Oh, the scandals our “Best of” edition has stirred up — at least for Best Gay Bartender David Axford at the Edge (11213 Detroit Ave., 216-221-8576). We hear that two mixologists at sister club Grid/Orbit have taken issue with our description of Axford as being able to “rattle off recipes for 500 different cocktails and 200 martinis.”
So the competition, Axford says, tried to trip him up a couple weeks ago, when he showed up at the Grid for his weekly pool league. They got in Axford’s face over how he made a Mind Eraser. With vodka and soda water, they snidely asked, “Do you add raspberry-flavored chambourd or coffee-flavored kahlua?”
Bring it, bitch, thought Axford, whose matter-of-fact answer stunned them. “Either one,” he said. It turns out that West Coast clubhoppers prefer the sweet-tasting chambourd in their Mind Erasers, while their East Coast counterparts request the bitter Kahlua. However, Axford strictly goes the West Coast route. “Who says I don’t know how to make my drinks?” he argues. We certainly don’t. —Cris Glaser
This article appears in Oct 11-17, 2006.