Sauced

Five Questions for the Bartender: Greg West of Hunger

There comes a time in a man’s life when he must defend himself from pantsless drunkards with a soda gun.

Posted by: Allecia Vermillion on Feb 02, 2012 at 10:30AM 2 Comments

This San Diego transplant has a devoted pack of regulars at Hunger. Hit up the slideshow to see West make one of his drinks, the bonne chance. Photo: Lucas Anderson

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This San Diego transplant has a devoted pack of regulars at Hunger. Hit up the slideshow to see West make one of his drinks, the bonne chance. Photo: Lucas Anderson

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Here’s West making a drink of his own creation. The Bonne Chance contains London Dry gin, Lillet Blanc, orange bitters, and a balsamic reduction. Photo: Lucas Anderson

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West says he came up with this drink while chatting with a customer one day about drinking vinegars. He got inspired and headed to the kitchen for some balsamic. Photo: Lucas Anderson

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The result is a riff on the Vesper. Photo: Lucas Anderson

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He made the balsamic reduction himself; West takes maximum advantage of Hunger’s small bar space, making many of his own ingredients. Photo: Lucas Anderson

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West says inspiration usually strikes during his conversations with patrons. Photo: Lucas Anderson

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Dig the mustache tattoo. Photo: Lucas Anderson

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The finished product, served with a lemon twist. Photo: Lucas Anderson

Greg West moved to Seattle three years ago from San Diego with a desire to make good drinks. But he found it tough to penetrate the city’s network of destination cocktail spots. Instead, West worked his way up, starting “in bars where people fought and got drunk and got sick” and moving on to Oddfellows and, briefly, 5 Corner Market Bar. Now you’ll find him at Hunger, and West must be doing something right: A Seattle Weekly poll late last year proclaimed him of the readership’s favorite bartenders.

Later this year, West will get the bartending equivalent of a promotion from cubicle to corner office when Hunger moves down Fremont Avenue to a space nearly three times the size. But until then he continues to ply his trade at Hunger’s comfortable little bar, where he relishes riffing on drinks, making his own bitters and other components, and concocting drinks on the fly based on conversations with customers. And West promises not to judge you on your order: “I just hate that pissed off Seattle bartender demeanor.”

Here, five questions for Greg West.

What is the most underrated spirit?

I think obscure liqueurs are underrated. I just tried an evergreen liqueur the other day and it was both bizarre and amazing. We need to challenge the way we think about cocktails and explore different avenues to continue pushing limits and create fun and interesting cocktails.

What’s your favorite Seattle bar, besides Hunger?

I’m a nice bourbon, whiskey, and cheap beer kinda guy; you’ll find most bartenders to be the same. So with that in mind I’m a big fan of Sun Liquor and the Distillery. They have a great selection.

What’s the drink most people order from you right now?

You know…I recently put a scratch cocktail option on the menu. What that cocktail might be depends purely on the customer, which is the way it should be. We have seen tons of success with this. Also it keeps me on my toes and helps me to keep pushing the limits of what we think a cocktail is. I recently had someone drop off a bag of ghost chilies to the restaurant so I made a cherry/ghost chili bitters. It was great in everything. It was so good it didn’t last a month.

Favorite place to eat, and what you like about it

I really enjoy LloydMartin on Queen Anne. My good friend chef-owner Sam Crannell opened there a few months ago and his food is quite wonderful. He is pretty daring and makes just about everything from scratch. Plus, with the ever-changing menu, you can’t go wrong.

What’s the worst thing you’ve seen someone do in a bar?

Oh Lord. Back home in San Diego I worked at this dive bar called the Surf ’n Saddle. One night this “gentleman” was obviously intoxicated and really wanted to give me a hug for some reason. I respectfully declined. A few moments later he decided to take his pants off and climb over the bar. The only thing I could do protect myself was to grab the soda gun and threaten a hosing down of Coke. He stopped, looked around, realized the entire bar was looking at him. Most would have run at that point. Not this guy. He lifts his shirt up (he’s naked from the chest down) and starts doing “windmills” if you know what I mean. I had no choice but to spray this man down with said soda gun until his friends finally pulled him off the bar.

