PAPA DOBLE

Here's a tribute to Papa Hemingway.
Around 1921, bartender extraordinaire Constantino Ribailagua, who worked the El Floridita Bar in Havana, decided to add fresh grapefruit juice to the Daiquiri. He also added some maraschino liqueur. Ernest Hemingway was a regular at El Floridita. Constantino named the drink Papa Doble, meaning Papa's Double, after Ernest Hemingway.
Since Hemingway had an aversion to sugar, the original recipe used no sugar. But down the line, sugar (or simple syrup) was added to the recipe.

one-and-a-half ounces white rum
one-fourth ounce maraschino liqueur
one-half ounce fresh grapefruit juice
three-fourth ounce fresh lime juice
three-fourth ounce simple syrup (optional)

Shake with ice and strain into chilled cocktail glass.

Begin reading "The Sun Also Rises."

Jack Rose Cocktail

There are a lot of cocktails out there that many bartenders don't know how to make.
This is a classic, which will elevate any bartender from "just a bartender" to "professional bartender". (Really hate to use the word "just").
No one really knows if there was a person named Jack or not.
The world will probably never know.
Rumor has it that the cocktail was actually named after a pink rose called the Jacquemot rose.
One of the earliest references to the Jack Rose was in "The Old Waldorf-Astoria Bar Book," by Albert Stevens Crockett, 1935.
Several years back there were two reporters for the Washington Post who went to all the bars around Washington trying to find a bartender who knew how to make a Jack Rose.
They didn't introduce themselves as reporters, but just as two guys out looking for a Jack Rose Cocktail.
They were very unsuccessful at first, as most of the bars they went to didn't have a bartender who knew how to make it.
They finally found a bartender who knew, and they wrote up their story in the Food Section about their quest for a Jack Rose Cocktail.
(Wished they would have come to my bar!)
Here goes:

Jack Rose Cocktail

two-and-a-half ounces Applejack Brandy
three-fourth ounce fresh lemon juice
one-quarter ounce grenadine (more or less to taste)

Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass
Garnish with a lemon twist.

Knowing this cocktail will seperate you from the riff-raff bartenders down the street who don't respect the profession of bartending.

SILVER BULLET

How many bartenders get a call for a Silver Bullet?
How many bartenders even know what a Silver Bullet is?
Answer: not many, to both questions.
Us old-school dinosaur bartenders know what a Silver Bullet is.
It's a Martini with a scotch float. Definitely old-school cocktail.
I mean a real Martini. The kind with gin.
To me, a vodka Martini is not a Martini. It's just chilled vodka, served straight up.
A few weeks ago at Rock Creek, some guy in the dining room ordered a Silver Bullet. At Rock Creek, the waiters (sorry, I mean "servers"), pick up the drinks for the dining room at the service end of the bar.
One waiter came up and ordered a Silver Bullet. The waiter said that the customer asked if the bartender knew how to make one. To my astonishment, I couldn't believe that someone out there had actually ordered a Silver Bullet! I haven't had a call for that in over 25 years! First thing I start thinking is that the guy (and I do mean "guy", being that women don't order Silver Bullets), must be over 50 years old.
I made the cocktail, and personally carried it out to the dining room. I wanted to shake the hand of a real professional drinker. The guy looked about mid-sixties. Had to be to even remember what a Silver Bullet is. He also looked very distinguished and dapper.
He appreciated the fact that I knew how to make one, and that I personally carried it out to him.
He tasted it, and loved it!
The Silver Bullet is a cocktail that the old-school reporters drank.
I can just picture H. L. Mencken or Johnny Apple downing a few Silver Bullets over their extra-large cut of prime rib!

