Don the Beachcomber's problems???? - Tiki Drinks and Food

A artsnyder Grand Member (1 year) Los Angeles/Las Vegas Joined: Jan 20, 2009 Posts: 31	A artsnyder Posted posted on Sun, Mar 4, 2012 10:49 PM On 2012-02-29 00:06, Chuck Tatum is Tiki wrote: There is no place like Don's around here anymore, It is the only place that makes me think I have gone back in time to the Tiki Palaces of my youth, But they did hire alot of new bartenders, who may not make the best cocktails, Yet the place still has all the magic that is Don's, So don't let that sway you from visiting. There is something unique about a Don the Beachcomber bartender--to make Don's drinks you really don't need to have a bit of creativity. Only the intelligence and recall that would be necessary for a server at "21 Flavors." You understand that Donn, the most brilliant of mixologists, expressed his "Rum Rhapsodies" in the most specific of formulas, so that those who finally constructed them would have to do nothing but use the right glass, scoop up the ice to fill THAT glass, pour in rum of the brand dictated in the amouts dictated, pour it in a malt can, give it a number of seconds on a malt mixer, put it back in the glass, add the foilage and trinkets that he dictated be part of it, and put it down on one of his bar coasters in front of the customer. Unless the bartender couln'd read the labels, he could not make a bad Vicious Virgin. The biggest problem we have with new bartenders we have is to convince them that, concerning Don's drinks, you were not doing yourself or your friendly customer a favor by putting too much of the expensive rum in his drink. If you did, he would find a very different drink in his hands. Yes, we have had a change in bar personnel since our first hiring. For better or worse, those who will simply NOT make a Zombie the way that Don did when he invented it in 1931 in "Ernie's Place", the Speakeasy he operated on McCadden Place before repeal--with or without the absinthe that he always used then. But that is not to say that we don't hire experienced bartenders. We do, because there's a lot to being a bartender besides mixing Don's drinks. We insist that our bartenders are likeable folks, who enjoy dispensing that substance that warms the heart, can make a good Martini in the traditional way, and who finds it a pleasant occupation in which to make friends, relieve anxiety, and continue in his relations with our customers the fantasy that is and always has been Don the Beachcomber.

On 2012-02-29 00:06, Chuck Tatum is Tiki wrote:
There is no place like Don's around here anymore, It is the only place that makes me think I have gone back in time to the Tiki Palaces
of my youth, But they did hire alot of new bartenders, who may not make the best cocktails, Yet the place still has all the magic
that is Don's, So don't let that sway you from visiting.

There is something unique about a Don the Beachcomber bartender--to make Don's drinks you really don't need to have a bit of creativity. Only the intelligence and recall that would be necessary for a server at "21 Flavors." You understand that Donn, the most brilliant of mixologists, expressed his "Rum Rhapsodies" in the most specific of formulas, so that those who finally constructed them would have to do nothing but use the right glass, scoop up the ice to fill THAT glass, pour in rum of the brand dictated in the amouts dictated, pour it in a malt can, give it a number of seconds on a malt mixer, put it back in the glass, add the foilage and trinkets that he dictated be part of it, and put it down on one of his bar coasters in front of the customer. Unless the bartender couln'd read the labels, he could not make a bad Vicious Virgin. The biggest problem we have with new bartenders we have is to convince them that, concerning Don's drinks, you were not doing yourself or your friendly customer a favor by putting too much of the expensive rum in his drink. If you did, he would find a very different drink in his hands.
Yes, we have had a change in bar personnel since our first hiring. For better or worse, those who will simply NOT make a Zombie the way that Don did when he invented it in 1931 in "Ernie's Place", the Speakeasy he operated on McCadden Place before repeal--with or without the absinthe that he always used then.
But that is not to say that we don't hire experienced bartenders. We do, because there's a lot to being a bartender besides mixing Don's drinks. We insist that our bartenders are likeable folks, who enjoy dispensing that substance that warms the heart, can make a good Martini in the traditional way, and who finds it a pleasant occupation in which to make friends, relieve anxiety, and continue in his relations with our customers the fantasy that is and always has been Don the Beachcomber.

Post #627613 by artsnyder on Sun, Mar 4, 2012 10:49 PM