The Aging Bartender

Through the Looking Glass

An entire lifetime ago I drew up a pretty goddam great version of the Jabberwock in black and white ink, framed it, and gave it to a girl I loved as a birthday present. It was a cool time in life. Her dad was a famous Italian chef from Naples who owned this big place

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  • Through the Looking Glass

    An entire lifetime ago I drew up a pretty goddam great version of the Jabberwock in black and white ink, framed it, and gave it to a girl I loved as a birthday present. It was a cool time in life. Her dad was a famous Italian chef from Naples who owned this big place…

  • New Cocktail: Lionheart

    I’m still on paternity leave. Massive sleep dep and being at the whim of not one, but two children now if you don’t count the dog. One small and sweet with a need to be fed every two hours or so and the other, a three year old toddler who just wants to play with…

  • Restaurant Review: Trejo’s Tacos

    If you don’t know who this guy is you’ve probably never seen a Robert Rodriguez movie, or Heat, the greatest cops and robbers flick of all time. Here in the heart of L.A. you can throw a rock and hit a Trejo’s Tacos or one of his other culinary endeavors such as Trejo’s Donuts or…

  • New Cocktail: Sitting Duck

    Another entry from the great and powerful Angel Martinez. This one comes off the heels of the quickly waning citrus season and the reappearance of the ever volatile, mercurial passionfruit which crops up whenever it chooses to…Sort of like an alcoholic ex lover whatever who calls you on the phone to pull on your heart…

  • New Cocktail: Ballpark Hero

    I’m on leave for six weeks and in my absence, the young squire of the Rustic Bar Program, Angel, has taken over. To be honest, I find it amazing he’s so good at what he does at his age, my first bartending gig was at the age of 31 and I didn’t know shit from…

  • New Cocktail: Stella Maris

    Stella Maris, latin for “Star of the sea,” is a religious reference to Mary, the mother of Jesus. I’ll stop you right here for a second. Don’t worry, I haven’t gone over to that side. I just like the name. I’m not religious by any means, nor am I an atheist. I’m more of a…

  • Movie Review: Road House (2024)

    If I had to define “camp” it would be something so bad, its good…But in a bad, eh, no, terrible sort of groaning way where you’re happy but annoyed at yourself for enjoying something so low brow with such horrendous…Well, everything…I hope that makes some sense to you as its one of those holy things…

  • New Cocktail: Weapon X

    We came up with this one last year but it never made it to the menu due to an egg white being in it. Yeah, I’m old and my excuse is it’s a bit hokey at this point and no bartender actually wants to do all that shaking…Its pretty annoying…But the punters really love an…

  • Taxonomic Ranks of Professions…

    Jotted this down the other day and thought I’d share. I guess it would start with professions/jobs/careers (yes there is a difference) then the subcategory or kingdom would start with the “service industry,” ugh, hate that term. Anyway, the phylums stemming from that would be front of house (F.O.H) and back of house (B.O.H), then…

  • Bar Hack: Lacto Raz Lime Juice Syrup

    Looking for ways to utilize your old lime juice? Look no further. I came up with the realization the other day that you can use other liquids other than water for your lacto fermentations. Why not right? Well, I had no idea if it would actually work. I’ve had a serious case of the feces…

  • New Cocktail: Coa de Jima

    Forests around Oaxaca were burning for the last several weeks. Many farmers were killed. The fires are mostly controlled but the damage has been horrific. If you haven’t noticed yet, there’s been a crazy agave boom and celebrities from The Rock to George Clooney to one of the Kardashians have been getting rich shilling agave…

  • A Clarified Milk Punch Conundrum

    As a quick aside before we even start here…Think of this: Back in the day, people would have milk delivered to them. Fresh from the udder, delicious, and depending where and when you lived, probably raw. Pasteurization was a thing in the late nineteen hundreds, as well as homogenization, yes mostly to control and sterilize…