La Quinta Executive Retreat

The last weekend in April I was hired to bar tend an executive retreat at a fantastic home located within the PGA West La Quinta Resort. It was a different kind of gig than I am used to doing, because we were only serving 11 people. They requested a server also and I contracted a local girl to help me. The house had a great set up for entertaining, including two marble bars, an incredible pool and Jacuzzi, fire pits and first class barbecue grill.

The temperature was over 90 and the executives stayed in the pool for the first couple of hours. I made a vodka punch with Kettle One, cranberry juice, and sliced oranges that went over well. The chef/caterer, Laz Jefferson, served appetizers which included some of the best grilled prawns I have ever tasted. A few of the guests moved inside to the bar and enjoyed Cuba Libres ala Captain Morgan, while one of the execs played background music on the piano.

Later, everyone dressed and we set the table for dinner. Laz Jefferson created an incredible meal which included tri-tip, halibut, grilled vegetables, a mixed green salad, and rice. The server I hired and I helped serve the meal while the guests discussed their business. I have found that “invisible service” is called for in situations like these. Sometimes guests want to be entertained by bartenders and servers, and this was not one of those times – business was at hand. I am capable of doing both kinds of service and know the difference. I decanted and served the wine, which was a fine Napa Valley Cabernet. The night ended with an incredible hand-crafted desert by Chef, Laz Jefferson, and after dinner drinks hand crafted by me.   

Shaken Not Stirred pulled off another successful in the desert. The pool party season has officially begun, and we are geared up for it. Shaken Not Stirred provides bartenders and servers all over Southern California for pool parties, executive retreats, weddings, birthday parties, and corporate functions. We serve Los Angeles, Orange, Ventura, Riverside, San Bernardino, and San Diego counties. Book your event today because dates are filling up for the summer season.

Spring Bartending in Southern California

Jaques and Robert Davi at Redondo Beach

Rob pouring the Cham-pag-nia…

Cathedral City Wedding

During March I helped Jaques Grenier of Le Rive Gauche in Palos Verdes cater a VIP party that followed the concert, Davi Sings Sinatra at the Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center. We served over 300 guests on the back patio of Performing Arts Center.  Guest dined on appetizers including, Cajon blacken shrimp, meatballs in a Bordelaise sauce, venison pate’, chicken salad puff pastries, smoked salmon, and brie cheese. The star of the show, Robert Davi, made an appearance, along with actor Levar Burton, and several other VIPS. The event was a huge success. Another event company handled the bar on that one.

Last weekend, Cathedral City, in the Coachella Valley, just east of Palm Springs was the scene of a beautiful wedding. Over fifty people were in attendance to witness the marriage and celebrate afterward. I bartended by myself and was also asked to play the intro music and wedding song after the ceremony. I was nervous that I was going to blow it! I’m a bartender, not a music guy! Well, I pulled it off, and “All You Need is Love,” by the Beatles started playing just after the ceremony concluded.

I served the guests champagne and sparkling cider as they arrived and a full bar was provided by the hosts. The drink of the night was the Prickly Pear Margarita, which I had never made before, but it seemed to be a hit. Gin and tonics were also popular, as was Captain Morgan and Coke. Catering was provided by Soho Taco, and they put out a great spread of shrimp, steak, chicken, and veggie tacos – including tortillas that they made on the spot. Photography was done by Gina Marie Studios, and she did one of the great photos posted here. Both companies serve Southern California.

I have received several calls for weddings this summer and have booked a couple. Shaken Not Stirred is gearing up for the busy season and has several qualified people to handle parties of all sizes. Call today to book your graduation party, engagement party, wedding, anniversary, birthday, or any other kind of event today. Our rates are affordable and we aim to please. We serve the entire Los Angeles area and beyond.

Mobile Bartenders for 2013 Private Events

Shaken Not Stirred provides mobile bartenders and servers for private events throughout the entire Southern California area. The busy holiday season is now over, but the party season in Los Angeles is just beginning. Awards season is big in Los Angeles and we provide bartenders and servers for parties and events until the broadcast of the Academy Awards and beyond. We also bartend at birthday parties, weddings, engagement parties, openings, screenings, fund raisers, mixers, and all kinds of corporate events.

If you are planning any kind of party with 25 or more guests, don’t even try to bartend yourself. Shaken Not Stirred can provide a private, certified bartender for your event in the Los Angeles area for as little as $100 for 4 hours. For areas more than 50 miles from the San Fernando Valley the minimum is $150 for fives hours. Bartenders arrive one half hour early to set up and bring a professional bar kit that includes shakers, cutting board, pourers, wine openers, etc. For no extra charge we can also include a 64 quart cooler for ice or beer.

