May 9th, 2010
If you think of a night out at a bar as theater, barbacks are the seasoned stage hands, making sure that the show runs smoothly and that the actors (aka the bartenders) have all their props for stellar performances. Just as theatergoers never really think about what’s going on behind the scenes, bar customers don’t pay much attention to the bodies whizzing behind the bartenders, tapping kegs, stocking liquor bottles, replenishing ice bins and delivering food. So I asked some veteran bartenders for a few words on the importance of a good barback — and whether great barbacks go on to be bartenders.
Any bartender out there who wants to give a shout-out to a great barback, by all means chime in with your comments!
Josh Childs – Silvertone, Trina’s Starlite Lounge. “I have been lucky to work with some great barbacks, from Junior who saves my ass by pretty much doing all the work Tuesday evenings at Silvertone, to Henrique at the Beehive. While Henrique was technically the barback, he really was the best bartender there — he bartended and barbacked. What makes these guys great is the little things, like, when you have just poured the last of an obscure bottle, right beside you is the backup, waiting.
“I think you know someone is a great barback when the bar staff has given them a great nickname. In the case of [Trina’s] Starlite Lounge, we have Trina’s cousin, Joey Vegas.
“Right of passage for a new barback: coordinate with another bar [on the premises] first, then, during a busy part of the evening, tell the barback that you have just broken a glass in the ice well. Send them to get a ‘glass magnet’ at the other bar, where of course, the customers and staff are eagerly waiting (and giggling) for their arrival.
“I believe the restaurant/bar business is one of the last apprentice systems where, yes, a barback can become a bartender. Speaking from personal experience, a barback can even end up owning a bar.”
Danielle Marshall – Green Street. [Danielle recently left Post 390, where she worked with the barback she praises here.] “His name is Magno — not Mango, as he is playfully called. I have no specific example, because I do believe he is the example. Magno has been exceptional every time I have worked with him. He brings his game as well as a positive attitude that almost always ensures an easy, productive night. Magno anticipates my needs and allows me to focus more on the guest interactions and less on dishes, stocking or running food. What separates Magno from the pack is his willingness and ability to speak to guests and management or handle service tickets, but without ever overstepping his bounds. He has a knack for what he does, and it’s truly appreciated by this bartender.”
Scott Marshall – Drink. “A great barback is invaluable. I would say the best I have ever had is Henrique who worked at the Beehive. Every time I had a bottle that emptied, he was one step ahead of me and had the replacement open and ready as I turned around to head to the liquor room. He understood completely that his job was to keep me facing the customer and making money, because that would lead to him making more money. I don’t necessarily believe that great barbacks make great bartenders, because there hits a point when they want to bartend and lose the focus on backing. With a 20-percent cut at the Hive, Henrique made the exact same as the four bartenders, so there was no financial incentive to move up, which kept him plugging along, content to not interact with the public and make just as much money!”
Kevin Martin – Eastern Standard. “A great barback knows the ins and outs of what makes a bar run smoothly and efficiently. My right-hand man knows what I need before even I do, and a great back can even anticipate a guest’s needs. He or she knows the menus and is able to field guest questions, making the tender’s life just a little easier and the guest experience that much more special. A good barback is fluid, on his or her toes and is calm and fast. A great barback can absolutely become a bartender, and a good bar will know when to make this move.”
Bob McCoy – Eastern Standard. I want to sing my praises to the boys in black at ES. I don’t know if I could sum up in one sentence or by one example how important our barbacks are. They’ve saved my ass so many ways, so many times every night, whether it’s getting that bottle or syrup I really need on the fly, taking a plate of dishes off my hands, or just greeting new guests and getting them a glass of water and a menu to buy me some more time. But if there’s one thing that continues to amaze me time and time again, it’s that they have the keen ability to anticipate what you need at any given moment, sometimes before you even know it, and deliver it time and time again. We have such a great team at ES, but special thanks have to go out to our two senior backs, Chris Olds and Nick Korn.”
Permalink | 5 Comments | Filed under Bartenders | Tags: barbacks
May 2nd, 2010
A friend of mine told me that an old flame put the moves on him recently after plying him with drinks. Acknowledging the futility of the attempt to rekindle, the old flame apologized for her brazenness. But she offered this excellent excuse: “It’s spring, and I’m a mammal.”
