Burning Questions For Bellevue Bartenders
August 21, 2024 - by Soumya Sahay
Burning Questions For Bellevue Bartenders
Bellevue has many spots to offer its residents for a night out on the town, or a relaxing happy hour after a grilling day at work. But for some, a late night is where the work begins - and it’s about time these workers get the recognition they deserve.
We got to know six of Bellevue’s most seasoned bartenders at some of the city’s most happening hotspots, and got to know the patrons behind the pour. Keep reading to get to know these hardworking mixologists, and look for some familiar faces you may - or may not - remember.
Paddy Coyne's Irish Pub - Meet Steve
How long have you been bartending at Paddy Coynes?
I’ve been working here for about six years - I broke my hand when I first started working here so that made bartending a little tricky, so I have been bartending about 5 ½ years.
And how are liking it?
I like it! It pays my rent, you meet good people - I met my fiancé while working here, so I have a lot of good things to say about Paddy’s. It’s not too stressful, and you get a good mix of everyone in Bellevue. It’s kind of an industry bar, so if you want to meet people who also work in the industry, it helps you when going out, and makes it easy to make friends.
What is your favorite part of bartending?
The way I looked at it was, I was already staying up until 3 a.m. anyway - I might as well get paid for it. You get a little bit of flexibility in your schedule, you get to see a different thing every night.
Least favorite?
It can be tricky when you’re trying to make plans with people who don't work in the industry, wondering why you’re working until three in the morning on Fridays and Saturdays, things like that. And you never know who’s going to walk through your door. For the most part, that can be a good thing, but it is a double-edged sword, you can get either way.
Do you have a favorite drink to make here? To have?
Guinness is what I serve the most. For me, a beer and a shot, I don’t need anything fancy.
What is your favorite memory from working here?
Meeting my fiancé - if I didn’t say that, I'd be stupid.
Do you have any advice for people coming in and ordering?
Bring your ID. You’d be surprised how many people walk out of the house without an ID - a picture’s not going to cut it, I’m sorry.
What is a fun fact about you?
I’m very go with the flow - whatever you’re doing, I’ll have a good time doing it too.
Civility & Unrest - Meet Joshua
How long have you been bartending?
I have been bartending for roughly about 12 ½ years, since I turned 21. I’ve been at Civility & Unrest for about 16 months, approaching a year and a half.
I love it! I definitely feel the support of the upper management, and I have a great team alongside me - it’s honestly one of the best places I've worked at.
What is your favorite thing about bartending?
My favorite thing about bartending is the curveball that you get every day; every shift is different, and I love to expect the unexpected.
Least favorite?
Honestly, sometimes the hardest part is the long hours, the long shifts - those can get to you.
My worst experience was probably my first shift ever. I was just such a novice, I was really, really scared and I had no idea what I was doing. I was this fresh 21-year-old kid working at P. F. Changs, and I think it was a Friday night, and it was just slammed.
What is something that you’ve learned from bartending?
I would say it's definitely helped me more with my people skills. I am a very family-oriented person; growing up, I loved spending time with my brothers, but I always had my guard up when it came to talking to strangers. I think doing this has definitely opened me up as a social person.
What do you wish more customers knew?
Just to be patient - patience goes a long way, and we’re all human. People make mistakes. It’s easy to get mad when something doesn’t go your way, but sometimes we hear the wrong thing, sometimes put the wrong thing in a drink - we’ll make it right, but it’s just a matter of being patient.
What is your favorite drink to make? To have?
There’s one here that everyone thinks is a pain, but I love making it because it allows for more showmanship. It’s called the volcano, and with that drink, we are literally burning a high alcohol content liquid and pouring it into liquid nitrogen. It creates this whole show, it’s a show-stopper. But I also enjoy making classics, like your Manhattan, your Old Fashioned.
When it comes to my own drinks, I am a very simple person. Anyone who knows me knows that I strictly just drink straight vodka.
What is something fun about you?
I was born and raised in Saipan, in the Northern Mariana Islands. I lived there until I was about 16, it’s just a tiny little island by Guam and kind of by the Philippines, and it is United States territory. But yeah, I miss home, and I’ve been a beach kid all through my life.
Rouge Cocktail Lounge - Meet Zeke
How long have you been bartending?
I want to say eight years, give or take. I have been bartending at Rouge for about two weeks - it’s been pretty good!
I got to work here on July 4th, which is very exciting because everywhere else was closed, we were one of the few places open, so we got a lot of business that day. I got to know some of the people in the area. It was nice getting to know the palette of the guests.
What is your favorite part of bartending? Least favorite?
I like educating people about spirits. Not everyone knows the history behind alcohol, like how it was used for medicine - little things like that. We have maybe about 200 different spirits here, so everything has a story to tell, and it’s really nice to be the person that tells the story, that shares that with the world, that opens people’s minds. I find that to be the most interesting thing.
Sometimes, dealing with drunken guests is not the most fun part of my job, but its something that we all go through. That, or just snobby people, people that think they know more than everyone else. I just like to come and have a good time, so if somebody’s against that, then that’s pretty much the worst thing about working a bar.
