One of our favorite Bartenders:

Dan Bender is our featured bartender for February 2009. He can be found most nights at Tir na Nog, an Irish pub/restaurant that can be found in the Inner Harbor.

–So, why don't you tell us a bit about yourself?

Well, I started working in the restaurant business when I was about 13 years old bussing tables at the Embassy Suites and doing room service with my brother — and next thing I know he got me into bartending and I just kept going from there. I'm 27 now. I'm from Philly, and when I turned 18 I left and went down to Florida and started bartending down in Ft. Lauderdale.

Oh wow, that must have been fun

Yeah, it was a good time – I was bartending right on the beach. Originally I barbacked there for about a year, when I was 19, and you had to be 21 to bartend, and pulled a few strings and ended up as a bartender and barmanager. I left there when I was 22  and came back home, and then started working for Tir na Nog and worked there for four years and then they asked me to come down here, so I've actually been with these guys for six or seven years now. These are the best guys I've ever worked with, and this is definitely one of the best places I've worked at, and I've been at a lot of places.

–What is your favorite drink to make?

Oh, well this isn't a drink, but it's a beer — I love pouring Guinness. 

Isn't there an art to it?

Yeah, there definitely is an art to it. You gotta pour it up to about here on the mug, and then let it set for — ah — 2 minutes, but not all the time. You just gotta let it sit until kinda turns black on the bottom. Then you gotta pour it up to the top — but there has to be a finger's width of foam at the top. I've definitely perfected the pour cause I drink it all the time. (Laughs)

–What is your least favorite drink to make?

Ah, we got a few here that I won't mention – but I guess the drink that most bartenders don't like to make is the Long Island Iced Tea. Not because it's not that complicated, but because it's got all five liquors involved and like seven steps to follow.

–What do you think a drink says about a person? Like what do they order, how they go about it, etc?

Well there you go — somebody who orders a Long Island is what we around here call an amateur. If you come in and ask for a Guinness — or some scotch –  and watch me pour,, then I know you're a drinker. But,  then again,  you have people come in asking for certain kinds of mixed drinks. The worst kind is something kinda fruity, you know what I mean – then you know this person doesn't get out much.

–Who's your favorite type of customer?

Um, someone who understands that I'm not your server and that I'm a human being. Basically someone who has patience. Sometimes you'll see a lot of people who don't get out much and is pretty bossy and don't understand that I've got a lot of other drinks to make. Basically if you ask me for something and I've got 15 other people at the bar, in my head I gotta  prioritize, and you gotta understand that I've got 15 other people to wait on.

So basically anyone who is respectful and all of that.

Yes! Exactly. Thank you for asking me that.

–What's the weirdest thing you've seen on the job? That you're willing to tell us, at least.

Well, when I was working at the Embassy Suites in Philly, there was one situation where a lady in a room, who had flown in from God knows where and had only summer clothes, no luggage or anything. Anyways, what happened was that I had went up to her room to deliver like a package or something, and when I went in she was standing behind the door. When she went to sign it her whole towel thing fell off — and she was in Super Mario underwear and her little kid was running around naked. That was pretty much the weirdest thing I've seen.

–So you've got any parting comments for us?

One thing I will say is that Tir na Nog is a a full step up from the rest of the Inner Harbor. If you stumble upon this place you'll find yourself coming to the Harbor a lot more. People should swing down to the Harbor a lot more.