The Hammer Drops: New York's Steve Schneider Tends Bar at Beretta, Delarosa
Categories: Get Your Drink On
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| Hammer time: Steve Schneider. |
Schneider, from New York's Employees Only bar, will be guest bartending at Beretta and Delarosa. The 27-year-old's story could easily be the subject of a graphic novel.
Schneider enlisted in the Marines after 9/11, but his life took a dramatic turn after an accident left him in a coma with traumatic head injuries. Life-saving brain surgery put three plates in his skull and a distinctive trademark scar on his hairline. Schneider regained his motor skills; he picked up a shift at a bar in Maryland near his rehabilitation clinic. When it was determined that he was no longer able to do his job in the Marines, he was discharged, at which point he embraced the challenge of working at the bar. Schneider describes it as "a terrible bar, smelly, slinging 'disco shots,' but it was high-volume," which taught him speed, eventually preparing him to win D.C.'s Fastest Bartender Competition in 2009. He was soon working at New York's Macao Trading Co., then Employees Only, successfully making the switch from dive to craft bar.
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| Lou Bustamante |
| Schneider, behind the bar at Employees Only |
A demonstration by David Wondrich on making crushed ice with a small copper hammer inspired Schneider to go out and get himself a custom mallet -- a symbol of strength, and a way to bring fun back to the bar business.
"It's not always about inventing," Schneider says, "but [also] about entertaining." He uses the hammer to make ice for specialty drinks like the Gin on Gin julep, a frosty blend of Plymouth Gin, Bols Genever, mint, house-made mint syrup, and a splash of soda that screams hammer time.
"It's not always about inventing," Schneider says, "but [also] about entertaining." He uses the hammer to make ice for specialty drinks like the Gin on Gin julep, a frosty blend of Plymouth Gin, Bols Genever, mint, house-made mint syrup, and a splash of soda that screams hammer time.
Special cocktail offerings on both nights:
Employees Only Manhattan: Sweet vermouth, rye, Grand Marnier, bitters
Firecracker: Pisco, mezcal, lime, pineapple gum syrup, allspice dram
Kobayashi: Scotch, house-made hibiscus cordial, lemon, ginger
Steve Schneider Guest Bartender Night
Where: Beretta, 1199 Valencia (at 23rd St.), 695-1199; Delarosa, 2175 Chestnut (at Pierce), 673-7100
Where: Beretta, 1199 Valencia (at 23rd St.), 695-1199; Delarosa, 2175 Chestnut (at Pierce), 673-7100
When: Beretta on Tue., May 3, 5:30 p.m.-1 a.m.; Delarosa on Wed., May 4, 5:30 p.m.-1 a.m.
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