Sauced

Five Questions for the Bartender: Ricardo Hoffman at Zig Zag

A rising star behind the bar who likes mezcal, Old Fashioneds, and customers who don’t dismantle toilets.

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on Jul 14, 2011 at 09:13AM 2 Comments

Photo: Lucas Anderson

Ricardo Hoffman at the Zig Zag Cafe. Click on the slideshow to watch him make a Dry Bitter Tequila: Reposado tequila, Cynar, chocolate bitters, and dry vermouth.

View Slideshow » Photo: Lucas Anderson

Ricardo Hoffman at the Zig Zag Cafe. Click on the slideshow to watch him make a Dry Bitter Tequila: Reposado tequila, Cynar, chocolate bitters, and dry vermouth.

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

And, voila: the Dry Bitter Tequila.

Ricardo Hoffman worked his way up. He was a busboy at Purple Cafe and Wine Bar when the restaurant’s parent company, Heavy Restaurant Group, opened Barrio, the cocktail-driven Mexican restaurant on Capitol Hill. He started there as a barback.

“After six months of hard work and relentless harassment of the bar staff and managers, they gave me the opportunity to prove myself as a bartender,” says Hoffman. He quickly became a known entity in the neighborhood, then moved on to Sun Liquor (the first one, on Summit Avenue) about a year ago. There, he became an even better-known entity.

A particularly prescient person once described an experience with Hoffman at Sun this way: “He could be the next Murray.” Prescient, because in May Hoffman was hired on at Zig Zag—he came aboard after Murray Stenson left. Hoffman currently works the service well at our city’s most storied cocktail bar.

Here, five questions for Ricardo Hoffman.

What is the most underrated spirit?

Mezcal, for mixing or just sipping on its own. It’s much more refined than most people give it credit for.

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

Hands down, my favorite bar is Sun Liquor. Any drink you order—a beer, a shot, a fancy cocktail—is well made and served with genuine service. It’s a quintessential neighborhood bar.

What drink do you order at the bar?

I usually order the bartender’s choice variation on an Old Fashioned. It’s interesting to see how it varies in style with each bartender.

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

The weirdest thing I’ve experienced was dealing with an adult who had a temper-tantrum and dismantled the toilet and tore apart the bathroom.

Name three reasons you live in Seattle.

It’s clean and beautiful, there is great hiking all the way around, and it’s a foodie city with exceptional restaurants and fantastic bars.

Find Ricardo Hoffman at Zig Zag Tuesday through Thursday and again on Saturdays. If I were you, I’d ask for something with tequila in it.

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Tags: Five Questions for the Bartender, Seattle Bartenders, Tequila, Mezcal, Zig Zag Cafe

Meet the New Guy Behind the Bar at Zig Zag Cafe

Or maybe you already know him?

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on Jun 15, 2011 at 11:58AM 0 Comments

Zig Zag’s newest ’tender: Ricardo Hoffman

Photo: Christopher Collins (via Facebook)

Fans of Sun Liquor (the original Summit Ave Sun Liquor, not the new one) already know Ricardo Hoffman, who bartended there for a year and a half before moving into the job that became available when Murray Stenson left Zig Zag. Before Sun, Hoffman worked at the Capitol Hill branch of Barrio.

Hoffman says Sun Liquor and Zig Zag have always been two of his favorite bars, and he felt pretty honored to be working at the former. “It was a hard job to leave,” he says. But when the opportunity arose to work at Zig Zag, he couldn’t turn it down.

And since starting his new gig, where he’s working the service well, he has noticed two advantages to employment at Seattle’s most famous bar: 1. You have help. If there’s a line out the door on a Saturday night, there are four or five coworkers there to keep you out of the weeds. 2. People come for the drinks. If you’ve been to Sun Liquor on a Saturday night, you know what Hoffman means by that. The bar may be all about craft cocktails; the Capitol Hill weekend crowd doesn’t necessarily know that. Or want that.

But while Zig Zag’s crowd may be more in the know, they don’t know everything. “Everyone stills asks for Murray,” says Hoffman.

Ricardo Hoffman is currently on vacation returning late this week. His shifts at Zig Zag have yet to be set but he expects to be there Wednesday through Sunday.

PS: Credit where it’s due. I learned of the Hoffman hire from the Seattle Times’ Tan Vinh.

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Tags: Seattle Bartenders, Zig Zag Cafe

Zig Zag’s Kacy Fitch on Life After Murray

Attention bartender’s assistants: an opportunity awaits.