If you are planning a large event with 100 or more guests, we can provide more than one bartender and/or servers. Call for rates if you are planning a large event or have special requests. We can get rentals such as a portable bar and glassware if needed. Large parties are great business, but we like to do small parties of 40 people and under as well. We have serviced many birthday parties in the 25 to 50 person range.

To book a party we require a 25 percent non-refundable deposit, which you can pay via credit card on our PayPal link. We have male and female mobile bartenders available – all are prompt, very experienced, and professional. We have done parties as far south as San Diego, as far east of Los Angeles as Indian Wells, and in Ventura to the North. Call us today and let us help you plan a drink menu and shopping list. Call today – (310) 280-6103.

Tustin MMA Event and Indian Wells Birthday Party

Last weekend I worked an MMA fight event at the Encore Dinner Theater in Tustin. I was basically called in to help their two regular bartenders because they were expecting over 300 people for this event. The turnout was at least that many and needless to say we were busy. I was basically a bar back, but I probably poured 500 beers. Bud Light was probably the biggest seller, followed by Stella Artois and Corona. I didn’t get to see any of the action because I was in the service bar, but it sounded exciting. There were many drinkers and the regular bartender made a lot of drinks – Long Island Ice Teas were probably the most popular. The Encore Dinner Theater was a nice venue and I guess it has been recently renovated. They put on all kinds of shows there besides just dinner theater.     

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Last night I bartended a birthday party at a private home in Indian Wells. It was my first time to that community in the Coachella Valley and I hope to go back there again. I stayed at the Indian Wells Resort Hotel and the rates were very reasonable for that nice of a place. There are many resorts right in the same area and they are huge. The Miramonte resort right across the street is incredible. I went over there to check it out and I got lost in the grounds and probably had to walk a mile to get out of there. So, I had a nice bartending gig, and a nice little getaway all in one.

The party I worked at Indian Wells was a birthday party and they had probably 25 guests. We set up a makeshift bar with using a long table and a table cloth. I helped the host make a drink menu and shopping list. At the end, they had a lot of alcohol left over, but I’m sure it will go to good use at another party. I made margaritas, and by the request of the host – the drink of the night was Rockstar and Soju (Korean rice liquor). The hostess served dinner salmon, braised beef, sushi, and salad to 25 people and it was very good. I was impressed how she set up heated serving trays and everything almost all by herself and was so efficient. We used plastic cups for the mixed drinks, but real wine glasses for the wine, which is always a nice touch. Overall, a very nice event, and the kind that I really like to work.

Halloween weekend is next week and so far I have no event scheduled – so please call me if you need a bartender for your Halloween party. I have other bartenders that I can send out as well, male and female. I am based out of the San Fernando Valley, but will go almost anywhere in Southern California and can also provide servers if you need them. My rates are affordable, I am LEADS certified, and I make great drinks!

Boy’s Town Fundraiser in San Juan Capistrano

Father Flannigan started Boy’s Town in 1917 in Omaha, Nebraska to help boys in trouble. Since then, the Organization has thrived and has helped thousands of adolescents and families all over America. Last Saturday night I worked a fundraiser in San Juan Capistrano for the Orange County Boy’s Town facility located in Trabuco Canyon. The event was attended by seventy people including representatives from Boy’s Town, Orange County, and even boys whose lives were transformed by the organization. Though I was working the event – I heard the message – Boy’s Town seems to be a very worthy cause and organization.

The Event was hosted at a private home on the beautiful Marbella Country Club. I contracted two servers, Meggan and Mia to help me and was very pleased with both of them. They showed up on time, which to me is fifty percent of the gig, and they knew what to do. I did not have to supervise them. We poured Chardonay,  Pinot Noir, Zinfindel, and Cabernet, with the various courses of food we served.

Food included bruchetta and rolled salami and cheese, followed by Chicken Marsella with pasta, and eggplant parmesan. Guests mingled in the spacious back patio and ate standing at high cocktail tables. It seemed to work out very well, and we kept refilling their wine. Each guest was provided with one wine glass in the beginning and used that same glass to taste each of the various wines. Nobody complained, and overall it was a very good group. A live piano player provided the ambiance. I was impressed that the host seemed to have guessed the correct amount of wine to buy, because when we were done we were down to two bottles.

Shaken Not Stirred also serves Los Angeles, Ventura, and parts of Riverside and San Bernardino Counties. We will even go to San Diego. Shaken Not Stirred provides bartenders and servers for all kinds of events including fundraisers, corporate events, birthday parties, engagements parties, barbecues, weddings, anniversaries, wakes, bachelor parties, graduations, and the list goes on and on. Please call today to plan your party. We can help you with a drink menu and shopping list.   Our prices are affordable and our staff is professional and dependable.

