The Aging Bartender

The Mysteries of the Pyramids

Every so often it’s late at night and you find yourself deep diving into one of the, if not the, most fascinating and perplexing mystery of the ancient world. I’m speaking about the Great Pyramid of Giza here and in my case it was last night until one in the morning. The documentary was Revelations

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  • The Mysteries of the Pyramids

    Every so often it’s late at night and you find yourself deep diving into one of the, if not the, most fascinating and perplexing mystery of the ancient world. I’m speaking about the Great Pyramid of Giza here and in my case it was last night until one in the morning. The documentary was Revelations…

  • Bar Hack: Alcoholic Atole

    I’ve been an admirer of the non-acoholic Mexican street drinking culture for some time now. Yeah you heard that right. There’s a whole world of cool, traditional, more savory bevvys they do with a large amount of it based off some variation or incorporation of chocolate, corn, tamarind, cinnamon, clove, vanilla, piloncillo (unrefined cane sugar),…

  • Requiem for Quato Lives

    Months of outstanding tiki cocktails culminated in Quato Lives. A simple but ultra delicious bevvy where I used the humble, misunderstood, and seasonal loquat with housemade spiced rum, and good ol’ coconut milk. Oh, and bananum. Denise suggested to finish it with a spritz of blackstrap, and voila, hall of legends status. Never underestimate the…

  • New Cocktail: Clueless Angel

    I was describing this one the other day at pre-shift and afterward, Chef Fox muttered something to the tune of “Something fresh and something sitting around.” I can’t remember his exact words, but whatever it was it seemed to sum up the whole Rustic Canyon ideal. Take a seasonal ingredient and if you can’t use…

  • Bar Hack: Sesame Oil Washed Bourbon

    So what you’ve got to do is find yourself some muppets and lure them into the biggest jar you can find, then pour in the booze and close the lid…Oh wait, sorry, wrong blog. This one is about fat washing. Yeah, I know, old news, big yawn, but sometimes, like in the present sesame case,…

  • And the Michelin Award Goes to…

    Above you see a dazzling swizzle from Kato‘s Austin Hennelly with amazake (not sure if it’s housemade or not, no idea where you would buy it) coconut milk, masala chai, fresh lime juice, Spuma Nero (a bitter chinotto soda) and almond orgeat. It also looks like we have the gratings of some lime and something…

  • How to Make Sauerkraut

    Not much to report here. A couple of days off on Sunday and Monday and zero interest in thinking about cocktails. Yesterday morning I was texting back and forth with my friend, Dante, about what I eat for breakfast, at least my ideal breakfast. It starts with a good half cup of homemade sauerkraut. Yeah,…

  • Daddy’s Chicken Mojo

    For you ding dongs, that’s mo-ho, not the Austin Powers mojo. I do this one a lot at home, not because I like chicken all that much, but because I like the sauce. I probably should have been a saucier like the high strung guy from Apocalypse Now. The dude who goes in and makes…

  • Confetti

    In October of 2021 I completed a novel entitled Confetti. Written in a fever within three and a half months, the idea originally germinated from thinking long and hard about the former restaurant, Vespertine. It was supposed to be a long short story or novelette but ended up being full length, an 83,000 word (332…

  • The Little Engine That Could

    The bar program received a nice write up at the end of June. Read it here. When you’re doing stuff out of a tiny bar in sleepy Santa Monica, it’s tough to tell whether or not you’re doing a good job. We think we are, our fantastic regulars think we are, but in the grand…

  • Alpha Carotene: Then and Now

    After taking the reins of the Rustic Bar Program from the indomitable Nate Dawg, one of my first cocktails to hit the list was something called Alpha Carotene. There were more than a couple of others too. I hit the ground running. The bartenders were all super annoyed with me. Six new cocktails in the…

  • The Seasonal Bar 7.13.23

    187 posts so far. So, over six months now. Wondering if I can go a year. At this point, why the hell not? I’ve got some cool stuff coming up and will have more time and space to write away from the madhouse that is my kitchen. So maybe, just maybe, I’ll be able to…