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Tags: Five Questions for the Bartender, Seattle Bartenders, Hunger, Greg West

Tavern Law’s Ian Cargill Moves On

Find him at his own private bar inside circus-themed Shorty’s.

Posted by: Allecia Vermillion on Dec 28, 2011 at 11:30AM 2 Comments

Former Tavern Law lead bartender Ian Cargill is headed to Shorty’s. Photo via Facebook.

As tweeted by ever-imbibing Seattle Times cocktail writer Tan Vinh, Tavern Law’s lead bartender, Ian Cargill, has left the building. Starting December 29, you can find Cargill at the Trophy Room at Shorty’s, tending what amounts to his own private bar. He will be sequestered amidst all the pinball, the hot dogs, and directly across from a very exposed men’s room door in the circus-themed Belltown dive’s sumptuous little bar-within-a-bar.

Cargill will be here playing his trade on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, as of this weekend. “I’m hopeful that there can be a nice little watering hole hidden behind the pinball machines and clowns,” he says. He’s the only one working that back bar in the Trophy Room, so placing yourself in one of the bar’s oversized chairs is to essentially enter his personal drinking domain.

A Tavern Law rep declined to give any specifics on any new staffing scenarios over there, but Vinh is apparently moonlighting as the establishment’s HR guy via Twitter for those of you tracking who’s making drinks where. But Cargill’s not giving up Capitol Hill entirely; his plans include picking up some shifts at Tommy Gun come January.

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Tags: Seattle Bartenders, Tavern Law, Ian Cargill, Shift Change, Shorty's

David Nelson Behind the Stick at Tommy Gun

The Il Bistro barman makes an appearance there November 11. Are more to come?

Posted by: Christopher Werner on Nov 08, 2011 at 09:58AM 0 Comments

Catch David Nelson at Tommy Gun this Friday.

David Nelson is currently running the show at Il Bistro in Pike Place Market, but before that he was mixing drinks at two Hill haunts: Still Liquor and Tavern Law. This Friday he’s hopping I-5 once again to get behind the stick at Tommy Gun.

The preternatural barman will guest at the Olive Way watering hole between 5 and 9. Will you be seeing his face there more often? “Gosh, I hope he’ll be back but we have don’t have anything formalized at this juncture,” says owner Erin Nestor. But she did add, “Frankly, we’d be delighted to host a guest bartender monthly.”

In other boozy Hill happenings, Cure is uncorking $12 bottles of cava on Sundays from 4 to 2am. Also for your sabbath consideration: two buck Tecates and half-price tequila shots at the aforementioned Tommy Gun starting at 5.

Oh, and fans of suds will want to block off November 12 for the Phinney Neighborhood Association Winter Beer Taste. It’s on Saturday, not Sunday.

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Tags: Seattle Bartenders, Drinking Events

Mike McSorley Leaves Tini Big’s for…Mumbai?

An exciting new gig for the Seattle bar vet.

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on Oct 10, 2011 at 09:27AM 2 Comments

McSorley’s new office, the Taj Lands End.

Tini Big’s bar manager Mike McSorley—you may also have sipped his drinks at Naga Lounge or Tavern Law—is skipping town next week for India.

The barman’s new gig is beverage ambassador at Taj Lands End hotel, a luxury hotel in Mumbai.

McSorley is not the first local bartender to be recruited to faraway places. While bartenders like Keith Waldbauer and Andrew Bohrer are based here in Seattle, they do cocktail consulting work with Kathy Casey at hotels all over the world. Remember this next time you order a tasty cocktail: People around the globe pony up big bucks so that their drinks taste as good as ours.

