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"  Jim Meehan, 35, General ManagerPDT New York City This is the 25th year of the James Beard Awards and the first bar award, so it&amp;#039;s really exciting. Even now it&amp;#039;s surreal.  I hope we can live up to and some day stand shoulder-to-shoulder with chefs. Everyone needs to eat food. But not everyone needs to drink cocktails. We are now living in the most interesting time to drink or go to a bar. It seems like this is some long-awaited coming-out party. You enter the bar through a vintage phone booth, and it&amp;#039;s unmarked. I would be lying if I said that people came for the drinks instead of the novelty. The idea was based on necessity. If we had had a separate street entrance, we would have needed another liquor license. It alludes to speakeasies, but it was more about a sense of humor. St. Mark&amp;#039;s Place is by no means the Champs-\u00C9lys\u00E9es of bars and restaurants. My mom was a Catholic schoolteacher, and everyone kept saying, &amp;quot;Are you going to be a teacher?&amp;quot; I think teachers are the greatest, but I&amp;#039;m a teacher now, too. To me, good service is being an active listener. It&amp;#039;s not a monologue; it&amp;#039;s a dialogue. It&amp;#039;s always important to empower people to be vocal about their experience, because it allows you to see yourself and your business with fresh eyes. Fifteen dollars a drink is a luxury. If going out for drinks is like a sport for you, then you can be sporty about the way you order, whereas if it&amp;#039;s more of a splurge, then go with the classics. We have a drink right now that has beet juice and beer and aquavit and vodka and citrus, and I love it, but it&amp;#039;s challenging. If it&amp;#039;s your first rodeo, one of those is probably not the best to have. I love toasting \u2014 the moment when everyone looks in each other&amp;#039;s eyes, and they&amp;#039;re like, &amp;quot;Here&amp;#039;s to tonight&amp;#039;s victory,&amp;quot; or, &amp;quot;Here&amp;#039;s to our friendship.&amp;quot; That is beautiful. I discourage shots. People always ask me, &amp;quot;Who have you always wanted to have a drink with?&amp;quot; And I always say, &amp;quot;Whoever I&amp;#039;m with at that time is who I want to be having a drink with.&amp;quot; Consistency is important. If I make you a gin and tonic, it&amp;#039;s with a jigger. I might even jigger the tonic. People say a lot of things about PDT. The quality of the drinks is generally not one of the complaints. I could write a book about it, but there&amp;#039;s a sort of fragile ecosystem going on there that has to be tended to. You have to manage the atmosphere. It&amp;#039;s a lot easier to mix drinks than it is to mix people. PLUS: Read More Bartender Wisdom on Eat Like a Man &amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;gt; "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.esquire.com/food-drink/bars/interviews/a14018/pdt-james-beard-award-2012/>