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on May 26, 2011 at 03:28PM 0 Comments

Erik Hakkinen moves to center stage.

Following the news that Murray Stenson was leaving Zig Zag for RN74 Seattle, Hanna Raskin of Seattle Weekly called up Zig Zag owner Kacy Fitch today to ask about life after Murray.

Raskin learned that plans include hiring a bartender’s assistant to help out Erik Hakkinen and Ben Perri behind the bar.

Hakkinen has been considered something of a Murray protege around town, though Stenson says he never saw it that way.

"I learn as much from Erik as he learns from me,” he told Seattle Met’s James Ross Gardner back in 2009. “Erik’s very deceptive. He’s half my age. And he’s way knowledgeable.”

Of predictions that Stenson’s final shifts at Zig Zag would draw massive crowds, Fitch told Raskin: “We’re always busy on Thursday and Friday. There’s not much more volume we can do.”

Phew, five Zig Zag posts in one day. Who needs a cocktail?

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Tags: Seattle Bartenders, Murray Stenson, Zig Zag Cafe, RN74

A Quick Chat with Murray Stenson about the RN74 Move

“Zig Zag is a young man’s bar,” says Stenson.

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on May 26, 2011 at 12:52PM 8 Comments

Murray Stenson at Zig Zag

Why is Murray Stenson moving to RN74 Seattle from Zig Zag Café?

I just had a quick phone chat with him and asked.

“I’d been at Zig Zag for 10 years,” he said. “I’m looking to simplify. I’m really old, and Zig Zag is a young man’s bar.”

The amazing amount of attention the bar has received in the national press has led to bigger and bigger crowds. A good problem to have for a bar, but something Stenson’s ready to do without.

“It’s a monster,” he said. “The move will be good for my blood pressure. And I can spend more time with my family.”

So will he be working less?

“Not necessarily. I’m penciled in for four 10 hour shifts and talking to some other bars about picking up two extra shifts.”

And won’t the crowds that flock to Zig Zag to see him just overwhelm the bar at RN74 as well?

“I don’t think it’s possible. The bar is much smaller over there, and the accent [at RN74] is more on food than drink.”

RN74 opens June 13 at 1433 Fourth Avenue. Rajat Parr is the wine director. Michelle Retallack is executive chef.

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Tags: Seattle Bartenders, Murray Stenson, Zig Zag Cafe, RN74

Esquire’s Addendum to Best Bars 2011: Zig Zag, Fun Kun Wu Added

Plus Toronado in San Fran.

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on May 26, 2011 at 12:13PM 0 Comments

Fu Kun Wu: NOW one of Esquire’s Best Bars 2011

Oh man, look what Esquire just posted.

On Monday here, and in our June/July issue, we announced the Best New Bars in America — including a master list of the 169 Best Bars in America we’ve recommended over the last five years.

An editing error, however, resulted in the inadvertent expulsion of Toronado Pub in San Francisco and Zig Zag Café and Fu Kun Wu, both in Seattle. These three bars are as recommendable today as they were when we added them to the list (Zig Zag and Fu Kun Wu in 2006; Toronado in 2008). We regret the omissions — a lot. If these bars were people, we would buy them drinks.

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Tags: Zig Zag Cafe, Esquire

Travel and Leisure Gets Into the Best American Cocktail Bars Game

Guess which Seattle bar made the list?

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on Apr 27, 2011 at 08:51AM 0 Comments

Homemade bitters: good, cosmo snobbery: bad.

Oh, don’t act like you didn’t know it was going to be Zig Zag.

The article is written by Wayne Curtis, an excellent writer who is a fountainhead—and not in an Ayn Rand kind of way—of booze knowledge. But he is confined to well-covered territory here.

From the piece:

The good: bartenders are making some amazing drinks these days. A whole new crop of handcrafted spirits are expanding the palette they paint with, and many craft bartenders are making their own syrups, infusions, and bitters, all of which add an unexpected depth and complexity to familiar drinks.

The bad: some cocktail lounges and their bartenders seem a bit too pleased with themselves. Big mustaches and sleeve garters and 12 ingredients in a drink do not an excellent bar make. And woe to those who unwittingly order a Cosmopolitan here. Can’t we all just get a drink?

Anyway, sincere congrats to the always deserving Zig Zag and the other craft cocktail bars.

