"Bar Chef" (formerly, "bartender")

[Bapopik at AOL.COM]

BAR CHEF-- 4,370 Google hits, 695 Google Groups hits (most are bad hits,
though)

Bar chef? Hey, bartender, that doesn't sound right!


(NEW YORK TIMES)
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/29/dining/29BARS.html?pagewanted=all
By FLORENCE FABRICANT

Published: September 29, 2004

FLATIRON LOUNGE, a dim, year-old sanctum of red leatherette and cobalt blue
mirrors, shares a certain retro cigarette-holder chic with many of the city's
newer bars and lounges. But unlike most it does not serve a fruit bowl of
slushy margaritas.

"I take a more culinary approach," said Julie Reiner, who owns the lounge,
which is on 19th Street just west of Fifth Avenue, with partners. "Ever since I
started bartending, I wanted to take making drinks to a different level. I
prefer to make a cocktail with muddled fresh raspberries than to use Stoli
raspberry vodka. I think of myself like a chef."

Ms. Reiner belongs to the new breed of serious ingredient-obsessed, purist
bartenders, a few of whom actually call themselves bar chefs. And she is also
one of a small but growing group that has gone beyond mere bartending and
consulting to opening their own bars. In fact, Ms. Reiner said she was planning to
open more bars.
(...)