Last night The Chesterfield hosted an event called the Mix-Off Battle. It featured five local bartenders whose cocktails were pitted against one another in the name of awareness for Chefs For Farmers. Here's what you missed if you weren't there.
1. A full house. I laughed a bit when I noticed a single sheet of paper taped to the wall with "Occupancy Limit 49" printed on it. The Chesterfield was packed with folks excited to try the tequila-laden cocktails from five local celebutenders. (Yeah, I made that up. Get over it.)
2. A whole lot of Patrón. Patrón and fruit juices, Patrón and bitters, Patrón and "mesquite smoked agave?" There were five different concoctions at battle last night, and they were all unique. The crowd was asked to vote for the best on special ballots created just for the mix-off. And while it was about taste, it was also about personality, which leads me to my next point ...
3. Fancy pants bartenders who like to showboat. We've all noticed the trend toward celebrity bartenders -- or celebutenders, as they're now called. With their outfits as tailored and their facial hair as manscaped as their cocktails are crafted, these guys have risen to the top of their game: Kyle Hilla from Bolsa, Abe Bedell from Oak, Lucky Campbell from The Chesterfield, Brad Hensarling from The Usual in Fort Worth and Jason Kosmas from Marquee. Lucky from The Chesterfield was noticeably comfortable operating a cocktail shaker in each hand, passing drinks back to attractive women and even jumping up onto the bar to give a little speech.
4. A couple bits of news. Barman Jason Kosmas is starting his own spirits company, and local celebuchef Matt McCallister has a new restaurant coming to the Design District, which Scott mentioned a while back.
5. Rubbing elbows ... ... and hips and butts with lots and lots and lots of people, all in the name of trying tequila, sure, but it was more about pre-partying in advance of the big Chef's For Farmers event coming up on May 6. It's looking like the foodie event of the year -- a big party where all the local celebrity chefs come out to play and all of the proceeds go to charity so you can feel good about drinking way too much wine. Buy your tickets online and join the party.
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