Chris Frankel Shares His Bar Trend Pet Peeves

After years behind the bar at Anvil, innovating the wine list at Underbelly and most recently, reinvigorating the bar program at RDG + Bar Annie, bar manager Chris Frankel has watched the scene evolve and has dealt with his fair share of industry annoyances. Today we asked him what some of his bar trend pet peeves are. He sent us a message detailing some of the new industry issues that bug him:

First off, I think there are way too many people who don't work at any bars on a regular basis, but promote themselves as bartenders because it's cool to do so. The respect that bartenders get comes from working those night shifts and being there to take care of customers, and if you're not doing that, you're missing the point.

Also, I wish fewer people dedicated their efforts to appearances than to honing their craft. Wearing a newsboy hat or a vintage cocktail dress to work and spending your money on trident barspoons and super narrow Japanese jiggers doesn't make you a better bartender.

We'll be asking more bartenders what bugs them as part of a Cocktail Week series. If you have an industry person you'd like to hear from, shoot us a message here.
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Chris Frankel [ Chuck Cook/ My Table]