Disgorged Podcast

For the last five years or so, my rather large extended family has gathered at my dad’s house the Saturday after Thanksgiving for a celebratory meal. Nestled inside that tradition has been another, where I play bartender: creating a special drink for the occasion. This year was no different, but because I was dedicated to not just spending all my time making drinks, I decided to pre-batch my concoction for easier preparation. Since my girlfriend had requested “something nutty

Writing about the history of a specific cocktail can be super fascinating, in part because they often travel circuitous and unlikely routes to reach the heights of fame. Obviously, the Last Word is one such drink, going from Prohibition-era Detroit, to post-war New York, to oblivion, and then resurrected by Murray Stenson. While it might never quite reach the level of fame of the Manhattan or the Margarita, it’s fun to note that each of those drinks was a new drink in search

Seattle is having a bit of a crisis when it comes to restaurant workers. The continued massive growth in the industry has created a situation where too many jobs are available, and not enough skilled and trained workers exist to fill those jobs. With that as a given, I wanted to write about what actually constitutes good service. I think it's easy to overlook the importance of honesty, but to me it's at the crux of all great service interactions. It was demonstrated to me ye

This week's column was all about Miller's Guild, the new restaurant in the Hotel Max space. I had a cool opportunity to sit down with Jake Kosseff and some of his talented bartenders while they tasted me on some of their barrel-aged spirits, and the cocktails they make with them. You can read my piece at the Seattle Weekly, but I did have an additional thought that didn't quite make the cut: barrel-aged spirits are a good hook for a restaurant, but I think they're getting a b