Sunday, February 8, 2009

Professionalism in Bartending


Whatever happened to real bartenders? I mean the old-school guys who tended bar for a career?
When I first started bartending in Washington, DC at Duke Zeibert's Restaurant, circa 1975, I was the youngest guy on the staff. I was about 23 years old.
I remember Howard "Mac" McNamara and Leo Veran. They had been tending bar at Duke's for many years. Real professonal bartenders. They were both probably in their fifties at the time. I think the youngest waiter was also about fifty. The staff at Duke's was old-school. This was real professional waiters and bartenders. These guys tended bar and waited tables as a real profession. They did it all their lives, and took pride in it.
I remember Victor "Man O'War" Friedman. Waited tables at Duke's for about thirty years. Now that's a professional waiter!
You don't see that much anymore these days.
Seems like bartenders and waiters now are all young people who think tending bar is just something to do until they "make it on stage" or finish school to get a "real job."
They need to grow up and realize that restaurant work is an honorable profession, and take pride in their work.
In Europe, waiting tables is a very noble profession. Doesn't seem like its risen to that point yet here in America.
Joe bar-star thinks it's cool to work behind the bar so his friends can come in for free drinks.
Yeah, he's a real professional. Probably doesn't even know that a Manhattan has a dash of bitters in it. Probably doesn't even care to know, either. He needs to take the time to learn his craft properly.
These young superstars don't even know what a SideCar is.
You'd think they would take a little effort, get some books on classic cocktails, and learn something about their craft.
Not only learn how to properly make and present a classic cocktail, but also learn the history behind a classic cocktail.
Customers are impressed when the bartender can tell them the story of how a certain cocktail came about. Who invented it, and where. Splash a little color into the presentation when you're mixing a cocktail. When you do this behind the bar, you have your bar customers in the palm of your hand. You're one step above the bartender down the street who doesn't know how to flame an orange peel!
When bar-star mixes a Mai Tai, he needs to talk about Vic Bergeron at the Polynesian Oakland Bar in 1944. Same goes for the Ramos Gin Fizz: talk about the Old Stagg Saloon in the French Quarter in New Orleans. If someone orders a Gin Rickey, the customer would love to hear about the bartender at Shoemaker's in Washington, DC, who invented it for a lobbyist customer by the name of Colonel Jim Rickey. How about the Bronx Cocktail? Start talking about Johnnie Salon who tended bar at the Waldorf Bar in the old Waldorf Astoria in New York. On Sunday brunches, there's a lot of orders for a Bellini. Let's talk about Harry's Bar, Venice, Italy, 1944. Grandma and grandpa may want a Bloody Mary. How about a discourse on Pete Petiot at Harry's Bar in Paris, 1921.
Want to impress someone who orders a Singapore Sling? Tell him about Hainanese-Chinese bartender Ngiam Tong Boon at Raffles Hotel in Singapore around the turn-of-the-century. Tell the customer that in the Raffles Hotel museum, you can see the safe where Mr. Boon locked away his coveted recipe books.
Take it a step further and talk about Ngiam Tong Boon's Million Dollar Cocktail. This cocktail was mentioned in a famous barside short story by Somerset Maugham titled "The Letter."
People may think the bartender is very literate when he talks about this story. Obviously, he's well read!
Take the literate subject to another level. Talk about "Hemingway's Paris" by Jimmie Charters.
Jimmie Charters was the most famous bartender in 1920's Paris. Best memoir by a bartender ever! Mention the introduction by Ernest Hemingway. Now the bartender is really literate!
Cocktail recipe books? Mention "How To Mix Drinks or The Bon-Vivants Companion" by Jerry "The Professor" Thomas, 1862. Or try "The Savoy Cocktail Book" by Harry Craddock, 1930.
Bartenders back then made everything from scratch. Pre-mixed concoctions or flavored vodka martinis? These guys would turn over in their graves! (Incidentally, a real martini is made with gin.)
The movie "Cocktail"? Not bad. Kind of a farce, actually. But the book, "Cocktail", by Heywood Gould, (from which the movie was based), was a real gem. Definitely written by an ex-bartender. Great book! All this bottle flipping does not make a great bartender. (Go work in a circus!) What makes a great bartender? Along with great cocktails, customer service! Nothing against Tom Cruise, who I think is a great actor. But why get a pretty-boy to play the part of the bartender? Get a guy who looks like a bartender. How about Gene Hackman? Now he looks like a real bartender!
Would also be nice to see bartenders who take pride in their appearance. No shirt tail hanging out or two days worth of beard stuble on their face. The old-school bartenders had pressed and starched white shirts, and wore them with pride. Nice big handle-bar mustaches. (Now that was a mustache!) If you can't grow one properly, stock up on Gillette Fusion razors.
Really irks me to see bartenders drink or smoke behind the bar. (But nowadays, nobody can really smoke in bars most places.) Why does the bartender have to do shots with his customers? Can't he wait for that after-shift cocktail down the road instead? In my opinion, drinking during the shift behind the bar really denigrates the profession.
Bartenders need to learn how to act behind the bar as a true professional.
Sure would like to see more professionalism behind the wood.
Am I the last of a dying breed?
 

old school cocktails for Ipiet © 2008