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,…
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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,…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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Father’s Day 2023
Up early to pee. 7:12 a.m. sharp. A quick diagnosis of the aches and pains of the morning. The outside bottom of my left foot…Quite puzzling–potential emergence of gout? The outside of my right knee, the lateral collateral ligament (LCL) feels slightly sprained. Something is going on with the tendons in my left bicep. A…
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New Cocktail: Quato Lives
Yeah, I changed Kuato to Quato. So what? Let’s focus on the why. First off, fresh loquats, then kumquat scraps. After making sort of fermented kumquat-vanilla syrup there’s a bunch of waste leftover. This went into several different areas. There’s some shrub, then some infusion confusion vodka/pisco concoction but also a little Old Fashioned Traditional…
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Service Musings: A Moment of Life and Wisdom Gleaned from Being Deep in the Shits
Ok…Let’s see here. PGA Tour thingie in town. Check. End of year high school and college graduations aplenty. Check. Two new managers on the floor. Check. Newish host. Check. Chef out sick. Check. Second bartender out sick. Check. Mega amount of reservations. Check. Yup. Good old Murphy. We love you so much. Luckily I smelled…
The Aging Bartender 