Well, it’s spring, and I’m a blogger. So here’s some link love…
» LUPEC Boston reviews Todd Maul’s new bar menu at Clio, which leaves all previous bar menus at Clio in the dust. “The 80-plus drinks … run the gamut,” say the Ladies United for the Preservation of Endangered Cocktails, “from aperitifs ($9) to drinks for two ($25) to tiki drinks & daiquiris ($13), and feature a blend of pre-Prohibition and modern classics.” Many of the offerings are designed to pair nicely with the raw delights at Uni, the sushi bar adjacent to the Clio bar.
» Speaking of tiki drinks … doesn’t the balmy spring weather make you thirsty for the serious Donn Beach/Trader Vic-style versions of these rum-tastic cocktails? Sure, you can get them on demand at Drink, Eastern Standard and now, of course, Clio, among a smattering of other spots. But could somebody open up a REAL tiki bar in Boston, already? This city was once a tiki mecca, and, well, how ’bout sprucing up down-on-its-luck Downtown Crossing with a ridiculously fun bar? Silvertone and Stoddard’s (yes, it’s finally open!) can’t do it all by themselves. Sheesh.
» Speaking of LUPEC Boston and new joints, one of the Ladies, Jane Robertson (aka Pinky Gonzales), does an astute write-up of Harvard Square’s new Russell House Tavern for Joonbug (which reviewed drinkboston’s Bartenders on the Rise event not long ago). She pretty much echoes drinkboston’s first impressions of the place: it’s got some baggage to overcome, but its bright spots — including the cocktail list and the horseshoe-shaped, marble bar downstairs — make us root for the place.
» Congrats to these talented barmen and women — who work in some of drinkboston’s fave joints — for making the Improper Bostonian magazine’s long-running Boston’s Beloved Bartenders list: Trina Sturm of Trina’s Starlite Lounge, Scott Marshall of Drink, Corey Bunnewith of Coppa and Ned Greene of Hungry Mother.
» Dan Okrent, whose Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition was recently reviewed on drinkboston, will talk about his book at an open-to-the-public lecture at the Boston Athenaeum on May 27. So much material here for us history-minded imbibers — reserve your seat starting May 14. And by the way, yours truly will be serving a Prohibition-era cocktail at the post-lecture reception (which also features wine, beer and cheese from Capone Foods).
» Speaking of alcohol, history and lectures, I’m also attending Boston Beer: a History with Michael Reiskind at the Boston Public Library on May 12. Oh, and speaking of beer, don’t forget that the annual American Craft Beer Fest is coming up at the Seaport World Trade Center June 18-19.
» If you like to drive your car to Boston-area bars but don’t want to risk a DUI (or worse) on your way home, Boston’s Designated Driver is a good service to know about. I haven’t tried it out yet and would love to hear from anyone who has — leave a comment, will you?
» Hey, did you know that drinkboston and Trina’s Starlite Lounge are having a Highballs party on Sunday, May 9? Reserve your ticket at 617-576-0006 or info@trinastarlitelounge.com and come party like it’s 1965. See you there!
Permalink | 10 Comments | Filed under Bartenders, Beer, Booze in the news, Boston bars, Nips | Tags: Boston Athenaeum, Clio, highballs, Improper Bostonian, LUPEC Boston, Prohibition, Russell House, tiki, Todd Maul
April 25th, 2010
By Scott N. Howe
It was, of course, a stupid idea.
The 18th Amendment to the Constitution, which prohibited the “manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors” in the U.S., expanded government involvement in the lives of citizens and turned millions of regular folks who just wanted a beer into criminals. The amendment, and the Volstead Act that enforced it, also led to an explosion in organized crime, encouraged legitimate businesses to circumvent the law, and subjected the United States to the ridicule of many throughout the world. Winston Churchill called Prohibition “an affront to the whole history of mankind.”
Today, it seems amazing that it happened at all, but Daniel Okrent’s new book, Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition, makes as much sense of the era as can be made. The book illuminates the social and political factors that led to Prohibition’s passage in 1919. The women’s suffrage movement, mixed with anti-immigrant sentiment and shaken vigorously with righteous, saloon-hating religious elements, created a potent cocktail that intoxicated just enough congressmen and state legislators to enshrine the 18th Amendment into the Constitution.
Last Call humanizes Prohibition, discussing many individuals who made their names on both the “wet” and “dry” sides of the issue — people like Al Capone, Billy Sunday, H.L. Mencken, William Jennings Bryan, Carrie Nation, Susan B. Anthony, and Sam Bronfman – the Canadian bootlegger who went on to run the Seagram’s empire. Okrent also re-introduces several long-forgotten figures who played important roles during the era, including the Anti-Saloon League’s Wayne Wheeler, a political operative Okrent compares to Karl Rove, and Assistant Attorney General Mabel Willebrandt, arguably the most famous and powerful woman in America during the 1920s.