My Washington Post editorial. 6-14-09

I’ll Take an Old-Fashioned, Please. Regarding the June 5 Weekend article “A New Taste of Summer; 5 Drinks That Aim to Make Mojitos but a Memory”: It was a great article, and my hat’s off to the creative young bartenders who come up with these innovative cocktails. It seems as if this is the future of bartending, one where you might need to visit a world market to get all the ingredients. Jerry “the Professor” Thomas, who wrote the first recipe book for bartenders in 1862, and Harry Craddock, the legendary barman at London’s Savoy Hotel, may start shaking in their graves. Being an old-school bartender, I often wonder: Whatever happened to just a beer and a shot? Or a classic Manhattan? Or a classic anything?These old-school cocktails will always stand the test of time. How many bartenders know that a Manhattan requires a dash of bitters? When anyone sits at my bar and orders a beer with a shot of Grand Marnier, the first thing I ask is: “Where do you tend bar?” Nine times out of 10, I’m right. But hey, let’s go with the flow. There’s got to be something out there that I’d give up my shot of Jameson for.
Nick Wineriter
Washington
The writer is head bartender at Rock Creek Restaurant in Washington

Future of Bartending

Where is bartending going?

Is it going the way of food? Where everything is strategically placed on the plate, and you want to take a photo before you dive into it?

When I go out to dinner, I just want a piece of prime rib hanging over the plate, with some mashed potatoes and gravy. Screw the health-conscious public, and calorie counters.

If you're that concerned, stay at home! Eat your celery sticks and carrots!

When I dine, I just want a plate of food, so I don't have to go to Burger King afterwards.

Same for cocktails: what are all these foo-foo drinks?

Do we have to go to some third-world market to get the ingredients?

I have nothing against new cocktails, but let's keep things in order.

DUKE ZEIBERT'S

I was a bartender at Duke Zeibert's Restaurant, Washington, DC. Mel Krupin (who I have the utmost respect for) hired me there in 1975. I was just 5 years out of high-school.
I remember my first shift there. Duke told me: "Make good drinks, but don't give the house away".
I think I was the youngest person on the staff. Most of the waiters were at least 50 years old, (and were either Jewish or Greek) and had been there for years. I remember Victor " Man O War" Friedman. About 75 years old. Waited tables for Duke for about 40 years. (Bless his heart!) And Benny. Another oldtime waiter who had been working for Duke for about 35 years.
Unfortunately, you don't see too many old school bartenders (or waiters) around anymore. Did I say "waiters"? I guess it's politically correct now to call them "servers". Beside myself being a bartending "dinosaur", there's Jim Ross at the Prime Rib, John Boswell at the Hay Adams, Ed Seitz at the Monacle, and Jim Hewes at the Round Robin Bar in the Willard Hotel.
Two of my bartender mentors, Mac (Howard MacNamara) who had been working for Duke since day one, and Leo Veran, a Philipino bartender who had been at Duke's for about 15 years. Mac and Leo were my heroes at the times. Their combined experience was more years than I had been alive.
I remember when the Washington Redskins would win on Sunday afternnoon, and George Allen would come into Duke's for a celebratory dinner. Then the next day. on Monday, Duke's would take a celebratory cake out to Reskins Park.
I remember Sonny Jurgensen coming in, and Eric Severeid also. I once made a drink for Peter Lawford, a member of the Rat Pack. He had brandy and milk, with brown granulated sugar on top. I asked him how the drink was, and he said: "Fabulous!"
Duke used to parade Elizabeth Ray around the dining room, and had flowers waiting on the table for her.
The original Duke's closed in 1980, and I went out to Hawaii to tend bar. Tiring of Hawaii, I came back to D.C., and went back with Duke when he re-opened in 1983 in the Washington Square building, at Connecticut and L Street, NW. He had all the Redskins trophys there, along with the golf trophy and baseball trophy.
Celebrities I saw there: John Travolta, Tony Curtis, Jerry Lewis, Larry King, Jackie Mason, Riddick Bowe, Cybil Shepard, Jamie Lee Curtis, etc. I asked Jackie Mason for an autograph. I told him my wife was Jewish. My shirt must have been wrinkled. He asked me if my wife did my shirts (his pronunciation: "shoits") for me.
I used to do photography for Duke. When Jerry Lewis came in. Duke asked me to do a photo. Duke stood behind Jerry Lewis at the table, and Jerry, who was eating lobster, put the lobster claws in his nose for the photo.
When Gorbachev came in with Larry King, Duke asked me to do photos. I was off that night, and Duke said to come in with my camera, bring my family, and he'd pick up the dinner tab. I told my daughter Liz, about 10 years old at the time, to go stand behind Gorbachev's table. She went there, got scared, and ran off. Larry King called her back, and I got a photo of Liz shaking hands with Gorbachev. Someday Liz will understand Russian history.
We used to have an employee meal every day about 5 pm. One day I missed the meal because I was in the stock room getting supplies. So I asked one of the cooks to make me some scrambled eggs. When Duke walked in the kitchen. he asked who the eggs were for. He came behind my bar, grabbed me by the collar, and started yelling at me in front of all my customers. He asked me if next time, I was going to order a steak. After working the tables in the diningroom, he came back behind my bar, put his arm around me, and asked me how the eggs were. "Terrific", I said. Duke said" "Don't worry aout it, you're alright with me!"
He'd yell and scream, and then later he was your best friend.
I was very proud to have plied my bartending trade at Duke's.
Something to tell my grandkids about.
Currently, I'm head bartender at Rock Creek Restaurant, Friendship Heights, Washington, DC.
Another place I'd like to brag to my future grandkids about!

