The Aging Bartender

The Florida Stint: Part 8

Continued from Part 7. Upon starting at The Grand Central Cafe, I was given an actual cotton chef’s coat. That made me feel a little better. The job itself however, was a far cry from my upbringing at Sweet Tomatoes, my first real kitchen. The entire concept of Grand Central revolved around a giant conveyer…

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  • The Florida Stint: Part 8

    Continued from Part 7. Upon starting at The Grand Central Cafe, I was given an actual cotton chef’s coat. That made me feel a little better. The job itself however, was a far cry from my upbringing at Sweet Tomatoes, my first real kitchen. The entire concept of Grand Central revolved around a giant conveyer…

  • New Cocktail: Double Impact

    This one spawned from a past favorite, the Triple Lindy, in addition to the seasons just not wanting to change fast enough due to all the crazy weather here in Southern California. Hey, there’s almost always going to be nice tomatoes like these little sun gold suckers. I thought about what made the Triple Lindy…

  • Slow Nights Force You to Contemplate Your Terrible Life Choices

    Yup. Slower than death last night and the regret monsters really climbed into my head. How did I end up here? What the hell am I going to do with the rest of my life? Am I going to be here until I’m 60 years old? For whatever reason I thought about my old roommate,…

  • Farmer’s Market Loot: 4.5.23

    Strawberries…And more strawberries. Yes, the old purple cauliflower caught my eye yet again at the market but I didn’t possess the cajones to pull the trigger. Someday…At any rate…Not much else was available. Still lots of citrus. By this time last year we had cherries. The crap weather has extended the season by a country…

  • When Life Gives You Lemons, Make Strawberry Campari

    Sometimes the old tricks are the best ones, that’s why they’re old. They’ve been around the block. They’re tried and true. Call ’em all the names you want, but they last because they still work despite how decrepit they are. Hey, kind of like me. One of the big ones on the block is the…

  • Restaurant Review: Maple Block Meat Co.

    We traipse along in our mundane, but necessary, routines and every so often there’s a glimpse of sunshine in the form of a loved one’s smile, the simplicity of a child’s innocent love, or surprising and delicious morsels of food. The latter occurred last night. A moment of bliss in the early evening. After a…

  • Death of a Cocktail

    Adios, El Negroni. You were good. Yes, there comes a time when the old death shroud must be pulled over the big favorites. This was a forced demise, which for better or worse, pushes me to have to come up with new shit. I’ve thought about this for a little while now. We’ve got the…

  • New Cocktail: Schnucki Putzi

    Schnuckiputzi, our first $100 cocktail is going to the top of the seasonal menu today. I’ll admit, it took more technical know how than I had at my disposal. We sought out only the world’s finest for this one. Three consultants: Nico DeSoto, Jillian Vose, and the magnificent Phil Ward. They owed us a favor…

  • The Florida Stint: Part Seven

    Continued from Part Six. My time at B. Merrel’s was limited, temporary. I knew that walking in. Minimum wage at the time was $5.15 an hour. After a month or so, I began looking for better opportunities. After scanning the local newspaper, The Tallahassee Democrat, I found something a little closer to my wheelhouse, a…

  • The Florida Stint: Part Six

    Continued from Part Five. The wing shack, B. Merrel’s, was run by this guy named Marv, a short, jacked older white guy with a crazy jagged scar across his forehead and a lazy eye. Maybe the two were related, maybe not. After the interview we shook hands and he took me through the kitchen to…

  • The Florida Stint: Part Five

    Continued from Part Four. After a few drunken days with the boys in Maryland, I said my silent goodbyes (they were asleep) and drove to Tallahassee in one big go, about 14 or 15 hours of straight driving. The old gold Golf held true. Route I-95 the whole way until Jacksonville, then a big right…

  • Restaurant Review: Taste of Tehran

    Until I wrote this blog post, I had no idea what Persian meant. I always thought it was a blanket term for anyone from that part of the world. Nope. The word describes the ethnic group of people and their language who come from ancient or modern Iran. That’s all. I drive through this section…