One of the challenges of a career in hospitality is that you don’t get holidays off. Holidays are some of the busiest nights of the year for restaurants, where it’s an all-hands-on-deck situation.
Election Day 2016 was no exception. As I did my best to bang out the drink tickets in front of me and keep my eyes on my guests instead of the TV, which was on mute above my head, it was hard not to notice once the results were announced.
Now, however you feel about politics, or even how you feel personally about your guests, there’s nevertheless a sense of duty when it comes to taking care of them. Their happiness and safety, both physical and emotional, come first, so it was more than a little alarming to witness the demoralization taking place before our eyes, with little we could do but wish them safely home.
Fast-forward to Election Day 2020. The restaurant I’d been working in, like so many others during the COVID-19 pandemic, had closed, and I was picking up one-off gigs here and there just to get by. An opportunity arose to cater dinner and drinks at an exclusive vacation house for an extremely wealthy family.
The experience was no less than surreal. Four of us bustled around the open kitchen in silence, while the family cheered from the living room with every state that turned red on Fox News; booing at every blue “loss.”
I’ve heard the old adage that politics (and religion) have no place in a bar, and I generally tend to agree. I’ve known families nearly ripped apart by their political differences, which is why I tended to keep my head down when it came to engaging in subjects as polarizing as politics while working. However, one particular night in late 2016 stands out for me as a beautiful exception to that rule.
It’s been well documented that a certain, Hawaii-born president liked to dine at one of the restaurants I used to work in, though due to Secret Service standard procedure, I had never laid eyes on him. On this one evening, however, our manager whispered that POTUS would be exiting through the bar, and no photographs were to be taken. Guests respectfully put their phones in their pockets, and our staff stood at attention as the glass doors swung open and out strolled President Barack Obama. Never had a human being walked with such swagger. He graciously shook each of our hands as he passed, to a sudden and uproarious applause erupting from our guests as he exited to the street.
It would have been statistically improbable that every single person in the restaurant and on the street that night had voted for Obama, yet the showing of solidarity and support from Hawaii that night wasn’t about political affiliation, but from a unified pride of having birthed the 44th president of the United States. The love was tangible, a sublime sight to behold, and a feeling I will never forget.
Cast your vote this year, and then get cast away with this organic vodka and coconut rum rendition of a South Pacific classic!
(Red, White &) Blue Hawaii
* 1 ounce Ocean Organic Vodka
* 1 ounce Malibu Rum
* 0.5 ounces Dekuyper Blue Curacao
* 1.5 ounces Govinda’s pineapple juice
* 0.75 ounces fresh-pressed lime juice
Directions:
Shake all ingredients over ice and strain over fresh rocks into hurricane or balloon glass. Garnish with edible flowers.
Alicia Yamachika is a bartender and craft mixologist, who currently is the key account manager at Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits on Oahu. Follow her on Instagram (@alicia_yamachika). Her column will appear every second Wednesday in Crave.
