- 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
BOSTON BARTENDER SHAKES UP NATIONAL ELECTION
Last year on May 17th I went to work behind the bar — made the usual drinks, chatted with customers, earned some tips and went home satisfied that I’d done my job. That same evening, another Boston-born bartender had a … Continue reading
Posted in Life on a Cocktail Napkin
6 Comments
DROPPING THE BALL (Restaurant fuck-ups)
We’ve all seen it. At a crucial moment in the game — when everything is on the line — some key player makes a horrible mistake. (Bill Buckner’s legendary error costs the Boston Red Sox the 1986 World Series title … Continue reading
Posted in Life on a Cocktail Napkin
13 Comments
FRIENDS & COMPANY
This post may be a little disjointed, but right now I’m thinking about one of the best jobs I’ve ever had — at Friends & Company, in Boston’s Faneuil Hall. Today I want to tell you about the owner, Pam … Continue reading
Posted in Life on a Cocktail Napkin
9 Comments
COCKTAIL NAPKIN HAIKU
A server I know from Davis Square (Somerville, MA), recently started a blog featuring restaurant haiku. English language haiku is typically only three lines and is meant to capture a single moment, or feeling. Here’s a description from WikiHow: “When … Continue reading
Posted in Life on a Cocktail Napkin
9 Comments
A SUPER BOWL PARADE
There was no Super Bowl parade for the New England Patriots this week. (First, you have to get into the big game, and then win it — that means not dropping key passes during crucial playoff drives.) But I’m thinking … Continue reading
Posted in Life on a Cocktail Napkin
8 Comments
