NICE GUY AWARD

Having been a DC bartender for almost forty years, I have come across all kinds of people: good, bad, indifferent, nice, mean, generous, cheap, straight, gay, not-sure-which-way, young, old, famous, infamous, etc., etc. When behind the bar, I always wanted to be treated as a person, not a servant. And one of the people who fit that bill was Lanny Davis, White House Counsel to President Clinton. One of the nicest people I've ever served in all those years of bartending. I was always supposed to have a smile on my face for my guests, (formerly customers, but that term is politically incorrect now. And go REDSKINS!), but Lanny always had a smile for me. When Lanny Davis was working at the White House for President Clinton, he would stop in after work at the Oval Room Restaurant, where I was tending bar at the time, and quaff down a couple of Tanqueray and tonics. (From all the pressure he was under, I'm surprised he never had more than a couple!) And he was always writing down his notes on my bar napkins for his book, "Truth To Tell." I always kidded him, and told him I wanted those "note napkins" for a souvineer! Lanny Davis always made it worthwhile to go in to work. It was always a pleasure for me to serve him. He was always a gentleman, and never had a mean word for or about anyone. (Another "nicest person award" would go to George Stephanopolous, who came into my bar one morning, and asked if I minded if he sat at my bar while waiting for his lunch compatriots. He also greeted me with a smile! This was also at the Oval Room, one of the three times I ever worked a day shift during my long career. Lanny is also a gifted jazz pianist, as he demonstrated one night on the Oval Room piano, with his wife Carolyn singing at his side. If he ever left his law career, he would have a job as a jazz pianist overnight, in a heartbeat. I wish all my guests were as nice as Lanny Davis. But if they were, then I'd have no material for my memoirs!

Terry McAuliffe

Re: The Virginia elections - 2013 - Governor. This is interesting: I'm so glad Terry McAuliffe won! I know him very well. He was a regular customer of mine when I worked at the Oval Room Restaurant, Washington, DC, and he was working at the White House for Clinton. He would periodically come in about 6pm, after he left the White House, with other people who worked with him at the WH. He always called me ahead of time and ask for a few Amstel Lights to be put on ice. One time I left work early, and Terry was leaving the same time. He asked me where I was going, and I said I was getting a cab to the Childe Harold, up at Dupont Circle, to meet a few friends for a few beers. He told me he would give me a ride, which he did, and I asked him to come in with me, but he declined. Now, after he's done being governor, he may run for President. This is great: if he ever becomes President, then I can say the President of the U.S. once gave me a ride to a bar! What a story that would be! When he came into the Oval Room bar, Clinton would call him a lot on his cell phone. When the President called him, he would get up and walk over to the corner and say: "Yessir, Mr. President?" He would never sit while talking to Clinton. What a class act he is! You don't hear stories like this in Oshkosh, Wisconsin! Terry is such a nice guy, very, very polite, and a gentleman. He wrote a book a few years ago, and I went to his reading and signing at Barnes and Noble in Bethesda, Maryland. His book was "What A Party!" He inscribed it to me: "To Nick Wineriter, the greatest bartender in DC. Terry McAuliffe." He gave a great talk at the bookstore. He said about the war in Iraq, that if we took the money that the war is costing this country, that money would buy health care for every living American. He got a standing ovation when he said that. I'm so glad he won! I hope he runs for President someday.

