- ABOUT THIS BLOG
- Everyone has done it – you’re in a bar, looking for a scrap of paper to write a woman's name and phone number on, or just want to make a note to yourself so you don’t forget something. You grab a cocktail napkin.
- (In the TV series The West Wing, a political consultant decides that Jed Bartlet – played by Martin Sheen – should run for President. He takes a cocktail napkin and writes down the slogan, “Bartlet for America.”)
- I work in bars. Over the years, I’ve accumulated enough of my own cocktail-napkin notes to fill six liquor bottle boxes.
- Here are the people and stories that wound up in those notes -- real-life characters like Jackie Rabbit and Maude the Broad, the narcotics cops Paul and Sonny, mafia guys, some shameless tramps and one suicidal young man. You'll meet an old-time boxer who wants to take me into the gym to teach me his trade, and a woman who thinks God is on the stool next to her, urging her to have one more whiskey and ginger. It's life behind the taps.
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- Life on a Cocktail Napkin has over 30,000 page views per month. Check out the stories you've been missing in our Archives (below). And my sincere thanks to all of you who have visited here!
Archives
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Blogroll
- Because we're not all there
- Behind The Stick
- Best Restaurant Blogs
- Hospitality Formula
- I'm your SERVER NOT your SERVANT
- Jeffrey Morgenthaler
- On the Rocks
- Restaurant Laughs
- Same Food For Every Day
- Squirrel Farts Drink Blog
- Tales From a Bar
- The Real Barman
- The Rogue Wino
- The Truth About Bartending
- These American Servers
- Waiters Today
- Wino on a Ramble
Author Archives: MikeQ
LULU (and the I Ching)
Her name was Lorraine, but everyone called her “Lulu.” She was a cute, sexy, bouncy sort of girl that everyone noticed when she walked in to apply for a waitress position. Phil, one of the bartenders at The Sunflower Café, … Continue reading
Posted in Life on a Cocktail Napkin
4 Comments
“HOLD THAT CHAIR!” (Christmas bar stories)
I spent this past Christmas Day with Colleen’s family — what a great time and a wonderful meal. (Colleen is a great cook . . . trays and trays of appetizers, followed by a twenty-pound turkey roasted perfectly, three kinds … Continue reading
Posted in Life on a Cocktail Napkin
18 Comments
THE PERFECT STORM (the ending)
Back when I was working at The Sunflower Café I didn’t spend a lot of time dwelling on relationships. Those of you in the business know what it’s like — everything happens so fast, and it’s non-stop. Bar relationships come … Continue reading
Posted in Life on a Cocktail Napkin
9 Comments
THE PERFECT STORM (part two)
(This is the second part of the story, . . . the first part is here.) I was still thinking about Terri when I got up the next morning. (Arrrggh, mornings . . . I hate using the alarm clock. … Continue reading
Posted in Life on a Cocktail Napkin
12 Comments
THE PERFECT STORM (part one)
“OK, then you’ll be over tomorrow to shovel me out . . . ?” We were all drinking at 33 Dunster Street, the restaurant/bar that shared a back alley with The Sunflower Café. A big snowstorm was forecast for the … Continue reading
Posted in Life on a Cocktail Napkin
13 Comments
