Bar talk...

The other night I had the distinct pleasure of sitting with a very good friend of mine on the eve of his Hunter S. Thompsonesque trip across the great terra firma of the United States.

Instead of being a guided by a briefcase of uppers, downers and inbetweeners it would be guided more by his love for adventure, his thirst to write and most importantly his need for a purpose... and ok let's face it, one or two sips of Jameson will more than likely be involved as well.

Sitting around the club sipping some Ellicottville Chocolate Cherry Stout, which we enjoyed very much, we got to talking.

Now it's hard not to like my friend Charlie... Wait a minute, who the fuck am I kidding?

Charlie is one of the most sarcastic, smart assed people you will ever meet. Either you love the kid or you want to strangle him in the first ten seconds you spend with him.

But on the flipside he is also one of the most intelligent, responsible, articulate and witty people you will ever come across. Charlie had an odd life and honestly has had the worst luck out of anyone I have ever met. Especially on the job front.

That’s not to say he gets shit canned a lot. You see, Charlie has two college degrees English is one and I forget the other. He is an astoundingly talented author and probably the best bartender I have met in a long time. He has worked in collections, restaurants, financial consulting firms and for a few smaller newspapers in the 5 or so years I have known him.

However with all of Charlie's outstanding talent, articulate whit and charming personality, he has been passed over for every last thing he has deserved. Positions within a company he has worked at for almost 10 years.

10 years, two degrees, outstanding qualifications and a line of people giving glowing references and recommendations and yet, nothing to show for it.

Enter: disillusionment. Enter: resentment. Enter: depression.

Enter: Buffalo, New York.

Charlie, like most people I know, is a Buffalo native. He spends his free time working on various articles for local publications, drawing, painting, playing guitar, working out and enjoying an adult beverage whenever possible.

He spends his work time bartending for me, he is without a doubt the best I have ever employed and one of the best friends I will ever have.

But unfortunately like most Buffalonians, Charlie is cursed.

We have the stink of a city who lost four consecutive Super Bowls. A city who lost the
Stanley Cup in triple overtime and who's main claim to fame is being "where Niagara Falls is." Even though the damn things are nearly 30 miles away.

Most people either think were in Canada or near New York City (although I could probably spit and hit our neighbors to the north in some spots of Buffalo.)

So Charlie, like so many other young up and coming, intelligent, valuable commodities of our youthful and exuberant generation must leave Buffalo in search of his millions. A sad testament to a City, who until around 1957 when the St. Lawrence Seaway opened was one of the biggest industrialized cities on the face of the earth. Hosting one of the biggest populations in the United States which topped out at almost 590,000 people.

Johnny Rzeznik, of the famed Buffalo band the Goo Goo Dolls, put it best in the band's hit song "Broadway" (a song about a street running through what used to be a heavily Polish neighborhood which Rzeznik grew up in) "Young men sitting in an old man's bar waiting for his turn to die."

Put equally as well by a local sculptor, Zach Boehler was something like this, "Buffalo is a city where young men inherit their father's seat at the corner bar and pray for the mircale that never comes."

Sadly enough both statements are inevitably true. The horror and power of an image where an entire city of people have become so depressed and complacent (with a metropolis that is crumbling from a morally and financially bankrupt infrastructure) that they wait for death or a miracle.

Over the years I have seen much of my family and friends leave the area for what they hope will be greener pastures. They have relocated, like many Buffalonians to North Carolina, South Carolina, LA, Boston and Miami. The list goes on and on. Unbelievably I have found that I can not go anywhere in this country and not find someone from here.

You would think in a country with a population of 305,595,000 you would be hard pressed to go somewhere without a Buffalo connection. Especially when you come from a city whom accounts for as minute as one half of one percent of the national population. It unfortunately show the depravity of a society of desperation.

The one thing about Buffalo is this. We are fiercely defensive of our roots and heritages. Especially in the different neighborhoods of the area.

South Buffalo (as the south of almost any city in the North Eastern portion of the country) is predominately Irish. Street signs appearing in both English and Gaelic.

North Buffalo being predominately Italian home of Pizzerias and some of the finest gourmet restaurants in the city.

The West Side being a mix of Puerto Rican and other Hispanic cultures having some of the best ethnic markets in the city.

Finally the East Side consisting of a predominate mix of Polish and African American heritage is the home of Buffalo's Famous Broadway Market and the sight of the yearly Dyngus Day festivities.

A struggling Buffalo economy is one of the reasons that proportionately we have a far higher crime rate than New York City. Most of the East and West side being a harbor for a lot of the financially strapped citizens of the community they are the constant target of crime and drug sales.

Unfortunately like anywhere else, desperation leads to people doing what they have to do to survive. Theft is prevalent and unfortunately drugs have become a rampantly controlling part of our society. Both legal and illegal. Bars and crack dealers alike thrive in the area. Unfortunately proving that everyone here wants to forget their mounting debt and current societal status.

