Local barkeep heads for TGIF world championships
When playing barkeep, why just pick up a bottle and pour from it instead of tossing it over your shoulder first?
Why set a glass into a shaker when you could catch it in flight?
And why drop the garnish into the drink when you could pop it in there using the belly of your shirt?
For me (and most of us) it’s because we can’t. Yet. (I’ll get to that part later.)
For Lisa Montero, a rocking Virginia Beach barkeep who later this month heads to Texas for the TGIF world bartending championships, this flair bartending stuff is rote.
Over at the TGIF at Lynnhaven the other night, she didn’t just toss empty longnecks into the trash, she sent them spinning in an arc from one hand to the other and then into the garbage. Napkins, dishrags, slices of lime – to Lisa, anything is worthy of a twirl.
Lisa is one of nine finalists who emerged from a field of 8,000 (yes, eight thousand) TGIF bartenders worldwide, and she's the only chick in the lineup.
Check out this YouTube video to see how she wowed the crowd in one of the preliminary competitions. Help her out by clicking here and casting a vote for her as the “Favorite Bartender,” the only part of the competition not based on skill.
Believe me, this lady means to bring home the glory, even if she can’t gin up enough votes to take people’s choice. She practices for a few hours a day at this built-to-spec backyard bar. She spends hours memorizing more than 100 drinks on the TGIF cocktail list.
I’ve been hanging around Lisa lately for a couple of stories slated to run later this month. In one of them, she’ll give detailed instructions on a few basic flair moves.
Can’t wait to get my flair on! HBU?

These days, there’s an awful lot of fish heads hanging around.
A while back, The Baby Girl and I made pretzels – big, fat, yeasty ones. Think food cart pretzels, not the gravely ones from the grocery store.
The excitement of 
This morning, I had a really nice harvest of juicy, red tomatoes.
As if.
I had the pleasure this week of speaking with two learned gents.
This scrap of newsprint?
Drop the dishrag, step away from the stove and kick the diet to the curb.