Drinkboston readers will find plenty of local angles in Last Call. For example, the book examines the work of Dorchester’s Mary Hanchett Hunt, who brought temperance education to millions of American school kids in the late 1800s and even established a “Scientific Temperance Museum” at her home on Trull Street. You’ll also find a detailed look at how bootleggers along the East Coast’s “Rum Row” brought booze to New England during the ‘20s, as well as a convincing argument that Joseph P. Kennedy was not, in fact, a bootlegger.
Those looking for a rollicking ride through the Roaring ’20s, however, may be disappointed in Last Call. Yes, you’ll find flirty flappers, charmingly corrupt politicians, saucy speakeasies, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and even Elliott Ness’s “Untouchables.” Mostly, however, you’ll find a sober (sorry) look at a twisted time in American history. So sober, in fact, that Okrent includes the entire text of the U.S. Constitution in the book’s appendix. That’s because Last Call isn’t about what happens when you take a drink, it’s about what happens when the law takes that drink away.
Permalink | No Comments | Filed under Books & resources | Tags: Daniel Okrent, history, Prohibition, Scott N. Howe
April 20th, 2010
Established: 2009
Specialty: cocktails, High Life
Prices: Low to moderate
Atmosphere: Retro but not kitschy. Top-notch hospitality without the VIP price tag. Unofficial motto: Be yourself and have a good time. See Best Boston bars for address and contact info.
Remember those cool kids in high school or college who got along with everyone and threw the best parties? They grew up and opened a bar called Trina’s Starlite Lounge (3 Beacon St., Somerville).
Josh Childs, Trina and Beau Sturm, and Jay Bellao have collective decades of experience tending bar in Boston, and Childs is still co-owner of one of Boston’s most beloved establishments, Silvertone. This group’s level of hospitality is right up there with the city’s top-notch dining rooms, but VIP treatment at the Starlite comes dressed in T-shirts and tattoos and for the price of a hot dog and a High Life. And it comes without anyone looking harried; the staff often seems to be having as good a time as their guests. Many of those guests, in fact, are fellow restaurant industry folk who made this bar a favored haunt almost immediately after it opened in September 2009. The Starlite’s Industry Brunch on Mondays is testament to the goodwill between Childs, Sturm, Ballao & Co. and their colleagues. (Monday brunch is open to the general public, too.)
The drink list changes seasonally and tilts more toward accessibility than artisanal purity. That said, it doesn’t dumb things down. Even cocktail geeks can find items that grab them, like the Tony Montana (Pyrat rum, Benedictine, Carpano Antica, orange bitters, $9). Also, the bartenders have the skills — along with the quality spirits and house-made mixers — to accommodate off-menu requests. As for beer, High Life has the kind of cult status at the Starlite that PBR enjoyed a few years ago. You can even order it by the bucket (five pony-sized bottles for $11). Blessedly, there are a few craft beer options (Stone Pale Ale, Saison Du Pont) for those times when you want a brew that doesn’t taste like melted Crayons. The wine list is decent, too, and the food is classic American comfort fare like fried chicken and buttermilk waffles, homemade soup and the wacky DOTD (dog of the day).
Oh, another good thing about the Starlite, besides its affordability, is that there are two separate bars and dining areas with two distinct personalities. For all the regulars who have adopted this lounge as their living room away from home, this is a great way to mix things up.
Permalink | 4 Comments | Filed under Boston bars | Tags: Beau Sturm, Jay Bellao, Josh Childs, Trina Sturm, Trina's Starlite Lounge
April 15th, 2010
I wish I could buy a drink for each and every imbiber who voted this the Best Blog in the Boston Phoenix’ Best of 2010 readers’ poll. But my bar tabs are insane enough as it is, so I’ll go with a simple “thank you.”
I’m tickled that the Phoenix refers to me as an “experienced taproom denizen.” Speaking of taprooms, many congrats to best Boston bars Deep Ellum, Drink, Eastern Standard, Franklin Cafe and Highland Kitchen for their wins in various bar/cocktail categories, and to Guerilla Queer Bar for Best LGBT Night.
Cheers and thanks again to all drinkboston readers!
Permalink | 11 Comments | Filed under Boston bars, drinkboston in the news | Tags: Boston Phoenix Best 2010