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Tags: Cocktails, Booze News, Zig Zag Cafe, Wayne Curtis

A Few Thoughts On “Against Mixology”

Sarah Deming skewers the craft cocktail world, employing valid points as well as troubling ones.

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on Jan 24, 2011 at 09:51AM 4 Comments

Too big for their britches? Sarah Deming decries the modern mixology movement.

There’s an essay bouncing around the internet called Against Mixology. The writer, Sarah Deming, skewers the craft cocktail scene (I have a feeling she would curl her lip at the words “craft cocktail scene”) for what she perceives as generalized pretentiousness and delusions of grandeur.

Deming describes taking her father to a New York City cocktail lounge where he was treated disrespectfully. “The mixologist doesn’t like Amaretto,” he was told by a server, after attempting to order an amaretto sour. He then asked for a mojito, which earned him more scorn.

“[Dad] felt like a hick, and I felt like a jerk for exposing him to such unkindness,” writes Deming. “And Dad and I were always out of step in each other’s world….A bar should be the kind of place that lubricates such tensions, rather than aggravating them.”

I couldn’t agree more. Bottom line: A bar with rude service can never be a good bar. Even if it makes the world’s best drinks. There’s no cocktail-maker equivalent of the soup Nazi, because at a bar experience is an essential piece of the puzzle. A friend of mine was derided, recently, at a local cocktail bar for ordering a Heineken, even though Heineken was clearly listed as one of the beer choices on the menu. This shouldn’t be, and it’s an unfortunate side effect of the new seriousness with which people are treating the cocktail.

On the other hand, that seriousness has led to a renewed enthusiasm for artisanal products—creating a market for small, local businesses making bitters and vermouth and vodkas using antiquated techniques rediscovered in old books and records. For those of us who enjoy cocktail history, it has provided a community for delighting in the strange and fascinating stories surrounding booze. And for a generation of bartenders, it has engendered a pride in profession that helps them engage with customers on a deeper level, exposing their patrons to novel flavor combinations and obscure spirits. Done right, the craft cocktail experience transcends a simple trip to the bar—it’s educational, it’s interesting, it’s fun, and it’s anything but elitist.

Bar owners and tenders who lose sight of of good service are all over the place—at craft cocktail bars, at dive bars, everywhere—and most end up with a business towards which nobody directs tourists, one where few celebrate birthdays or bring their dads in for a drink. Bar owners and tenders that take service seriously, well, there’s a reason that the barstools at Zig Zag are in such high demand.

But back to the essay. Here’s how “Against Mixology” begins:
When I walk into a SoHo gallery, I expect to be snubbed. One look at my shoe-handbag combo and even the intern knows I can’t afford the art. At an alt-rock show in Williamsburg, I am game for shame at the door. I’m not that young anymore, and all my piercings are hidden. Basically, if art is on the line, I’m okay with elitism."

This troubles me, this idea that there is ever a situation where treating people poorly is okay. Does the staff of a Gucci purse store have the right to disrespect people wearing cheap shoes? Where is this line drawn, exactly? Personally, I think everyone should expect respect at the bar and the art gallery and the rock show and the…whatever. And if they don’t get it, my recommendation would be to go elsewhere.

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Tags: Cocktails, Booze News, Zig Zag Cafe, Seattle Cocktail Scene

Five Questions for the Bartender: Sidonie Rodman

What’s the worst thing this tender has seen in a bar? It may be sitting on your desk right now.

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on Oct 14, 2010 at 02:22PM 1 Comments

Sidonie Rodman, not a Red Bull fan.

A native of Maine, Sidonie Rodman comes from a hospitality background—her brother runs several hotels in her home state. But with characteristic New Englander independence, Rodman struck out for the West Coast, eventually landing in Seattle where she plans to move up the ranks without any help from big bro (though—she’s quick to add—she loves her brother and thinks he is amazing).

Since arriving, Rodman has mixed drinks at the lofty likes of Mistralkitchen and Anchovies and Olives, and she is currently a bartender/server at Art Restaurant and Lounge in the Four Seasons.

She’s driven, focused, and warmer than just about anyone you’re likely to meet in this town. She also knows her spirits.

Here, five questions for Sidonie Rodman.

What is the most underrated spirit?
I am going through an agave phase right now, and I can’t learn enough about mezcal. But I think dry sherry is the most underrated thing to mix with. I have such a dry, high acid-loving palate that I love cocktails with dry sherry. They can add complexity, acid, and sometimes body. Try the Nature Boy from Bryn [Lumsden] at the Rob Roy. It’s crazy good.