Literary Bars

One thing I've always liked about living in DC, is that it's a literary town. People here love to read. Everything, from political diatribes (This Town!), to mysteries, thrillers, science fiction, literary short stories, etc. It's not hard to go to almosr any bar here, and see someone with their head in a book. Yeah, I know, a lot of people have their head pouring over a screen glaring up at them from their Nook or Kindle. But that's something for an entirely different article. I'm talking about REAL books, the stuff that uses papyrus and pulp to print on. Yes, someday, those kind of things will probably only be found in the Smithsonian, but I don't think it'll be in my lifetime. Books and bars are like a marriage. Even in a noisy, maybe even rowdy bar, you'll see someone reading. They seem so ambivalent to what's going on around them. They're so absorbed in what they are reading. Kramerbooks and Afterwards, here in DC, is a great indie bookstore, and also has a cafe in the back, with a fully stocked bar. It's so nice to support the bricks-and-mortar bookstores, and also have a libation before leaving. Politics and Prose is another superb indie bookstore here. One of the best in the country, in my opinion. Although no fully stocked bar exists in the downstaits cafe, they do make excellent lattes! DC also has a marathon reading of "Ulysses" every June 16, on Bloomsday. It's usually held at a local Irish bar, but lately it seems as if the venue doesn't necessarily have to be Irish. It's so relaxing to sip on a pint of Guinness, and hear the beautiful prose of James Joyce being read. It's also nice to embellish that Guinness with an ornament of Irish whiskey on the side. A great cocktail book is "To Have and Have Another: A Hemingway Cocktail Companion" by local drink historian Philip Greene. A great read about Hemingway and his cocktails, including recipes. That's one book that will make you thirst for a classic cocktail (not something from the strawberrry matini family, but rather a real Martini, meaning made with gin, or perhaps a Rusty Nail or a White Lady). But after reading about Hemingway's thirst for alcohol, you'll either want another cocktail, or you'll swear them all off. There's no in-between! A bartender friend of mine recently moved to the west coast, LA in particular. He compared life in LA to life in DC: he remembered how everybody in DC is a reader. He told me that in LA, not many people read as they do here in DC. He mentioned to me how the people out there can't name a single Supreme Court justice, but they all know when Tom Cruise's daughter's birthday is! Personally, I'd rather read than do just about anything else. One of my favorite quotes: "When I get a little money, I buy books, and if there is any left, I buy food and clothes." ---- Desiderius Erasmus (1465 - 1536) As for me, just give me my books and beer!

NEW YEAR'S EVE

Another New Year's Eve has passed. Good riddance. A belated goodbye to amateur night. An event for amateur drinkers looking for an excuse to get sloshed.
After 38 years of bartending under my belt, I've had my share of that night's festivities and revelry.
Being retired from batending now, (due to health issues, i.e., a bad back, a bad hip, just can't seem to gyrate behind the bar like I used to), I often think back of all those New Year's Eves spent slinging whisky, pouring champagne at midnight, and getting all those wet, liquory kisses. Yeah, I don't miss it one bit. Well, okay, maybe just a little.
(But I do miss bartending in general. I really do!)
One of my biggest pet-peeves was watching all those people put on those silly hats and blow those ear-shattering horns all night. No wonder my tinnitus still acts up. And I thought it was all due to front row seats to Jimi Hendrix and Who concerts.
Now I'm really dating myself.
But eventually I came to agree with what Pete Townshend sang: "We're not gonna take it.......!"
No, just can't take it anymore. Working a New Year's Eve bar shift is akin to me
doing another thing you just couldn't pay me to attend: a presidential election night ball!  As my good friend Boomer said about those balls: "a 45-minute wait to get a drink, terrible food, and long lines for the bathrooms." No, there's just so many other things I'd rather be doing.
Such as?
Well, staying at home and reading some Charles Dickens Christmas short stories.
(Hey, New Year's Eve is still in the octave of Christmas!)
You really can't go wrong with a Charles Dickens read at anytime of the year. But he's just so appropriate at Christmas time.
As my protest aginst the amateurishness of New Year's Eve, I don't even drink that night. And it's so nice to wake up on New Year's Day without a hangover, unlike all my compatriots from bar life.
I usually take Joanie, my wife, out to an early dinner, maybe late afternoon. Then we come home and  watch an old Humphrey Bogart mystery. Gotta love that Maltese Falcon.
She goes to bed early. Then I'll make a cup of hot cocoa, and seriously, I really do get into a Dickens novel. Tradition.
Being in my recliner, I tend to fall asleep before midnight.
And you know what: I wouldn't have it any other way!
Before I forget: Happy New Year!

