The Aging Bartender

When Bartenders Dream

They dream of their own place. Something small, minimalist, maybe on the corner. No investors to pay, just a small loan to start it all off. Somehow, someway, the liquor license comes easy. A turnkey establishment. A few renovations here and there, a coat of paint, clean bathrooms, a new, less sticky floor, and then

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  • When Bartenders Dream

    They dream of their own place. Something small, minimalist, maybe on the corner. No investors to pay, just a small loan to start it all off. Somehow, someway, the liquor license comes easy. A turnkey establishment. A few renovations here and there, a coat of paint, clean bathrooms, a new, less sticky floor, and then…

  • The Original Banana

    Does anyone else have a 50% depreciation in their banana investments? What I mean is, do you throw out half of the bananas you buy? We do. Yeah, yeah, I know you can wrap the stalk with plastic or whatever to help keep them around longer. I’m not doing that. The benefit is bananas are…

  • Bar Hack: A Better Army & Navy Cocktail

    Why do it the old way? I say we do it Rustic Style instead. What does that even mean? My friends M&J are having themselves a wedding this Saturday and they wanted me to whip up a couple of their favorite concoctions, one of those said drinks being the Army & Navy. Ok. Ok. Not…

  • Nothing to Say…Notes on Inspiration…

    Woke up this morning after two days off with nothing to say here. In terms of the usual inspiration and how drinks come about, I’m not much of a wanderer when it comes to going out and seeing what other people are doing in their cocktail programs. Yeah, I guess that’s not good on my…

  • It’s Getting a Little Weird Over Here

    In the beginning, when I took over as bar manager, I had no idea what the hell I was doing. My first couple of seasonal cocktails on the list were…Hmmm…Let me think a moment here…Something called Alpha Carotene. Ha. Fresh carrot juice, cardamom, bourbon, some grated nutmeg over the top. Not a big seller. Also,…

  • Bourdain Day, 2023

    To say this man, Anthony Bourdain, had a profound impact on my life would be a massive understatement. In 1999 I was handed a torn out copy of the New Yorker article, Don’t Eat Before Reading This, by my boss, Tom, chef and owner of the Trattoria Delia in my hometown, Burlington, VT. I took…

  • Why Are You All So Afraid of Rum?

    I get it, we all did the same thing. Young, stupid, cheap ass bottle of Bacardi rum in hand and hours later head in the toilet, retching, blaming the rum. Shame on you, you blamed the rum. As you went forward in life, aged a little, everyone you knew gravitated toward vodka. It’s clean they…

  • New Cocktail: Green Hornet

    Full confession, I’ve never seen one episode of the show or even watched the remake in movie form starring Seth Rogan but the drink came to me and I thought it would be a damn good name for a cocktail. No? It does have some martial arts reference and history. We like martial arts references…

  • Farmer’s Market Loot: 6.22.23

    Melons! What the hell Weiser Farms?!? All of a sudden the weather turned a corner. It’s sunny here again in Santa Monica, just in time for the summer solstice (middle of the year for you non hippies) there’s stone fruit aplenty, and of course, Weiser Farm melons are beginning to trickle in. For those of…

  • The Seasonal Bar Continued…

    Some thoughts here about the introduction to the book and what it wants to be. Just going to free write from here, release some of the hounds inside my head. I’m thinking now it will be stories intertwined with recipes. I have all of the recipe stuff finished and when I come up with new…

  • New Cocktail: Umami Issues

    This one came about from a mixture of different ideas that coalesced from a bunch of leftover shit. Ha. That’s usually how it goes around here. Number one, I wanted a drink with powerful, long lasting umami flavor. Number two, I wanted to use up a bunch of larder items. The closet was beginning to…

  • Restaurant Review: Crudo e Nudo

    First off, I’d like to mention that Crudo e Nudo is a sustainable restaurant business and not just from the perspective of providing overpriced local seafood and organic ingredients to the populace but the owners also treat their employees incredibly well. A few articles have already been written about Crudo e Nudo’s business model, what…