Underhill-Lounge

If you’ve read the post “Homework“, you’ll know I made it through all 18 drinks more or less according to the recipes from the Flower drink book.
I did forget to pick up the Gosling’s at the store, which was a major mistake.  To me, (sorry Cameron,) the Cruzan Blackstrap Rum just did not make a [...]

In preparation for making the drinks, I made up a little shopping list of the ingredients I needed to pick up:
24 Limes (1 oz juice per lime)
1 dozen Lemons (2 oz juice per lemon)
2 Bunches Mint
Ginger Ale
Martin Miller Gin
Ron Pampero Anniversario
Black Seal Rum
That should be enough to make all the drinks twice, with what I [...]

So in agreement that I would work the next Friday night, E. sent me the drink book and service document.
I’m kind of a student cocktail mixing and technique, so I didn’t have too much trouble with the service document. My only worry was that Erik the slightly mean, grumpy, and foul mouthed cook might [...]

About this time, I thought it might be good to mention this little idea to Mrs. Underhill.
She was a bit skeptical. Her exact analogy was, “You don’t have to be in a band to appreciate music!”
Fortunately, due to the fact that she knew and liked E., she eventually conceded. But I knew I’d [...]

To go back a bit…
When I was working at the Italian restaurant there was a worldly piano teacher who worked in the building.
We bonded over Contemporary Classical Music (Cornelius Cardew) and 20th Century literature (Samuel Beckett).
Some nights, after lessons, he would come down for dinner. If it wasn’t too busy, we’d chat about music [...]

After a few days of thinking about what I had said and written I sent a note to E.
“Yeah, I suppose, if I’m going to continue spouting off about bars and tending I probably should at least have some experience behind the bar…If you can think of some gentle introduction to the job, let me [...]

So. Most people that meet me think I’m a pretty relaxed non-competitive kind of guy.
You know, that’s bullshit.
I’m actually an incredibly and annoyingly competitive guy.
Sometimes passive aggressive.
It’s just that a lot of the people I hang with, and sometimes myself, don’t notice until well after the fact.
I have been over to people’s houses. [...]

So things got a bit sticky for a while.
Because I know a bunch of cocktail people, online or in person, they sometimes send me notes asking for advice on where to go for cocktails in San Francisco. A while ago, a foreign bartender asked me for advice. I gave him a list [...]

While at Flower talking to E., I had asked if there was anyone at Tilted Portal who would be into making a few cocktails from “The Savoy Cocktail Book.” E. mentioned that one of the bartenders, J., was an eGullet reader, and that he thought she might be interested in participating. Also, that [...]

Last year I was sitting in the bar chatting with an out of town friend.
Down from us was another gentleman who looked vaguely familiar.
When I was giving my Savoy spiel to the bartender, he introduced himself. We’ll call him “E”.
E. is the bar manager at a well regarded restaurant in San Francisco. We’ll [...]