Five Questions for the Bartender: Keith Bartoloni
Five Questions talks to the man behind the bar at Hazlewood and learns you can take the bartender out of Boston, but you can’t stop him from wondering what God would look like were he (she?) a “wicked hot chick.” It only gets weirder from there.
Posted by: Jessica Voelker on Mar 15, 2009 at 02:00PM
5 Comments
Tiny Hazlewood is a bartender’s bar, and co-owner Keith Bartoloni is a bartender’s bartender: Experimental (Anna Wallace loves his pimiento dram), experienced (he was the man behind the bar at Rendezvous for seven years; you’ll still see him there sometimes), and humble (he counts “janitor” as one of his chief duties at the elegant Ballard boite named for cowboy psychedelia icon Lee Hazlewood). Plus, as you’ll see below, he’s pretty entertaining.
Here, five questions for custodian/cocktail maker Keith Bartoloni.
1. What is the most underrated spirit?
I try to be original, but I have to agree with Anna Wallace and say Amaro Nonino. If God was a wicked hot chick and lactated into a bottle, the label would read Amaro Nonino.
2. What’s your favorite Seattle bar (other than Hazlewood)?
Sambar. I leave there a better bartender.
3. What drink do you order at that bar?
I let the bartender choose what I’m drinking. They tend to know best and have never let me down.
4. What’s the worst thing you’ve ever seen someone do in a bar?
Being from Boston I have a lot of these. In the bar at the Boston Hilton, a well-dressed woman grabbed her martini glass, broke the top off, reached across the table and stuck the stem in her date’s neck at which point he stood up and walked out. One hell of a guy for not bleeding all over the bar. Most patrons didn’t notice a thing.
5. Name three reasons you live in Seattle.
1. The Olympic Rainforest.
2. Uwajimaya.
3. Witness Relocation Program.
dude, your so money!
All I want to say is…
All that and he can cook too!
Way to go Keith!
He’s got a drink named after him. you can find it at most bars in Ballard and one bar on capitol hill. Just ask for a Bartoloni.
Intriguing, Alberto.
What’s the bar on Cap Hill? And what, exactly, goes into a Bartoloni? Enquiring Minds and so forth…