What is your favorite Seattle bar?
It depends on the night and who’s working where. I like to go visit my friends and support them, so, like, Sunday and Monday, I go to see Adam at Bathtub Gin. But my favorite “every night is a good night” bar is Zig Zag, (not that they need anymore shout outs). It’s not just because they have great cocktails but because they have the best hospitality. They have old school service standards of taking care of people. They are all pros and hella fun people to hang out with.

What drink do you order at that bar?
I always order an Arsenic and Old Lace from Erik [Hakkinen]. That drink is magic.

What’s the worst thing you’ve ever seen in a bar?
Red Bull.

Name three reasons you live in Seattle.

It has small farmers, produce, and product to support this incredible restaurant and food scene.

It’s close to the mountains, ocean and city life. I am athletic but love the city life so it fits well.

Most importantly, it’s an amazingly small city full of great people in the industry. I love the sense of community here.

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Tags: Five Questions for the Bartender, Seattle Bartenders, Zig Zag Cafe

Tavern Law Celebrates GQ Nod by Making Drinks for You

On October 10, the Cap Hill bar teams up with Zig Zag to mix signature drinks from the country’s top 25 cocktail bars.

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on Oct 04, 2010 at 03:58PM 0 Comments

They win, you win. Try drinks from the best bars in America on Sunday, October 10 at Tavern Law.

Here’s why we love Seattle bars: They love each other.

To toast their inclusion on GQ’s new list of top 25 cocktail bars in America, Tavern Law and Zig Zag are throwing a party together.

This party takes place at T-Law on Sunday, October 10 starting at 7pm, and the concept is cool: Bartenders (Zig Zag’s Murray Stenson and Ben Perri will mix alongside the house tenders) are making featured cocktails from the 25 bars on the magazine’s list.

I snuck a peek at the drinks menu; it’s being created even as I write this. For context: Zig Zag was the number one bar on GQ’s list and Tavern law was 25. And the seven drinks I’ve listed below correspond to those bars ranked numbers 2 through 7.

Evidence (Angel’s Share, New York) Earl Grey, vodka, ginger beer, lemon.

Whiskey Smash (The Violet Hour, Chicago)
Wild Turkey 101, lemon, mint, Peychaud’s bitters.

Astoria (Clover Club, Brooklyn)
Old tom gin, dry vermouth, orange bitters.

The Evergreen (The Alembic, San Francisco)
Pikesville Rye, Zirbenz Stone Pine liqueur, mint.

Kingston Negroni (Death + Company, NYC)
Jamaican Rum, campari, Carpano Antica.

La Louche (PDT, NYC)
Hendricks Gin, Lillet Rouge, Yellow Chartreuse, lime.

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Tags: Capitol Hill, Zig Zag Cafe, National Media Props

Tales from Tales IV

Chapter 4: In which Murray wins!

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on Jul 26, 2010 at 05:45AM 1 Comments

Photo: Olùgbènrò Ogunsemore

Murray with fellow Zig Zagger Erik Hakkinen.

Tales of the Cocktail has come to a close, and I am en route to Seattle, ready to cast my gaze once more upon our verdant metropolis.

Meantime though, great news: on Saturday night, Tales named Seattle’s own Murray Stenson (of Zig Zag Cafe) the bartender of the year. Stenson was not in New Orleans to receive the award, so Paul Clarke accepted it in his stead.

Stenson was also up for the Lifetime Achievement award; that one went to Brian Rea.

Big congrats to Murray and to everyone over at Zig Zag. And big congrats to you, Seattle, for getting to order drinks from the bartender of the year any old day, and for being smart enough to know how lucky you are to do so.

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Tags: Seattle Bartenders, Tales of the Cocktail, Murray Stenson, Zig Zag Cafe, Tales from Tales

Five Questions for the A Cocktail Chef: Cameo McRoberts

Cameo McRoberts is not a bartender, but that doesn’t mean she can’t make you a very good drink. Just don’t be snapping your fingers in her general direction.

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on Jul 07, 2010 at 11:11AM 3 Comments

Cameo McRoberts, not a bartender.

Working for Kathy Casey Studios, Alaska-native Cameo McRoberts (who—prepare to be impressed—was once sous chef to Rick TopChefMaster Bayless at Chicago’s Frontera Grill) creates plenty of cocktails, as well as bitters and syrups. But she’s careful not to call herself a bartender.

