Author: Ben Raskin

The bar mats are laid out, the backbar is set up, the bins are filled with ice and the fruit is cut. I am dressed in a clean, pressed dress shirt with a red and yellow tie smartly cinched to my neck under a black vest. I shaved earlier that day but the beginnings of…

The sap in the club conversed, Demanding service in verse. Not knowing what to drink, And unable to think, Clients like him are simply the worse.   My favorite bar in Salt Lake City is Sugarhouse Pub. It is located at 1992 South 1100 East. It’s reasonably priced, close to our house and is one…

During his suspension from MI6 in Thunderball, James Bond remarks that, “a month ago there wasn’t a week went by but that on at least one day I couldn’t eat anything for breakfast but a couple of aspirins and a prairie oyster.” I can’t speak for 007 but there are a lot easier ways to…

I knew he was out of his element when he asked me how much shots cost. I told him that on average most drinks at Keys on Main cost $5. He sighed, looked at the floor and asked sheepishly, “Even for a little bit of Everclear and Mountain Dew?” I smiled and told him that…

The rule of thumb for working in a bar in Utah is the worst the weather, the better the business and Saturday should not have been the exception. It was a stormy night in Salt Lake City and people decided to temporarily suspend their New Year’s resolutions after a week. With the reservation book full,…