TRIBUTE TO MARK POLLMAN

TRIBUTE TO MARK POLLMAN


What can I say about a bartender like Mark Pollman?
Bartender extraordinaire is the least.
Mark was one of a kind.
March 12, 2009, was the one year anniversary of Mark’s death.
Unfortunately, Mark and I never met.
Mark was a bartender in St. Louis, Missouri. I am a bartender in Washington, DC.
I first heard of Mark while I was tending bar at Duke Zeibert’s Restaurant in Washington, DC.
One day a copy of Top Shelf magazine came into Duke’s. There was a cover story of Mark in it.
As I read the article and looked at the pictures, I noticed Mark was wearing a Bartender Hall of Fame ring.
Being a Hall of Fame member myself, I immediately sent him a congratulatory letter.
Mark was tending bar at the Fox and Hounds Lounge in St. Louis.
He sent back a very nice reply, and we were friends ever since.
We emailed each other constantly, and spoke on the phone on a weekly basis.
We always talked about meeting, either him coming to DC, or me going to St. Louis.
I always wanted to make a surprise visit to the Fox and Hounds, Since we had never met, my first line would have been: “Hey, bartender, what do I have to do to get a drink in this toilet?”
He probably would have thrown me out (until he realized who I was).
We always talked about having a big bar bash for all the Bartender Hall of Fame members. Mark’s question was always the same: “Who would tend bar?”
Mark would call me almost every Sunday night about 8 pm.
We would always talk about the bar business.
He always gave me good advice. He was my mentor.
But we also talked about life in general.
A funny thing: my mother would also call me every Sunday night (from Florida).
Mom’s phone call was always after Mark’s. I could rely on these phone calls religiously every Sunday night.
Unfortunately, my mother passed away on March 12, 2007.
When mom died, Mark sent me the most comforting letter I’ve ever received from anyone.
He gave me such good advice on dealing with my mother’s death.
Telling me how my mom wouldn’t want me crying, feeling sad, etc.
I had a tribute speech planned for my mom at her funeral, and I told Mark that I would have a hard time reading it.
Mark comforted me so much, that I read it with no problem.
Mark also told me that when his mother died, she told him before she passed away:
“Don’t cry for me, but party hearty”.
Then the unfortunate happened: Mark passed away on the one-year anniversary of my mother’s death.
How ironic!
Mark had a “baby” born some years back.
He published a book titled: “Bottled Wisdom”.
He always referred to his book as his “baby”.
A phenomenal book. A collection of quotes about the bar business, bartending, restaurants, saloons, etc.
Wow!
Unfortunately, I couldn’t attend the wake for Mark last year.
I know it was a big bash. Definitely a bar party.
But I did order a shirt that was given away at his wake.
The back of the shirt had a photo of Mark on it.
Below the photo it said:
Mark Anthony Pollman
06-24-43 - 03-12-2008
Above the photo it said:
“Listen Asshole; You Gonna Drink or You Gonna Talk?”
That was Mark!
Mark, from all of us to you:
We love you and miss you!