For a Convivial Change of Pace, Try The Latest Dining Trend
After having been in every kind of restaurant dining situation in the past 25 years, Patrick and I have been doing it differently of late when it’s just the two of us out on the town for some sustenance. We still mostly end up at a table when there are four or more of us; however, some couples are opting for the dining at the bar scene with us since we are having so much fun changing the rules.
We have often chosen to dine at the bar in the past few months. Perhaps to stay happy for so many years in a job like mine, one has to have a curiosity to ferret out every aspect of an industry, every change and trend. Over the years, Patrick and I have gone through periods of sticking with classic dishes and through times when we tried the most unique-sounding dishes on menus. Along the way, we did the same with wines. We, by far, prefer red wines and in that realm have gone through our Cabernet phase, a Merlot period, several months of trying every Petite Sirah we found on wine lists, a Burgundy stretch, some months of trying many Bordeaux wines, and a long nod to Italian varietals. In the past year, we have been on a bit of an old-vine Zinfandels kick.
We, like so many others today, also have rediscovered the pleasure of having a cocktail at the bar, before or after dinner.
Somewhere along the line, we realized that sitting at the bar for a before-dinner drink and staying there to eat was a lot of fun. There are always other people to talk to, and if you like life at all, it is difficult not to say something to the others around you in such a convivial atmosphere. After we did this several times, I began to think about the personalities of bartenders, the stories that they hear and share with customers. It is much more intimate than having the more structured service at a table. It’s like having free entertainment with your food and drink.
It became so much fun that we began to gravitate toward going to restaurants that had nice bars where we could eat. I think it may be a habit that would now be hard for us to break. We both love being around active, happy people and we enjoy good conversation and making new friends. This style of eating suits us very, very well, and I thought it might also suit some of you if I shared thoughts on what you might eat at these various bars, in addition to sharing some of the signature drinks and a little personal history on the head mixologists.
Life is for having fun and this is one way to ensure that. I’ve found in doing this enjoyable research that bars have very loyal customers. Not necessarily are they the same old brigade who drop by every afternoon for a happy hour drink just because the bar happened to be nearby. Now, I’ve discovered, there’s a whole army of people who drive to a bar just like they’d drive to any other destination for shopping, dining or business. And, I quickly came to realize that a lot of food was being served at these bars.
As for the trends in cocktails, creativity is almost as de rigueur for the bartender as it is for a chef.
I still hold fast to my theory that a martini was invented as a gin drink and making it with anything else means it should have another name. There is no way, of course, that I can win this argument. I am only one voice in a sea of other opinions since almost all martinis now are made with vodka. The reason for that is gin has its own flavor component that fights with so many other additions, while vodka lends itself to mixture sensations.
Under the banner of martini today are clever concoctions with amusing names. The lemon drop, cosmopolitan, orange crush, sapphire and chocolate martinis are common. But, there’s also a resurgence of classic cocktails, though not nearly so strong. Calls for a perfect Manhattan, pi & #324;a colada, sidecar, daiquiri, rusty nail, Gibson and gimlet have been ordered lately by others around us at the bar. The bartenders also tell us that the single-barrel bourbons and Scotches are garnering some serious fans.
Our lifestyles have become more casual. I remember fondly when Las Brisas was Victor Hugo’s and it was the epitome of high-style dining on the oceanfront. In the late ’50s and into the ’60s, it was expected that ladies wore a hat, attractive dress and high heels to dine there. Almost every one of us arrived wearing gloves.
Now, that restaurant and others are making more money than Victor Hugo’s ever dreamed possible, while catering to a crowd decked out in California casual attire. A more energetic, less strict world has emerged all around us. That is perhaps why dining at the bar fits right in with where we are psychologically at the moment.
Some of these bars I’ve written about have but 10 stools, some almost three dozen. To a fault, every one is extremely friendly. That perchance is mostly because of the personality of the head bartender who usually has other bartenders of similar personality to back him or her up. With the exception of two, the bartenders in the spotlight were all guys. That is territory I will not approach in this article, though it may be fodder for another time. But, we all want ambiance as well as a friendly person to talk to, and the food is quite important to me, as well. So, I have chosen these bars because they are all packed with style, from the most casual to the most sophisticated.
There’s also always a caveat with me in each of these special reports: that I could not in this round of research hit every bar in the county–so sad–and thus could include only those that I had experienced and felt made the cut for inclusion here. But, what happy research it turned out to be. Do yourself a very, very big dining favor and have some fun eating at the bar and extending your rapport with the world at the same time.
