Post #792840 by Prikli Pear on Thu, Jan 31, 2019 11:48 AM

The irony is that Buffett sold his interest in the Cheeseburger in Paradise chain because sales have been struggling for years now. There's a huge new Margaritaville restaurant in San Antonio, and The Wife and kids taunt me about going there every time we pass it. I don't begrudge the man his success, because he seems like a genuinely nice fellow, but damn, the commercialization's way over the top. I mean, he doesn't have to agree to every venture his accountants put before him, does he?

Tangentially, I read an article the other day how cruise lines are hiring celebrity chefs and bartenders to revamp their offerings, elevate boat drinks to craft cocktails and the like. I'll believe it when I see it, but it's nice that someone's at least giving lip service to quality over quantity. Last month we went to a new (revamped) bar in town. It wasn't a speakeasy, but they had the hipster mustaches and arm garters going, right? Started out promising, but they only had like six cocktails on their menu, Manhattan, Martini, Gimlet, Martinez, etc. I almost thought it was a joke. I wanted a Jungle Bird but they didn't have pineapple. They offered to make me a Mai Tai but I thought "Oh, no. You're not gonna catch me in that trap." I finally got an off-menu Negroni. It wasn't bad, but damn, it shouldn't take a court order to get relatively common cocktails at a place billing itself as a craft cocktail bar. Which has nothing really to do with opening a new tiki bar, but let an old man have his rants. :)