McSorley worked his last Tini B’s shift on Friday, October 7.

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Tags: Seattle Bartenders

Five Questions for the Bartender: Jonathan Hudak of Artusi

The self-proclaimed “rookie bartender” has an abiding love of grappa and a funny story about a guy taking off his pants in public.

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on Oct 04, 2011 at 04:54PM 1 Comments

Photo: Lucas Anderson

Click on the slideshow to watch Jonathan Hudak make Artusi’s Brujita Mia: tequila reposado, Liquore Strega, cardamom bitters, lemon, and mint.

View Slideshow » Photo: Lucas Anderson

Click on the slideshow to watch Jonathan Hudak make Artusi’s Brujita Mia: tequila reposado, Liquore Strega, cardamom bitters, lemon, and mint.

View Slideshow » Photo: Lucas Anderson
View Slideshow » Photo: Lucas Anderson
View Slideshow » Photo: Lucas Anderson
View Slideshow » Photo: Lucas Anderson

Tacoma native Jonathan Hudak calls himself a “rookie bartender,” but he’s no industry newbie. Before tending bar at Jason Stratton’s Artusi he spent two years as lead server at Tilth, where he developed an appreciation for the interaction of food and wine, and eventually all beverages.

“I began to nerd out on cocktail blogs,” says Hudak. He started “reading old cocktail books, and visiting all the amazing Seattle bars. Then I began making bitters, collecting herbs and spices from all over.” He soon found himself ganking the cooks’ gadgets—immersion circulators, vacuum sealers—to prep his drinks. A sous vide machine was employed to create his custom limoncello.

When Tilth’s chef and owner Maria Hines decided her second restaurant, Golden Beetle, would be a cocktailcentric gastropub, Hudak was all over it.

“I learned so much in such a short period of time there, and soon took up the opportunity to work with Jason Stratton at Artusi.”

Here, five questions for Jonathan Hudak.

What is the most underrated spirit?
Grappa. At times it can burn, but there are so many different types of grappa from all over Italy ranging in styles and strength. In essence it is brandy, though it is much more dynamic and complex.

What’s your favorite Seattle bar (other than Artusi)?
Oliver’s Twist—Robert [Rowland] makes some mean drinks. I also like Rob Roy, Barrio, and Liberty.

What drink do you order at that bar?
I love bitter drinks, the more bitters the better. So when I’m not drinking my go-to rye old-fashioned, I order a Seelbach, a Pegu Club (heavy on the Angostura), or a Martinez, preferably made with Ransom Old Tom Gin, Dolin Rouge, and Scrappy’s Orange Bitters.

What’s the worst thing you’ve ever seen someone do in a bar?
I witnessed a beer bottle smashed over someone’s head while bar-backing at Ohana. An angry drunk man left Tilth and smashed our potted plants on the sidewalk. Another man, after having red wine spilled on him, removed his wine-stained pants and walked them up to the counter in his skimpy silver underwear to request that they be dry-cleaned….

Name three reasons you live in Seattle.
My family is nearby. The coffee is near perfect. And the quality of living here is astounding.

Find Hudak at Artusi Thursday through Friday evenings starting around five, and Saturday and Sunday from 7pm onward.

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Tags: Capitol Hill, Five Questions for the Bartender, Seattle Bartenders, Maria Hines, Seattle Bars, Jason Stratton

Rob Roy’s Bryn Lumsden Will Represent Seattle at San Francisco Cocktail Week

What does Seattle taste like? That’s what the Belltown bartender has to figure out.

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on Sep 07, 2011 at 12:45PM 1 Comments

Bryn Lumsden: About to show San Francisco what Seattle tastes like.

Photo: Lucas Anderson

On September 19, San Francisco will begin celebrating its fifth annual cocktail week (Seattle’s debuts this year), but it’s the first time the schedule will include Best of the West, a cocktail challenge that showcases bar talents from up and down the left coast.