“Only because I know most of the bartenders in this series and they will make fun of me!” explains McRoberts.

“Coming from the kitchen I have a pretty strong knowledge of flavors and what pairs well,” she says. “As Kathy’s Executive Chef I work on tons of cocktail development with her and I put together all of our seminars. So in the past year I’ve had a crash course in cocktail culture, spirits, classic cocktails, cocktail history, and the whatnot.”

All I know is, she can make me a drink anytime—preferably using the amazing cherry bounce she keeps jarred up at the funtime cocktail lab she and Mrs. Casey call an office.

Here, five questions for cocktail chef Cameo McRoberts.

What is the most underrated spirit?

There is no bottle left uncorked in the cocktail world right now, it’s like a massive flavor unearthing. It’s really fun. Among the non spirit-geek crowd: definitely gin. It’s not the gin that hurts the next morning, it’s all the sugar in that tonic water! Good gin is like Dusty Springfield, sweet and gritty at the same time.

What’s your favorite Seattle bar?

The usual suspects: Rob Roy, Vessel, Zig Zag, Liberty, but the Ballard crawl is quite nice too: Moshi Moshi, Hazlewood, Oliver’s Twist (not Ballard, I know), and, as always, Sambar to finish.

What drink do you order at that bar?

Cocktail bars: anything the bartender wants to give me. Usually whiskey or gin-based. Everywhere else: shot of whiskey and glass of bitters and soda, with extra bitters.

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

My mom bartended in Alaska when I was younger so let’s just say I’ve seen some crazy stuff. Service-wide, I am not a fan of the snapping of the fingers.

Name three reasons you live in Seattle.

Proximity to the motherland (Alaska).

The water, the trees, the views—it really is breathtaking a lot of the time.

Seattle’s delicate balance of big pond/small pond, especially in the service industry.

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Tags: Cocktails, Hazlewood, Kathy Casey, Rob Roy, Zig Zag Cafe, Vessel, Gin, Whiskey, Seattle Bartenders, Five Questions for the Bartender, Sambar

Are Craft Cocktails Too Expensive?

If you think $12 (or even $10) is too much to pay for a drink, try this experiment.

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on Jun 30, 2010 at 10:48AM 1 Comments

The specialty cocktails at Zig Zag pack a considerable punch.
Photo: Lindsay Borden

I don’t think every new bar needs to be a highend cocktail lounge. I like a simple bar where I can order a beer for $3 and call it an evening. What I don’t like is when such a bar calls itself a cocktail lounge and charges cocktail-lounge prices for hastily/amateurishly crafted cocktails. And the reason I don’t like this is that it furthers the notion that any drink with a price tag of $10 or up is overpriced.

Because at a good cocktail lounge, a two-digit drink price reflects the cost of the ingredients that go into that drink, ingredients that include fresh-squeezed juices and aged spirits and top-shelf liqueurs and homemade bitters, cachaca, and falernum and sometimes even a Kold-Draft ice machine. In short, many things that are expensive to buy, maintain, and create. Customers may not be aware that at such an establishment, the bartender likely came in hours before his or her shift to prep ingredients and make sure every little detail is in place so that their imbibing experience will be an optimal one.

Value added: these cocktails tend to pack a serious punch. Drink more than two and Lawd help you. Also, they’ll keep tasting good even if you nurse them because they are made with ice that’s designed to melt slowly over time. I’d also say this: if you do get a crappy drink at a cocktail lounge, you should always, always tell the bartender that you’re not a fan. You’re paying premium for that beverage and you should use it as an opportunity to learn more about what you like, don’t like, and why.

If you’re still not convinced these drinks are worth the price, do this: Attend happy hour at Vessel or ZigZag or Mistralkitchen and try the drinks at their lowered prices. (Vessel’s $6 HH cocktail applies only to two drinks—a revolving duo of options off the menu. At Mistral, house cocktails are $3 off (so $9) and classic cocktails are $6. And last time I checked, Zig Zag’s specialty cocktails were $4.75 during HH.)

I encourage you to talk to the bartenders about what’s in your drink, why it’s made that way, etc. If you do this and find that you wouldn’t be willing to pay twice as much for your cocktail experience, come tell me about it.

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Tags: Happy Hour, Cocktails, Seattle Bartenders, Vessel, Mistralkitchen, Zig Zag Cafe