However, believe it or not, things are appearing to be on the up turn. Information Technology, Collections and a mounting appreciation for Gourmet food are starting to cause this once great city to employ and become more attractive to its more youthful and exuberant citizens.

The main problem however is the lack of educated youthful people in an area with one of the best employment areas in the country.

You see as I mentioned before, most of them have all left. Buffalo is in short supply of these gems of youth. What we are in high supply of are Blue Collared men and women who have for their entire lives toiled and earned from their sweat in a place that at one point housed one of the biggest steel making industries in the world and formerly on the biggest employers of US auto workers outside of Detroit. These companies have become either closed their doors or moved on.
And sadly for Buffalo's youth, these companies which are starting to develop in Buffalo (while growing considerably in the past 10 years) are not growing fast enough. With the country's latest bout of economic woes it appears that if things continue on the way they are we will all be running to somewhere else and looking for something that may not actually be there...

I hope that for my friend there is a sliver lining in his clouds. If nothing else his trip which will take him through much of the south, Midwest and West Coast will do him some good. Refuel his batteries and recharge his spirit. Things always look darkest just before the light, and thankfully for Buffalo it can not get much darker.

Through all of this you probably have gotten the gist that our conversation about Buffalo wasn't the happiest of our lives. It may, at times even sound brutally harsh. I will agree. You see us also, like many other Buffalonians are fiercely protective of our homes.

We are a city filled with pride. Even though we are one of the most disparaged places around we are fiercely proud of who we are. Proud of a city filled with hard working salt of the earth people. We have in our opinions some of the best food on the face of the earth. Home of The Anchor Bar (The originator of chicken wings, referred every where else as Buffalo Wings,) La Nova Pizzeria, Mothers, Schweble's, Louie's and the best Fish Fry you will ever have.

Buffalo New York and the surrounding areas are also filled with some of the most beautiful landscape and architecture. We have three buildings designed by renowned architect Frank Lloyd Wright, countless state parks with some of the most scenic beauty in the country. One of the most powerful and awe inspiring feats of nature in the world (Niagara Falls, I know not in Buffalo, but I did say surrounding area as well!)

We have a world renowned art Museum, two professional sports teams (who will both have it next year! At least what we keep telling ourselves.) We are the North American home base of the world's biggest beer company; InBev. Home base of one of the world's largest concession companies in Delaware North Companies; the owner of which, Jeremy Jacobs is a Buffalo Native and one of the biggest philanthropists in the USA and one of the biggest employers in the world.

Unfortunately we are at least 15 years off from being able to hold our own sons and daughters in our neighborhoods. Maybe when my two and a half year old niece is my age things will look mroe promising.

Until then I will pray. Pray things look up. Pray we can keep our youngl and employ them. Pray as many do that I will see the Bills win a Super Bowl, and that they will still be a Buffalo team the day it finally happens.

Finally I will pray that I never have to follow my friend Charlie out of the city that I love. That my prospects become so sad and downtrodden that I have to leave the only place I have known as home. The place my roots and family are.

I hope for my old friend that he finds what he is in search of and that he can someday ride into town and tout what a success he is. I just wish that he and all of Buffalo's ex-patriot sons and daughters could have done it here.

Until the next time friends, don’t drink anything I wouldn't.

Mac The Bartender

An introduction of sorts... I suppose...

Well, here is the thing. I like food... Any food. I also like Vodka... But only good Vodka. You see I have spent so much time in restaurants and bars both working and socializing that they seem to be the only real places I actually feel comfortable. Especially behind a bar.

The only thing I can liken being a Bartender to (a good one at least) is being a Chef. I'm the guy who with near encyclopedic knowledge can not only make you nearly any drink, but do it well. I can look at a stocked bar an instantly start formulating recipes in my head, knowing what will go with each and how well it will taste. Which brings me to food.

You see to me food was (like alcohol) a comfort thing. Something I could enjoy and relish in. Spicy, sweet, salty and sour. Fatty and lean cuts of meat. All of which provide you with different flavors. They mix well, they pair well and most importantly they make you feel well...

You can spend nearly your whole life in search of the perfect meal or the perfect drink or the perfect restaurant. But I am here to tell you it is all subjective. What may be your perfect cocktail or meal today may be completely different tomorrow.

What happens when you find that perfect meal? Does life cease to hold meaning?

Or like me, do you eat it so often you become sick of it and have to find something else that seems "perfect?"

I'd be willing to wager that it's the latter of the two.

That's how the search for a perfect anything can hold so many answers, variations and torments. Because no matter how hard you look and how hard you try it is never going to be complete...

Until next time kids... Don't drink anything I wouldn't.

Mac the Bartender