Among the seven bartenders picked to live in a house represent their cities will be Bryn Lumsden, former Fleet Foxer and bar manager at Rob Roy in Belltown.

“It’s more of a challenge than a competition,” says organizer Chelsea Bahr, who helped select the seven participants (the other tenders will be traveling from San Diego, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Sacramento, Portland, and Victoria, BC). And Lumsden is happy about that. “The tone of the more competitive-natured events can be kinda cold and who’s who-y,” he says. But he sees Best of the West as “more of a let’s-all-do-what-we-do-and-learn-cool-stuff-from-each-other kind of thing.”

This week, the cocktail crafters will be assigned a base spirit and a secret ingredient, which they must use to create a drink that represents their hometown. The resultant concoctions will be served to 300 guests on Thursday, September 22 at San Fran’s Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.

So how will Lumsden represent Seattle? Hard to say until he’s given his ingredient marching orders, however: “I’ll probably shoot for something that expresses how sad the Mariners make us.”

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Tags: Cocktails, Seattle Bartenders, San Francisco

Five Questions for the Bartender: Michael Bertrand

Meet Mistralkitchen’s lead barman, a jazz drummer turned gin apostle with apparently excellent taste in ties (and shirts).

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on Sep 06, 2011 at 12:05PM 3 Comments

Photo: Lucas Anderson

This is Michael Bertrand in a pink shirt. Click on the slideshow to watch him make a Fernet Branca-Maker’s Mark old fashioned with an ice ball.

View Slideshow » Photo: Lucas Anderson

This is Michael Bertrand in a pink shirt. Click on the slideshow to watch him make a Fernet Branca-Maker’s Mark old fashioned with an ice ball.

View Slideshow » Photo: Lucas Anderson

Step 1: Carving the ice ball.

View Slideshow » Photo: Lucas Anderson

Ice ball complete.

View Slideshow » Photo: Lucas Anderson

The peeling of the orange.

View Slideshow » Photo: Lucas Anderson

Straining the OF into the glass. (Wait, how come we can’t see the orange peel?)

View Slideshow » Photo: Lucas Anderson

And there she is.

White City, Oregon native Michael Bertrand moved to Seattle at age 18. The plan was to study jazz percussion at Cornish College. I dropped out and now I hate jazz music says Bertrand, who started supporting himself through retail jobs. Evenings, he’d belly up at Flowers Restaurant and Bar in the U-District, where he discovered his love of booze extended beyond the realm of consumption.

He became a bartender.

I was hired at Vessel, where my boss was Jim Romdall. Vessel closed, and then I was hired at Mistralkitchen by [former bar manager] Andrew Bohrer. There I am currently lead bartender.

Without further ado, five questions for Michael Bertrand.

What is the most underrated spirit?

I’m constantly creating ways to converse with customers about why and how gin is delicious and excellent in cocktails. You shouldn’t be scared of gin because you drank a bottle of Bombay Sapphire at a party in high school and woke up throwing up in the dirt.

What’s your favorite Seattle bar (other than Mistralkitchen)?

Sun Liquor. I live a block away. If I actually venture outside my comfort zone: Rob Roy, Liberty, and Zig Zag. When Canon opens, there’s a good chance that it will be my favorite bar.

What drink do you order at that bar?

A Sazerac, but also Fernet or bourbon and a beer. Sometimes a glass of sparkling rose.

What’s the worst thing you’ve ever seen someone do in a bar?

I’ve dealt with a lot of gross/crazy/weird situations in a bar (sex, puke), but the worst was when someone snuck into the back office and took our laptop and thousands of dollars worth of another employee’s camera equipment. That was one of the only times I’ve been sincerely upset about someone else’s actions while I was behind the bar.

Name three reasons you live in Seattle.

I live in Seattle for the art and culture, the people, and because it is home.

