Sunday Funday @ Clyde

All my years working in the service industry, every time I had to work Sundays, I used to roll my eyes, roll up my sleeves, and bite the bullet. In most restaurants, Sundays are sluggish and not terribly exciting. But Clyde Common has been the exception. The clientele, is mostly restaurant employees, bartenders and a odd combination of cocktail savvy tourists.

For example, last night later in the evening, around ninish, I had a group trickle into the bar, and they ordered a couple drinks, and one guy (who I didn't recognize) leans into the bar and asks, "What kind of Rye do you have in your well". Immediately, my ears perked up.

I thought to myself, "ok, this guys a bartender, but I don't recognize him from around town". Portland's a very small town and everyone knows eachother. I rattle off the rye that's in the well (old overholt) and grab a couple more options. Finally he say's "ok, make me some kind of Rye Sour variation."

Cool, I knock out a sour for him, he drinks it, likes it, leans in again about 15 minutes later and orders another one. "Different this time".

I love people like this, it keeps me creative, and I always learn something. While crafting his second cocktail,

2 oz Rye
1 oz Lemon
3/4 Lillet
3/4 Simple
1 dash Fees Lemon Bitter.

Simple, but really tasty. The natural flavor of rye Blends with Lemon nicely.

I made it for him, and he reaches out and shakes my hand, he says "My name is Sean". I greet him, and ask him where he works. He says "PDT (Please Don't Tell). One of the hottest bars in New York City. WTF? Why is a bartender from PDT rolling into Clyde on a Sunday night? It turns out he's from Portland, but living in NYC, and came up at PDT as a barback, and is now tending bar 3 nights a week there.

After geeking out together for about 45 minutes, he buys me a shot of Van Winkle "Lot b", and we geek out talking cocktails, and spirits for another hour before his posse' pulls him away and they roll off to another bar.

In talking to Sean, I was amazed at the amount of respect that Portland has in the National Cocktail scene. At Clyde Common, you never know who you're going to meet on a moment to moment basis. And these interaction tend to happen more often than any other restaurant I've ever worked in. And oddly enough, it mostly happens on Sundays.