part 2 in the ongoing series, ‘better know your neighborhood bars’
last night i went to a new-ish bar down the street. its part of a restaurant that has been around for awhile, but the bar itself only recently went from beer-n-wine to full. i asked the bartender for a recommendation from the ’specialty cocktail’ list which btw looks two parts boring one part iv drip. he says ‘well, what do you like’ i say ‘honestly i drink it all, im just interested in what you think is your best drink’ ‘well….what kind of spirit do you usually drink’ ‘really, anything…bourbon, rye, rum…’ ‘bourbon. how about a manhattan?’ sigh. ‘ok, sure.–’ but then i do something I HAVE NEVER DONE BEFORE and probably wouldn’t have even thought to do as recently as a month ago:
‘–what kind of bourbon do you use?’
‘makers mark’
now, that’s a bourbon i associate with crippling loneliness and asian tranny hookers. so: ‘what else do you have?’ dude lists his bourbons and ryes, and i settle on ri-1 even though its supposed to be ‘rye marketed to chicks’ or something.
he free pours the motherfucker, and adds a maraschino cherry. i nearly cry.
and again, these cocktails cost more than pizzaiolo’s.
but… dude gets high marks for hospitality. everyone there knew him and seemed to like him. the restaurant was empty; the bar was packed. 20 minutes to closing, and i’m still waiting for a seat.
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