By Fritz Hahn
washingtonpost.com Staff Writer
Monday, July 11, 2005; 11:15 AM
Who: Rachel Jones Rachel's training has served her well over the past five years as she embarked on a nomadic career working at Columbia Station and Hell in Adams Morgan, the F Street Sports Bar in the MCI Center, go-go and hip-hop club 2:K:9, the Felix Lounge and even Rosecroft Raceway. ("I moved to P.G. County and couldn't hack driving into D.C.," she explains.) After answering a classified ad, Rachel started at Firefly earlier this summer and has already put her stamp on the cocktail menu, creating a number of the tasty new drinks and making some of the more innovative drinks more user-friendly: Her alterations to the Tainan Tea turned Firefly's upgraded Long Island Iced Tea from an interesting concept into one of my favorite new cocktails. "After working this long, I know what's going to get sent back and why," she explains, but says it's also a matter of her valuable time. "Every time something gets sent back, it sets me back five minutes." When she's not behind the bar Thursday, Friday and Sunday, Rachel works as a professional dog trainer. [Insert your own bad joke about getting Firefly customers to "sit" and "stay."] What's YOUR favorite drink? What's the drink you make most often? What was the last drink you didn't know how to make? What do you have to do to get '86ed? What's the best pickup line you've ever overheard? What song do you wish they'd take off the jukebox? The first sign a patron's drunk is: Have you ever dated someone you met while you were working? How cheap are people, really? What piece of bar etiquette do you wish people would learn? Give us a piece of advice.
Where: Firefly
Why we like her: "Here's a dirty secret," says Firefly's Rachel Jones. "I went to bartending school. [Other bartenders] make fun of me for it, but I'm the only one who knows how to make a Brandy Alexander."
Sparkling wine. But my favorite run-of-the-mill drink is a Captain [Morgan] and ginger [ale].
The Malagasy [a summery concoction with Svedka vodka, Navan vanilla cognac, pineapple and lemon juices and a splash of orange bitters]. I push it for some women because it's a sweet drink, and to avoid problems with women who order the mint julep ... and send that back because there's so much bourbon in it. ... People see mint and think "mojito."
A French Kiss, which apparently has banana liqueur. When [the customer] told me that, I was like, "Oh, we don't have banana liqueur."
If you disrespect other customers, you're '86ed.
This guy walked up, dropped [a note with] a marriage proposal into a girl's purse and walked away. He didn't say anything to her. Then he came back later and was like, "Hi, I'm so-and-so. Have you considered my proposal?" It didn't work, but I thought it was original.
We have satellite radio and it's always on the Rat Pack station. I wish they'd stop playing "Papa Loves Mambo."
When their mood goes sour, and they start to get belligerent.
Yes, I have.
Pretty cheap. The more expensive the drinks are, the smaller the tips. But there's a difference between the people who come here for the drinks and the tourists from Wyoming. People who come in here and are surprised by how much the drinks cost [$9-$11] don't tip as much.
Pick your eyes up and look around and see what's going on. If I'm busting my [butt], don't complain about having to wait to get a drink. If the bartender is standing around talking or smoking a cigarette, that's one thing. But you'd think that if you see me making drinks, you'd know that I have to make them before I can [take your order].
Can I quote the Dali Lama? "Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon."