- 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
SOMETHING DIFFERENT . . .
I’m taking a day off from the bar stories. We’ll be back later this week with a more typical post, but for now this space will be used for some great photos by my cousin Jack McAllister, two poems from … Continue reading
Posted in Life on a Cocktail Napkin
4 Comments
GUNSHOTS! (And the annual Workers’ Compensation audit)
Yesterday afternoon was chewed up by our top-to-bottom bar cleaning, and now the annual workers’ comp audit for the club is waiting on my desk. I’m on a break here, trying to piece together a post for this week. But, … Continue reading
Posted in Life on a Cocktail Napkin
9 Comments
HALL OF FAMERS (The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly)
Today’s post is quite a bit lighter than last week’s. It’s about one of my favorite pastimes behind the bar — spotting nominees for The Hall of Fame. There’s been a HOF in every place I’ve worked, and typically the … Continue reading
Posted in Life on a Cocktail Napkin
7 Comments
RUNNING LATE . . .
This week’s post will be short. I was running behind anyway, then one of our bartenders wanted to switch our Weds/Thurs shifts to attend a concert. A full post is coming next week, but in the meantime here’s a short … Continue reading
Posted in Life on a Cocktail Napkin
5 Comments
FAVORITE NAMES (Johnny La La and others)
I love a good name. I love unusual names. I love names that are just fun to hear pronounced. I collect them, mostly by memory, although more than a few have been jotted on cocktail napkins. Today, I feel like … Continue reading
Posted in Life on a Cocktail Napkin
11 Comments