Susan Granger’s review of “Hey Bartender” (4th Row Films)
From “A Drinking Life: A Memoir,” Pete Hamill’s famous quote – “The culture of drink endures
because it offers so many rewards…above all, the elusive promise of friendship and love” – introduces Doug Tirola’s easygoing documentary about the new 21st century breed of bartenders who consider themselves skilled mixologists, carefully concocting just the right combination of spirits to create their high-end, signature cocktails.
Beginning at Dunville’s in Westport, Connecticut, writer/director Tirola (“Making the Boys in the Band,” All In: The Poker Movie”) weaves together the hometown backstory of how Steve Carpentieri went from Citigroup VP to weary, struggling, neighborhood tavern proprietor, along with injured, ex-Marine Steve Schneider’s dogged rise from stocker/apprentice to principal bartender at trendy Employees Only in Manhattan’s West Village, diligently working under the demanding tutelage of Serbian civil war refugee, Dushan Zaric.
Interspersed are perceptive commentaries from the former Rainbow Room “King Cocktail” impresario Dale Degroff and Michael Lerner, who wrote “Dry Manhattan,” about the history of cocktails in America, highlighting the Roaring Twenties and how Prohibition shut down not only the creativity but almost irreparably damaged the reputations of bartenders. But the hospitality industry has changed once again, as showmanship and the cult of the craft cocktail has emerged, along with the availability of fresh ingredients and top-shelf liquors.
Other interviews include Flatiron Lounge/Clover Club’s Julie Reiner, Milk & Honey’s Sasha Petraske, Jim Meehan of PDT in the East Village, Audrey Saunders of Pegu Club in SoHo, playwright A.R. Gurney, “Vanity Fair’s” editor/restaurateur Graydon Carter and screenwriter Heywood Gould – with a quick glimpse of Tom Cruise in his “Cocktail.”
While they run a bit too long, these rambling, episodic fragments are satisfactorily knit together when both Steve Carpentieri and Steve Schneider wind up at amid the conviviality of the 2011 Tales of the Cocktail culinary celebration and Spirited Awards in New Orleans.
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Hey Bartender” is a stirring, sophisticated 7, filled with insightful, engaging observations, like “The shot is the bartender’s handshake.”