What have you learned from being a bartender?
As a bartender, you learn how to be a sort of therapist and a local guide. People come to the bar asking you what’s around and what is good food-wise and drinks-wise. It's such a unique job where the expectations from the guests are not necessarily tied into what my job title is.
What do you wish more customers knew?
I wish they knew they didn't have to order straight from the menu. I wish that they knew when there’s a bartender here, we can throw down, we can do some crazy things if they allow us.
What is your favorite drink to make? To have?
As basic as it sounds, I love making an Old Fashioned. I feel like it's such a classic cocktail, there’s so much room to play around with it, with bitters, or the base period itself, you can make a Oaxaca Old Fashioned, all the way to a rum Old Fashioned, pretty much anything. There’s so much room to play with it.
I’m a big fan of fernet, so I’d say anything with fernet like the industry sours, or anything that's bitter or citrusy is my go-to.
Do you have any favorite or fond memories from bartending?
Where I was working before, I crafted a cocktail using a more unknown spirit from Mexico - Sutol. One day, there was a gentleman who came to the bar, and he was looking at the back wall of all the spirits I had up, and he saw that I had this specific bottle of Sutol, and he said “Oh wow! You have that?” And I asked if he had ever tried it before, and he was like, “Oh yeah, I know the guys who make it.”
I was surprised by the answer, so I mentioned I had a cocktail on the menu that had it. He asked me to make it, so I made him a cocktail, and he started taking pictures of it. I asked what he was doing, and he said he was sending it to the boys. He was sharing it with the guys who had made the Sutol.
So all the way fromSeattle to Mexico, he told them they had to visit. The gentleman kept coming to my bar, he kept ordering the same Sutol, the same drink, and he got me in touch with these guys, and they were supposed to come visit me. The gentleman had a baby, so he wasn’t able to come last May, but they sent me a bunch of merch, hats, a gift box of little liquor sets, bottles of Mezcal - it was super nice. A normal interaction turned into a relationship with some guys who made this ancestral spirit that honestly I didn’t even know I was gonna like when I first saw it.
Nobody believed me! Even the owners didn’t believe me.
What is something fun about you?
I’m Argentinean so I’m a huge Messi fan, I’m a fanatic for soccer, so if anyone wants to bring me any soccer memorabilia or anything like that, I’m so down.
Central Bar + Restaurant - Meet Kyle
How long have you been bartending at Central?
I am the AGM here, I pretty much run all the bartenders, the bar program, the wine menu, all that stuff. I wear a lot of hats around here.
I’ve been bartending for about 10 years. I’ve been here since we opened 7 years ago, but I’ve worked for the family, the Brazens, they own 520 as well, I’ve worked for them for about 10 years. I started at 520 when I was 19, and then worked my way up to bartender at 21. A few years ago, we had an opportunity to start a new restaurant, and here we are.
What is your favorite part of bartending? Least favorite?
Probably the people. There’s a lot of interesting people out there, and everyone has cool stories, and life experience - sometimes you have to earn those.
Least favorite - probably the hours. You know, it’s a grind, especially if you’re making your living doing this. It’s long hours, late nights, but also when you get off, you can go have drinks with friends, and it’s a very social job. Sometimes you need to take a few days, re-charge your social battery and get some sleep, but that’s probably the only downside.
What have you learned from bartending?
I’d say patience and compassion. Dealing with people all the time, you get a lot of perspective, and that kind of weeds into every aspect of your life. It changes how you approach everything - people, situations, stress.
What is your favorite memory from working here?
My favorite memory from working here is probably the owner's youngest daughter, Taylor’s, wedding night. We did the wedding, and came back here with a busload of people, like 150 people. The bar was already packed when we got here, and it was the most amount of people I’ve ever seen in this space before. It was shoulder-to-shoulder everywhere.
All three of the owner’s daughters got up on the bartop and were dancing. We were here until close, it was like that for hours. It was wild.
What do you wish more customers knew?
There’s a lot of different people in Bellevue. I wish customers knew about our brunch - I feel like our brunch is slept on. We have a killer brunch on Saturday and Sundays. We just started doing live music, and with Bellevue growing, that’s something people really look for.
What is your favorite drink to make? To have?
Pretty much everything - we have a dealer’s choice option on the menu, and I just like to ask people what they usually drink, what their favorite flavor profile is, etc. It’s kind of like a puzzle you piece together, and you tailor things specifically for people, so I like to do that a lot. It’s more a challenge of what’s going to wow this person, so that’s my favorite drink.
For what I like to order, I don’t want to say I like it basic, but I do like classics. I like people’s take on them. I like looking at menus, and trying stuff when it comes to going out and getting a drink. I pretty much just always get an Old Fashioned, or just some whiskey, neat. I like the work that goes into making the spirits, and being able to taste that.
What is something fun about you?
When I was 10, I actually got to be Little Blitz for the Seahawks.. My mom worked on payroll at the training facility when it was still in Kirkland, and I got a full outfit and shoulder pads. I got to ride around in the helmet with the cheerleaders, and sign autographs. It was very bizarre, but super fun.
