A great bartender ensures that no one ever drinks alone . From remember your name to knowing your drink , a little attending choke a foresighted way – and mixing one underworld of a cocktail certainly does n’t hurt . But actually have it off the line seems to be the key ingredient . And these three bartender assuredly have it away their job . Without further adieu , here are the best of the best .
Leanna Tedford
Grove Grill
Leanna was studying to be a teacher at Delta State University when she got a business bartending at the Como Steakhouse . “ I never teach a day of school . I think I may have saved a lot of kidskin ’ life , ” she jokes . Now with 24 years of experience , she says that loving what she does and her love for people helps her to be successful in the industriousness . “ I care about my customers very much , ” she says . Leanna work at the Grove Grill for about two long time and then go out for a bit , but has now been back for three and a one-half years . She get it on that it ’s topically owned and that it ’s a very neighborhood bar despite being in East Memphis . Her customers are like family , and she even pass vacation with them . Leanna does n’t have a specialty drink ; rather , she say that every drink she throw is particular for the person drinking it . She herself prefer a Coors Light .
David Parks
The Cove
Parks , as he is known to his customers , make his scratch by nonremittal . A group of his Quaker ( and his friends ' booster ) were wiling away a Thursday afternoon over - pampering in the gimcrack beer and smoke they could find when a guy he barely be intimate decided that he did n’t desire to go to bartend . Parks jokingly responded , " I ’ll go . " He take him earnestly and say him it would be fine , his genus Bos would n’t deal , and it was wanton . Parks needed the money , so he go . However , the party boss did wish . He was furious . He also agnize that Parks was his only selection . “ He worked me like a dog , I suppose he was punishing his errant employee by proxy . At the end of the night , after all the other faculty was long live , he told me to baby-sit down . I bear the worst . He pullulate me a drink , reach me a ludicrous amount of money , then proceeded to tell me what a capital job I had done . He said that he had an unexpected opening and ask if I could work any other shifts , ” explain Parks . After several years at Alchemy , Parks recently moved to The Cove . “ It is a fun short dive streak , but I intend to check that it is a great diva bar , ” he say . Parks ’ distinctiveness is making sure client get the drinks they need . He will need questions to get an thought of what people like and then figure out how to make something they will enjoy . If he does n’t remove the mug , he ’ll make something else . “I want you to be sincerely well-chosen with the libation I pour for you . If you are not , tell me , I will gladly adjust it to suit you . I love what I do or I would n’t do it , ” he says .
Stevan Lazich
Bar DKDC
Stevan ’s ( aka Steve - Anne ) first bartending job was with his first cousin Wayne at a crime syndicate Christmas party . “ We were 11 years old , ” he says . “ I learned what ‘ over serving ’ meant . ”He began as a barista when he was 21 years old at Otherlands . Then Sally Anasser and David Parks taught him the art of bartending at Maxwell ’s . He continued bartending private events through Another Roadside Catering . After eight years as a full - clip DJ / entertainer , he went back to full - clock time bartending at the Hi Tone in 2012 . Soon after , he was hire as restaurant manager and bartender for the Beauty Shop Restaurant & Bar DKDC.Orphaned at 15 , he was raised by the local music scene . “ I stayed here all these years and have in conclusion found the perfect intermixture of thing I jazz – body of work and medicine . Beauty Shop restrain elegance , right wine , liquor , and carefully made cocktails relevant to a heathen like me . I work the best of both worlds … the rotten and the righteous . ”Stevan makes a mean gin Rickey , Manhattan , and Old Fashioned , and unwaveringly notes that nobody make a practiced Budweiser and shot of Tullamore Dew than he does . He ’s also the most benignant and hospitable bartender you ’ll ever drink with . It ’s more than cocktails with him . In summation , he loves share hidden gem and BBQ dives with any Edgar Guest at his bar . Many traveler and bands have stayed at “ Hostel Lazich ” ( his Central Gardens guesthouse ) , and he proudly takes obligation for creating more than a few memorable Memphis nights . “Bar DKDC keeps my local medicine scene in the same elbow room I bartend in . We have beautifully crafted cocktail , generous rum selections , and 40 oz Busch beer . What more could this son ask for ? ” he read .
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Leanna Tedford|Susan Dalton
Courtesy of David Parks
Fyfe Nelson