ABSINTHE: The Second Ending of Prohibition!

Prohibition has ended. Again!
You can now legally buy absinthe. For over a hundred years, you couldn't. In some countries, it is still illegal. It was often thought of as an aphrodisiac. Doctors used it as medicine. It became known as "the green fairy," from it's green color.
Some people believed that in large quantities it could be fatal, as it was thought to attack the central nervous system.
Originally invented in Switzerland, it was banned there in 1907. The United States followed by banning it in 1912, and France in 1915.
Science eventually proved that absinthe was not the culprit that the drink police thought it was.

Herbsaint is a great absinthe substitute. It is distilled in Kentucky, but was originally from New Orleans.

The Absinthe Drip is a great showpiece for a bartender to present to his guests.
Making and consuming this cocktail will take you back to early twentieth-century Paris quicker than the phone booth in "Midnight In Paris."

Pour 2 ounces absinthe into a large slender glass, similar to a champagne flute.
Place an absinthe spoon over the top of the glass.
(An absinthe spoon is a small flat spoon with small perforations, and the fancier ones are exquisitely decorated.)
Place one lump of sugar on top of the spoon.
Slowly pour water, drop by drop, over the sugar.
The dripping of the water will melt the sugar, and consequently sweeten the drink.
It will also lessen the alcohol content.

The following quote about absinthe is attributed to Oscar Wilde:

"After the first glass, you see things as you wish they were. After the second, you see things as they are not. Finally you see things as they really are, and that is the most horrible thing in the world."

THE FLAME OF LOVE

Here's a bit of cocktail lore for cocktail enthusiasts: the Flame of Love.

This cocktail was a popular drink at Chasen's in West Hollywood. Created in the late 1930's by bartending legend Pepe Ruiz, head bartender at Chasen's for thirty-five years.  The story goes that it was created for Dean Martin.

Coat the inside of a cocktail glass with dry sherry, then discard the excess.
Then carmelize orange oil into the glass by squeezing an orange twist through a flame to coat the inside of the glass.
Chill about three ounces or so of vodka, then strain into the glass.
Finish by flaming another orange twist over the drink.

This cocktail became very popular at Hollywood parties, of which Frank Sinatra threw many.

SURGERY

Well, I finally did it. I went under the knife for that herniated disc. Wasn't as bad as I thought, or heard, it would be. The worst time was the first hour in recovery. Pain level there was about a ten. But once they had the pain medication going in through an IV, it started subsiding.
Next worst case was when the IV came out, and they put me on pain pills. The first few hours was pain city. Just goes to show you how much that IV worked its magic. The pain pills started kicking in, and it was downhill from there.
When I was in pre-op, I had this vision of being wheeled into the operating room, and a surgeon who looked like Peter Lorre would be standing there, sharpening his knives on that big leather strap, with an evil grin on his face. Guess I've been watching too many late night horror films.
Went home on the third day. But I was up and walking on the second day. Therapist said I probably wouldn't need any physical therapy, as I was doing so good in the hospital.
My doctor saw me a few times after surgery, and was impressed on my recovery.
When I saw doc about ten days after surgery and told him I needed only two pain pills a day, if that, he said that I was doing better than most patients after back surgery, some of whom take up to ten pills a day.
Definitely on the right road to recovery. Just can't drive for six weeks, and no bending, lifting, or twisting for three months.
Joannie, my wife, is on call 24/7 now. She is a delight in taking care of me. Constantly asking me what I need. Not bad, huh?
Catching up on a lot of reading, which is one of my great pleasures in life anyhow.
When not reading, it doesn't hurt to sit in the recliner and have the remote in one hand and a cocktail in the other. Only problem with that is, I don't know how many more re-runs of Gunsmoke I can watch!
Will I be able to go back to bartending?
Really don't know. Have to talk to my doctor about that. Kind of afraid of pulling my back out of whack again. Really don't want to go through this type of surgery a second time.
If I bartend again, great. If not, I'll miss it terribly!