Where NOT To Order Cocktails

There are certain places, I mean bars or restaurants, where you just don't order a particular type of cocktail.
For example, where is the worst place to order a Margarita? Usually, a Mexican restarant. Especially the chain restaurants. The reason is simple. They sell so many of them, they have to pre-make them in order to keep up with the large volume of orders. They're usually poured out of a large jug which contains about 20-30 pre-made Margaritas. Then there are about 20-30 of those large jugs stashed behind the bar. Or even worse, they could come out of a super-sized slurpee-like machine. Nothing like a frozen, slurpee-like Margarita. You could go to a local 7-11 and get a cup of crushed ice, go home and pour some cheap tequila over it with some super-sweet sour mix out of a bottle and get the same thing.
Now, there are exceptions. An up-scale Mexican restaurant, not part of a chain, would probably have a well-made, properly mixed Margrita. An experienced, professional bartender would definitely be an asset.

Another place you may be ambivalent about ordering drinks is where the bartender has to look up recipes in full view of the guests. A local restaurant in the DC metro area has large computer-type screens around the bar where the bartenders can look up recipes when stumped. I really don't want a cocktail from a bartender who has to search for recipes. It looks very unprofessional. I want my bartender to be a professional who knows about cocktails.

I appreciate a well-made Martini or Manhattan. But I've found few and far between bartenders who can actually make these two classics the proper way. With Martinis, there is either too much or too little vermouth. Same with Manhattans: either too much or too little vermouth again. Most bartenders leave out the bitters. A Manhattan takes bitters. No if's, and's, or but's about it. Without bitters, it's not a Manhattan, period.

Forget about ordering a Sazerac. You want a Sazerac, go to New Orleans. Or bring along a New Orleans bartender to your favorite bar.
Which is exactly what Huey P. Long (Governor of Louisiana, 1928-1932) did. In 1888, Henry Ramos, a New Orleans bartender/bar owner, invented the Ramos Gin Fizz. When Huey P. Long visited New York, he would take along New Orleans bartender Sam Guarino, from the New Orleans Roosevelt Hotel, with him. Sam Guarino would instruct the bartenders at New York's Roosevelt Hotel on the proper way to make a Ramos Gin Fizz.

When I go out to a bar, I always order the same drink each and every time: scotch over ice.
It's safer.

Time in a Bottle

Why does every place I work end up closing? Rock Creek closed New Year's Eve. The Bethesda, Maryland location. The Washington, DC spot closed a while back, then I eventually went to the Bethesda location. Then that one bit the dust! My resume is great, having worked at top restaurants/bars in the DC area. But the reason for leaving every one: they all closed. Seems like I may be a bad omen. One interview I had, the manager said that to me. "Hey, we're afraid to hire you. We don't want to wind up closing!" Oh well, such is life.
I'd still be at Duke Zeibert's if they hadn't closed in 1994.
Still can't figure out why some of these places would rather have some young bartender who really doesn't know what he's doing behind the wood. You'd think they'd rather hire an older, experienced professional. Someone who does it for a career, and takes a lot of pride in the art of bartending and knows how to make classic cocktails.
Some things in life I guess I'll never understand. Kind of like quantum physics or differential equations.
Spending a lot of time reading. Just finished some really great works by William Trevor, Ann Beattie, Charles Baxter, Evelyn Waugh, David Foster Wallace, Jonathan Franzen, Alexandre Dumas, Michael Chabon, etc. Dumas was such a natural born story-teller. The old-fashioned kind.
Also been doing some writing. Have a lot of articles out there circulating with different magazines.
I remember Margaret Hennessey, my English 101-102 instructor at Montgomery College, telling me that I would never have a problem with writing.
Just finished a fiction writing workshop at the Writer's Center in Bethesda, Maryland. Started a short story about a bartender, of all things. The instructor seemed to like it. I'm going to continue with it, and see where it goes.
I've published about two dozen articles over the years, but have never pursued it full-time.
But now that I've got some time on my hands...................
Meanwhile, I've got more resumes to get out!