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Bartending All Over Southern California

August is winding down and the summer parties and weddings will continue through the Labor Day weekend. Fall is coming and hopefully cooler weather as people have Indian Summer weddings, birthday parties, and other events before the holiday season kicks off. The past two weekends have kept me busy traveling to events in Camarillo (VenturaCounty), Los Alamitos (OrangeCounty), and Pasadena in Los Angeles County.

I did a housewarming party in Camarillo where the hosts invited fifty people to show off their new house and pool. My clients set up a bar for me in the kitchen, which worked perfectly fine, as the guests mingled on the patio and around the pool. A taco bar was set up outside provided by Frankie’s Catering of Oxnard,  (805) 512-1919.  Many kids where in attendance, and I made a bunch of Shirley Temples. As far as the adults were concerned – the Mai Tai was the drink of the night. I like making Mai Tais because they are a layered drink. I use white rum, pineapple juice, orange juice, and a splash of grenadine, then top it off with a Myers Rum floater.

Last weekend, I worked a baby shower in Los Alamitos, and that was definitely a first for me. The host invited thirty ladies for the shower and they served sandwiches, salads, and Champagne. When the host originally hired me we came up with a drink menu, but at the last minute they decided on Champagne only. The host purchased Hibiscus flowers that are soaked in maraschino syrup. I put the flowers with a bit of syrup in the bottom of each champagne flute, and the effect is quite dramatic. It really makes the champagne look classy and it doesn’t affect the taste much. The hibiscus flowers are edible as well. You can purchase the hibiscus flowers in syrup here.

The baby shower was a success and wrapped up around four p.m. and I was on my way home from OrangeCounty when I received a text from another staffing company that I help out from time to time. They wanted to know if I could help them out with a wedding party in Pasadena at six p.m. I told them yes, thinking it would be another great bartending shift. Well, I was quite wrong about that. When I got there on time I was told that I would be doing “scullery” and the captain of the party led me straight to the dish rack where dirty dishes were already piling up.

I though about bailing out right then, but I didn’t because it was plain to see they were up the creek without a paddle. For the next several hours I probably washed 600 dishes. I certainly gave me an appreciation of what dishwashers do. I wasn’t too happy that I had been tricked into dish washing, but I survived. That staffing company does owe me one though. I won’t be so easily tricked the next time.  

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I am currently working on getting a couple of big weddings in October, but so far the schedule for September is pretty open. I usually get a couple of last minute calls and am glad to take them. I do also have a couple of great female bartenders and servers available. Shaken Not Stirred services the entire Southern California area, including, Los Angeles, Orange, Ventura, Riverside, and San BernardinoCounties.

Pasadena/Glendale Reunion Event

This weekend Shaken Not Stirred manned two events for the Area H alternative school 40^th reunion. The first event on Friday night was a cocktail reception held at a hall in Pasadena. At least 100 guests attended the reception from 6 until 10 and munched on appetizers and partook in wine, beer, and soft drinks. The bar was a table with table cloth set up in front of an empty room that I worked out of and that worked fine.  Musician attendees provided the live entertainment. Corona, Sierra Nevada, and Amsdell Light were the beers of choice, and they went through several cases.

The second event was a sit down Mexican dinner held on Saturday night at a private club house in Glendale. I bartended and had Kristine assisting me. It got busy behind the bar (we had an actual bar) as we were serving Cadillac Margaritas, wine, beer, and soft drinks. There is a stage at the Club house and many of the guests joined in on a prolonged jam session, and there was a skit or two for the diner’s entertainment.

There were at least 140 guests and many of them were not drinking alcohol. Our non-alcoholic drink choices were limited to Coke, Diet Coke, Seven-up, Martinelli’s, and bottled water. I got the feeling that people were disappointed that there weren’t more choices for non drinkers. I somewhat blame myself, because when discussing the shopping list with the event planner, I did not think to stress the importance of non alcoholic drinks. Often we are so busy thinking about the alcoholic beverages we forget about the non-alcoholic selections. We did completely use up

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all of the beer, all of the white wine, and a good portion of the red wine.

The next time I discuss a shopping list with a client I am going to suggest a variety of non alcoholic drinks. Cranberry juice is popular, maybe mixed with a bit of club soda. There is an Italian soda made by the San Pelligrino company called Limonata which is very good and not so sweet. Sparkling water is also often requested and can be garnished with a lemon or lime. There is a variety of  Mexican soft drinks called Jarritos and are made from cane sugar that are also very good. It seems like the more parties that I work, the more non-drinkers there are.

Shaken Not Stirred serves the entire Southern California area from Ventura County, the Los Angeles Basin, the San Fernando Valley, the Inland Empire, Orange County, and even San Diego. We have had inquiries from Palm Springs and we will go there for the right event.  We have several events already scheduled for August, and are bidding on events all the way into October, so don’t wait to make your booking – call us at (310) 280-6103, or email us at shakennotstirred1@aol.com.