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Tags: South Lake Union, Five Questions for the Bartender, Seattle Bartenders, Mistralkitchen

Eastside Barman Mark Sexauer Wins “Most Inspired” Competition

Here’s the recipe for the winning cocktail.

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on Aug 24, 2011 at 12:06PM 0 Comments

Mark Sexauer: The man behind The Forager.

Score one for the Eastside. Mark Sexauer, who manages the bars at Hector’s and Milagro Cantina, both in Kirkland, won last night’s Most Inspired Bartender competition with his original cocktail, The Forager. Sexauer will travel to Las Vegas in September to compete for the national Most Inspired title. He’ll go up against tenders from cities around the country in the contest, which is put on by GQ and the United States Bartenders Guild and sponsored by Bombay Sapphire.

The bartenders were tasked with making a creative but “approachable” drink, and I love that a cocktail that includes microplaned carrots and cumin seeds can be considered approachable. How far we’ve come with our drinking, no?

Without further ado, The Forager:

Ingredients
2 tbsp microplaned carrots
.5oz fresh lemon juice
.75oz Simple Syrup
2 tsp egg white
1 pinch (15-20 seeds) cumin seeds
2oz Bombay Sapphire Gin (Of course, you can sub in another gin. You’re under no obligation to the sponsor, after all.)
1oz Lillet Blanc

Garnish
1 flat sprig parsley
1 pinch orange zest

Instructions
Muddle whole cumin in mixing glass until all the seeds are broken. Combine
the rest of the ingredients and shake very hard to incorporate the carrot
flavor and emulsify the egg white. Double strain into a cocktail or coupe
glass of choice. Garnish with a large flat parsley sprig and a pinch of
orange zest.

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Tags: Kirkland, Seattle Bartenders, Cocktail Competitions

Row House Cafe: Now With a Full Bar

The South Lake Union coffee hangout gets into the spirits game.

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on Aug 16, 2011 at 02:38PM 1 Comments

The Row House Cafe

Photo: Row House Cafe via Facebook

UPDATE 9/4: Will Braden wrote to say he no longer works at Row House.

Bar manager Will Braden has worked at the Row House Cafe in South Lake Union since opening day, but his background is in events bartending.

“I had to learn how to make espresso,” says Braden. Now, however, he’s back in his element with a brand-new specialty cocktail list that includes an old-fashioned daiquiri with Angostura 1919 rum as well as a traditional sazerac. The bar also counts Italian liqueurs among its inventory, and Braden is making use of those in his mixed drinks as well.

Since its debut, Row House has had beer and wine and its daily HH lasts from 4 to 6pm and features $1 off brews and by-the-glass pours along with half-price apps and small plates. The restaurant currently closes at 10pm, but Braden says there is talk of keeping the lights on longer now that there are spirits in stock.

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Tags: Seattle Bartenders

Barrio Intros Cocktail and Spirits Classes

Beginning this month, barman Casey Robison schools Seattleites in the art of mixing drinks.

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on Aug 11, 2011 at 10:10AM 0 Comments

Casey Robison and hat decorate a cover of Seattle Times insert “NW Ticket & Movietimes.”

Photo: Barrio via Facebook

Seattleites love to nerd out on the stuff they love. Why buy a jar of jam when you could spend the entire weekend chopping and boiling strawberries? Why just eat gnocchi at an Italian restaurant when you can attend a six-hour, $300 master class on how to make it? Shamanic journeying, Flirting 101, Inexpensive Global Volunteering, Intro to Fly Fishing, Herbs in Topical Skin Care: If it exists, Seattle has a class for it. That’s just how it goes around here.

Cocktails are no different. We don’t just want to drink them, tip the bartender, and be on our way. We want to explore the intricacies of their ingredients, fill notebooks with pro tips on how best to prepare them. We want to infuse, muddle, stir, and shake as if it was our job. That way, when we go back east for Thanksgiving, our sisters can make loud snoring noises as we explain what a Lewis bag is, or why this Islay scotch is smokier than that one from the Lowlands.

