Bartenders of NO - Home

INTERVIEWS
O’Neil Broyard
Greg Cowman
Gilberto Eyzaguirre
Paul Gustings
Gertrude Mayfield
Bobby Oakes
Michael Santucci
Martin Sawyer
Michael Smith
John Strickland
Floria Woodard

Cheers!
Drink Recipes

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This project was sponsored by a grant from Southern Comfort.

Interviews and photographs by Amy Evans

Michael Smith

“[A customer] will never know I’ve got a problem [when I’m] back here. At home or wherever. Because my job is to make them happy. See they—they deal with people all day on their jobs. They got problems, issues. They come in here, they ain’t looking to hear my problems…I’m trying to make you feel better!"

– Michael Smith

“Big Mike,” as he’s known to his customers, is a celebrity in New Orleans. Voted Best Bartender five years in a row, this guy knows how to keep the people happy. Today, he’s a fixture at The Columns Hotel, but he got his start in bartending by accident. After some time working in room service at a local hotel, he was recruited to work at The Columns as a bar-back and quickly made his way up through the ranks. It was trial by fire at first, but soon Big Mike had the recipes down—recipes for the drinks and the recipe for giving the people what they want. Behind the bar, Mike is an entertainer. Whether it’s singing a song, doing a little dance, or just making you feel like you’ve been a regular when it’s your first visit, pleasing people is the name of the game. So if you come to The Columns thirsty, he’ll make anything you like. But Mike says that anyone can make a drink; his talent is dealing with people. One visit, and you’ll be convinced.

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What follows is a portion of the original interview that has been edited for length. To download the entire transcript in PDF form, please click here.

SUBJECT: Michael Smith, bartender
DATE: March 31, 2005
LOCATION: The Columns Hotel bar
INTERVIEWER: Amy Evans

Amy Evans: Okay, this is Amy Evans, and it’s Thursday, March thirty-first, two thousand and five. And I’m at the Columns Hotel in New Orleans, Louisiana, with Mike Smith, the bartender here. And we’ll start off with you just announcing yourself for the record, and you’re full name, if you don’t mind, and also your birthdate so…we know we’ve got the right guy.

Michael Smith: You got it….Good evening, I’m Mike Smith. Born and raised January the third nineteen sixty-two, New Orleans, Louisiana. I—and I am a bartender at The Columns Hotel on Saint Charles Avenue—thirty-eight eleven—in New Orleans. I have been working here for going on twenty-one years now. Uh, I was voted best bartender in New Orleans for five years—voted by Gambit Magazine. [Clears throat] Also, I have done, uh, two movies, two videos. The name of the movies were Delta Heat and Tightrope. And I was in two videos: one with, uh, Aaron Neville and—and, uh, Linda Ronstadt and the song that, uh, was called “Don’t Know Much About Love.” It won a Grammy Award. And I did another video, which was called “Brother to Brother,” which was [by] a rock group from London.

Really?

And [clears throat] and—and, uh, [short pause] we filmed that video down at Channel Eight studio. Also, I had, uh, a version of my own television show, which was called “Life, Love and Lunch.” It was about the top chefs of the city of New Orleans. And a customer came in one day and he—you know, he talked to me, and the guy’s name is Jim Gabor. He kind of knew I was the best bartender in New Orleans, so he just, you know, kind of put me into the mix. And, uh, the, uh, television show was on channel thirty-eight, and I had a thirty-minute segment on bartending. And I made ten drinks in thirty minutes and talked about them and—and—

So it was like a how-to kind of thing?

—what have you. Yeah…It was a show—it lasted about [short pause] about a year and a half.

And when was this, exactly?

Uh, nineteen—uh, I would say, ninety-eight.

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So how did you get the job tending bar here [at The Columns]?

Well, I got the job here—I was a, uh, a bartender [at] the old Spaghetti Factory. You know, which is not here anymore. It was on Poydras and Saint Charles…So what happened was the people that owned the old—the old Spaghetti Factory, they leased the building from the owners we have here now.

Oh, okay.

Jacques and Claire Creppel. So what happened was, uh, [after the Spaghetti Factory closed,] I was working down [at] the Holiday Inn, uh, downtown and, you know, just kind of doing my thing [as head of room service]. So I got a phone call, and they said, “Mike, would you like to come to The Columns and work?” Uh, I was like, “Sure.” But at the time, they didn’t have any positions open but a bar back. All right? They had no bartender…openings. So what happened, it was all ladies working back here…And the, uh, guy—a guy told me, he said, “Well, Mike, I can’t—I can’t—I can’t put you in a bartender position, but I can start you off as a bar back.” So I said, “Well, I already have the job. So I’ll do the bar back and then kind of see what happens.” So what happened, the, uh, previous owners took the place back. You know, you know, they just wanted to do it themselves and, you know, and get their people in. So by that time, all the people that the Michael’s [previous owners] had in, they quit.

