Gold said. But restaurants, like fight cards, are subject to change.

Give Spoke the eyeball test and you’ll see as many coupes and rocks glasses on tables as wine bottles. In less than a year, the cocktail list expanded from three house drinks, handwritten on a blackboard to a rotating selection of 15 seasonal cocktails appealing to broad tastes. “It’s a reflection of the fact that this town is still cocktail crazy,” she said. “It’s not just a fad from four years ago. The program had to evolve to fit what the public wanted.”

In addition to expanding the options for guests, Gold also tries hard to keep up with the evolving dishes of Chef John DaSilva. “I’ve tried to be inspired by or to match the kitchen in some ways, at least thematically.” For example, Gold’s Nailed It! is a salted caramel-inspired Rusty Nail variation that complemented one of DaSilva’s early desserts.

Gold announced earlier this summer that she’ll be moving to San Francisco in the fall. While the decision to return to the West Coast was a tough one, she felt the time was right and that the program’s in a good place. “Leaving is definitely a bittersweet experience,” she said. “I feel proud to say that you can get a really good cocktail at Spoke. I think there’s a solid foundation in classic recipes and a consistent experience.”

Gold’s successor hasn’t been named but it’ll be difficult to find someone so adept at blending the old with the new – a good wildcard’s hard to find.

Catch her at Spoke before she leaves or try this recipe for Backyard BBQ at home. Created to emulate the flavors of barbeque sauce, the drink is spicy, sweet, smoky and tangy all at once. Gold hopes that the drink elicits the feeling one gets when walking down the street and smelling someone grilling at home.

Backyard BBQ
1 oz Del Maguey Vida mescal
1 oz Old Monk rum
1/2 oz fresh lemon juice
1/2 oz demerara syrup
1 dash Tabasco
1 dash of The Bitter End Memphis BBQ bitters
Pinch of smoked salt

Shake and double strain into Batavia Arrack rinsed double old-fashioned glass