Black Bottle - Meet Anhy
How long have you been bartending at Black Bottle?
I have been bartending for 10 years or so. I started in college and it just kind of became a passion career of mine.
I’ve worked at Black Bottle for about six years or so, pre-pandemic, and afterward, I became the bar manager.
What’s your favorite part about bartending?
A lot of it is guest interaction. Making sure people have a good experience when they are out for a drink, whether it's getting nerdy about the liquors and the different distilling processes, or just somebody who wants to know the history of cocktails, things like that.
What is your favorite memory from working here?
One time, I was serving this couple who came in a little bit closer to closing time, and they were sharing with me that they were stuck here because they were going on a cruise to Alaska, and as soon as they hit Seattle, all the Airlines stopped. So they were stranded here for three days, and this was their first day in Bellevue because the airline booked them a hotel in Aurora, Seattle. It was quite an experience for them.
Just being able to share stories of lost travelers, people who came here for a conference for work, or people from all over the world. Anybody who just wants to hang out, whether it’s 10-15 minutes to grab a quick beer, or they’re here on their work laptop for hours on end just trying to get things done. It’s fun to meet people from all walks of life.
Do you have any horror stories from bartending?
Something I really advocate for is for bartenders being able to cut people off. We’re worried about your safety, and safety is our number one priority. Safety of female patrons especially. That is something I am absolutely an advocate for.
What do you wish more customers knew?
Tell me what you want - I feel like communication is key. If you want me to be creative and make you something, or if you know exactly what you like, go ahead and order it!
What is your favorite drink to make? To have?
We do have a full bar, so we can make all of your classic cocktails. I love it when people say “I like this. Can you make me something similar? Or can you just be creative?” I feel like that’s one of the best things about it.
I try to stock my bar with interesting liquors and things that new and incoming bartenders can experiment with as well. So I have a Shishou liquor, like the Shishou leaves from a Japanese restaurant. We have lemon verbena, we have so many different, cool things that we can play around with. I try to encourage a lot of my new bartenders to be creative, you know, think of different techniques and ways that you can work on your craft, and be able to share that with people. I think that’s one of the cool things about bartending.
I look at the menu and see what kind of creative cocktails a place has, but I’m also very much a whisky straight kind of gal. I like to look at spirit lists. If there is something on there that I have never had before, I would love that. And on some long days, maybe I just want to stay with my tried and true.
What is something fun about you?
I really love my craft, come in and chat with me!
Ascend Prime Steak and Sushi - Meet Chaz
How long have you been bartending at Ascend?
I have been here since the very beginning. So, it has been a little over 6 years now. I was fortunate enough to see this place getting built. I was able to tour this space with no windows and no walls, and I got to see through the vision of the owners. It's very cool to see how it is today.
What is your favorite memory from working here?
When I first started, I wasn’t running the bar program at that time, but I did have the opportunity to put a cocktail on the menu, the second menu rollout of the first year. That cocktail still is on the menu today, and is one of the most popular cocktails. So, to be able to create something that I worked very hard on, a lot of different recipe variations, and it being my first, it was pretty exciting.
I’ve gotten a lot of opportunities here at Ascend, one highlight being that patron tequila sent me down to Mexico, down to their hacienda. I got to attend a seminar on ancient Mexican mixology, so I got to learn a lot of different techniques, fermentation and things like that. It was also very humbling to be in Mexico, and see what great things the bartenders were doing down there with such little materials, whether it be the tools or the ingredients, it really made me appreciate the basics of bartending.
What have you learned from bartending?
I have always been sort of an introvert, so this job has forced me to get to know people, talk to people, kind of just be out there. So in a sense, it's a way for me to balance my life.
Do you have any horror stories you can share?
Working in a caliber like this with the caliber of coworkers that I have, little inconveniences here and there are bound to happen, but I have had a great team and a great time here in six years.
A horrible thing for me at Ascend would be Covid bartending - right after we opened from Covid, I was the only bartender here, and I wasn’t able to serve anyone at the bar top. So I would just make drinks for the dining room. Only half of the job is making the drinks - communicating with people, building relationships, having the camaraderie between the team, those are all things that make me want to come to work everyday. That stretch of about 6 weeks was probably the worst time I’ve probably ever had in my bartending career.
What do you wish more customers knew?
The kind of experience I try to lay out for our guests is a wide array. We have those fun, instagram-able cocktails, but we have Spear Four classic style cocktails. So we can reach a bigger demographic of spirit and cocktail drinkers. One of the things I pride myself in is having a spirit selection from around the world.
When a guest may say they don’t like rum, or they don't like Mezcal, there’s so many different production techniques as well as flavor profiles, that there may be something that you would like. And we have a selection where we can show you differences between countries’ spirits or regions or techniques.
Any words for the Bellevue community?
Don’t judge a book by its cover - we have something for everybody! Whether you want to drink Cristal or Louis Trey all night, or if you want to just have a really nice whisky or tequila, we can accommodate.
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