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Everybody—the position was open, personnel changed, and it was all you.

So here’s me! He said, “Mike, I’m throwing you to the wolves…You’re my main bartender now!”…That’s what the guy—the guy that was managing the place’s name was Tim Macaluso. And he said, “Mike, I got confidence in you. Go for it.” You know. And I was a little nervous at first. Because those Spaghetti Factory—was a restaurant bar…Not high volume. It was basically—what it was, it was just like people coming from eating, have a little drink. It wasn’t a real—like eight, nine people deep at the bar like this place gets…So what happened, uh—then, after that, it was like, “Mike, go for it!” And that was all she wrote.

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Well, how did you learn your trade before you got to the Spaghetti [Factory] or even during there—

I didn’t.

[W]as it just kind of like learn by doing?

Learn—I was on the job training.

Yeah? What kind of drinks did you serve there?

It was basically basic. Gin and tonic, vodka tonic—And I had to learn the exotic ones by—by—you know, just by memory…You know? All right, you know.

Practice.

Say if someone wants, uh, I would say a Sazerac or a—something fancy. Uh [short pause]—something like a Pretty Baby, like a Bluebird, any kind of exotic drink, I really have to memorize it myself…And it was kind of hard at first but it—it—it’s, you know, like anything else, you know. It’s like [short laugh] you keep doing it? It’s going to stick with you.

Right.

You know?

And I imagine, just from our five minutes here together, [I can tell] your personality gets you a long way.

Oh, yeah! I see! Now you know that! You see? [Laughs] And you know, my—my thing is too—and I always tell people, is I—you know, personality—you can’t buy that…You know, you either have it or you don’t. [Laughs] You know?

Yeah.

And I—and I always told the owners here, you know, we have our meetings, and I tell them, you know I—now, I have people coming back from nineteen eighty-four to now to see me. You know?

So is that what makes a good bartender? Personality?

Yeah! Oh, definitely! Because let me tell you, anybody can make a drink. I can put you back there and say, uh, “Give me a gin and tonic.” It’s easy; it’s right there. Press—press the “T” button and put some gin in it.

[Laughs] Right.

You got your drink.

Right.

Everybody can’t deal with people, though. You know? And like I tell—tell m—my wife all the time, I say, “Baby, I deal with a hundred personalities a night.” That’s not easy to do—in character. I mean, from here come one—everybody’s different in here. You know?

Oh, yeah.

I mean there are people that come in and say, “Mike [laughs], how do you do it? You know, deal with all these people?” And, you know, I—I sing. I dance. I do everything to keep them entertained. They love that.

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What about traditional New Orleans drinks like the Sazerac and—

Oh, the Sazerac. Yeah, they come here, yeah—and that’s basically tourists, you know…The—the—because they want to try something “New Orleans.” They want that New Orleans experience—Hurricane—see and I—I—I tell people, I do a Hurricane from scratch. I don’t, you know [clears throat]—Pat O’Brien’s, they’re like red dye—colorings? For color? You know, and really, it has gotten so commercial now, you know, they’re packing it up, sending it places—in a jug. Less alcohol. It’s just like red dye. But I tell people, “You get one here, you’re going to get it homemade.” Which is, uh, dark rum, light rum, uh, I do a little o.j., a little pineapple, a little sour mix, a little cranberry, a little dash of cherry juice. You know, you get a good drink. That’s a good drink there.

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Yeah. Well, is there anything that you don’t particularly like about bartending, or it’s just a great gig all around?

Well, I’ll tell you what, it’s a great gig all around. B—because I have been in it so long now, the negative is very little.

You’ve pushed it on out, huh?

Because I demand that. There’s no room for negativity. No room for that. Got to, you know—I—I might have a bad day at home. You know, the wife or whatever, or if something happen[s] at home, I don’t bring it here. When I walk through that door, everything ceases. It’s all about making my people happy. [Pounds knuckles on bar]…They’ll never know I’ve got a problem [when I’m] back here. At home or wherever. [Short pause] Because my job is to make them happy. See they—they deal with people all day on their jobs. They got problems, issues. They come in here, they ain’t looking to hear my problems.

Right. [Short laugh]

I’m trying to make you feel better!

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Well, anything you want to add?

Oh, uh, [clears throat]. All right, uh, I enjoy bartending, and I would hope to be here another twenty years.

Yeah?

And—yeah. Just serving people and making everybody happy and—[short pause] that’s it.

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To download the entire transcript in PDF form, please click here.