Last Call: Bloody good bartender

Last Call

[ With Jessica Bowman ]

Published: February 20th, 2008 11:41 PM
Last Modified: February 21st, 2008 04:18 AM

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Annarae's, otherwise known as the "secret bar" on the corner of 36th Avenue and C Street, has yet another secret -- an amazing bartender, Sandy Hill, who's been with the unpretentious (and unadvertised) venue for 18 years.

Annarae's is like that quintessential British pub around the corner with a sign so weathered with age that the name is gone but everyone still knows about it. People on both sides of the bar interact with the easy familiarity of longtime friends or family members.

When Hill, 42, explained that her favorite drink to make was a Bloody Mary, she said, "It's hard to find a good Bloody Mary, but I make a good one."

"The best Bloody Marys ever!" a customer shouted from a few stools down.

True to the bar's introverted form, Hill wouldn't spill her Bloody Mary recipe but said she likes the drink and knows how it should taste. Plus, she loads it up. A real Bloody Mary needs the vegetable garnish; celery, asparagus, the works.

"People should be hungry when they order it," she said.

Hill was raised in Cordova and likes camping and fishing and, it seems, tending bar. On a recent Wednesday night, she moved seamlessly up and down the length of the bar serving mostly regulars who joked with her or called her "Sandra Dee."

Hill said patrons run the gamut: ages 21 to 85, doctors to lawyers to other bartenders and servers. The close-knit bar can seem like family, especially from the outside looking in.

Still, as a bartender, she said, "it's important to realize you're in hospitality." People get off work and they want to have fun or blow off steam, and she's there to help. It's her job.

This practical but caring nature made sense after I asked Hill what job she'd imagine doing if she weren't bartending. She answered "being a mom" or "taking care of the elderly." Neither of which, as yet, she's done.

"I love socializing," she said, adding that to be a good bartender, you have to be able to read people and their needs. Some go out because they're lonely, some to be alone.

"You have to love people," she added.

• Do you have a favorite bartender? Contact nightlife columnist Jessica Bowman at adn.com/contact/jbowman or visit Play's Lush Life blog at play.adn.com/lushlife.

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