Sometimes the best comes from the least likely source

There are times when one sets out on a journey to a bar, and there are times when one simply ends up at one. This night…

‘I don’t mean to complain’ deciphered

Every restaurant will get a complaint letter eventually. In these days of Yelp and online forums one might think that the complaint letter is a thing…

It’s a birthday, happy or not

I do so love birthdays, any life celebration in fact. Making drinks has its own rewards to be sure, being good at one’s craft and all…

Barfly quoted in SF Examiner!

http://www.sfexaminer.com/sanfrancisco/discovering-the-martinis-bay-area-roots/Content?oid=2918259

Remembering Robin Williams

I didn’t know Robin Williams. Sure I’d met him a couple of times, waited on him a dozen or so, saw him perform locally and ran…

Beauty only goes so far

The outlook wasn’t brilliant for us that night. It was already going on 10 o’clock. The bottom half of the hour loomed with the next hour’s…

Sometimes there really is no place like home

We rolled up to the bar as if we were Charles Bukowski, Hank Moody and Charlie Sheen. Nothing teaches you what you don’t know more than…

One of “those people”

I am now officially “one of those people.” I didn’t mean to be, but there I was, 10 minutes to 9 p.m. with no dinner at…

Readers share thoughts on getting the service they expect

When I first started writing Barfly, nearly nine years ago, I received a letter. Not a nice letter, but a long letter. In fact, longer than…

Polite Society is often neither

It was as innocuous as a day could be; a late morning, a poolside visit. There are some times when working the night shift is the…