And now, finally, we arrive at the point of this post: Barrio bar manager Casey Robison sends word that beginning August 27, the bar will host a five-part series on cocktails and spirits. The classes cost $50 each (attend all five for $225), and each begins at 2pm and lasts between 60 and 90 minutes. Robison—great depth of knowledge, zero pretension, tattoos—teaches; if the series is a success there will be more in the future, he says.

Here’s what will be covered: 08/27: Latin Drinks; 09/10: Spirits I (gin, vodka, and brandy); 09/24: Spirits II (whiskey, tequila, rum); 10/8: Classic Cocktails (1805-1930); 10/22: Contemporary Cocktails (1950-present).

The classes are limited to about 16 people, call this number to reserve a space: 206-838-3853.

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Tags: Booze 101, Capitol Hill, Seattle Bartenders, Seattle Cocktail Classes

Details on Canon Seattle Emerge

And here they are.

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on Aug 08, 2011 at 10:08PM 0 Comments

Canon opens later this summer at 928 12th Avenue E.

Photo: Canon Seattle via Facebook

So it was only last week I was pestering Nathan Weber for confirmation on his move to Mistralkitchen. And now it seems the intrepid barman is moving on to Canon, Jamie Boudreau’s new cocktail emporium that’s set to open later this summer in the former Licorous space on 12th Avenue East. No word from Weber yet on whether or not he plans to stay on at Mistral and Rob Roy, though working behind three bars seems like a rather challenging proposition.

Canon broke the news in a press release on Monday night, announcing also that one Melinda Bradley would be the chef at the new cocktail bar. Bradley’s LinkedIn page says she last worked as a cook and baker at Lisa Dupar Catering, and before that was in the employ of Daniel Boulud’s Dinex Group in New York City. According to Canon press materials, she also worked at Marcus Samuelsson’s Aquavit, also in New York. None of this has yet been independently confirmed. (What? Some of us are still a little shell-shocked following the Daniel Jeffers fiasco. Also, update: I received confirmation from Aquavit, she definitely worked there. ) The press release says that the menu will be made up of shareable plates focused on local ingredients. Boudreau envisions guests combining the dishes to create “multi-course meals.”

Other things we’ve learned about Canon: Its “Angostura bitters-stained mahogany and birch bar,” built and designed by Boudreau, will seat 12, with 36 more seats scattered around the space. The drinks menu is huge, boasting “more than 100 cocktails.” Canon will be open every day from 5pm to 2am and will serve food until 1:30am.

I’ve got queries and confirmation requests in. I’ll update as soon as I know more things.

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Tags: Capitol Hill, Seattle Bartenders, Jamie Boudreau, Bar Openings, Seattle Bar News, Canon Seattle

Changes Behind the Bar at Mistralkitchen

Tavern Law, Vessel alums now mixing drinks at the SLU restaurant and bar.

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on Aug 05, 2011 at 11:25AM 0 Comments

The bar at Mistralkitchen

Photo: Andrew Waits

Update: Bertrand says he is behind the bar at Mistral Wednesday nights through Saturday. “Friday night is when Nathan Weber and I are there together.”

Last time we checked in with Mistralkitchen, Andrew Bohrer was leaving the bar and Ashley Pugh was taking over the role as manager.

Since then, Pugh has moved to New Zealand—nice place—and Mistral has hired Michael Betrand, once of Vessel (now shuttered), and Nathan Weber, who recently left Tavern Law. Weber, who happens to be one of the all-time great Five Questions interviewees, has also been seen behind the bar at Rob Roy alongside several other highly skilled Seattle bartenders (including Bohrer).

No official word yet on which of these guys is managing the situation at Mistral, but I will share that with you when I can. There’s also some schedule shifting going on, I expect to have updates on that as well.

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Tags: South Lake Union, Seattle Bartenders