Phoenix Blog

By Jonathan McNamara

Mona Lisa sits me down in the back at Rhythm Room amid a plethora of reserve booze and string lights and tells me about her hair. She’s a little bit self-conscious because it’s shorter than it’s ever been for her.

She proceeds to tell me how she heard about a Lochs of Love event that would give wigs to children suffering from leukemia and how it “pulled my heart strings.” She donated 11 inches and now wears a camo-patterned hat with “Mofro” stitched into the front.

“I have hair issues…short hair…long hair…and I have that luxury,” she said. “I donated my hair to someone who doesn’t have that luxury.”

And that’s the kind of bartender Mona Lisa is. Friendly, Attentive and extremely considerate of other human beings, whether they’re drinking cocktails or not.

Mona’s worked since she was 15, taking jobs based on potential enjoyment rather than pay increases or for the sake of scaling the ladder.

“I’ve never had a job that wasn’t fun, I mean why would you work somewhere that isn’t fun?”

She picked up a gig working for Rhythm Room while working at the Five and Diner. The Rhythm Room staff and band members would go their for post-gig grub and it didn’t take long for Mona to befriend them and start working as a door woman. She immediately developed a reputation for buying a T-shirt from every band to walk through the doors. That was twelve years ago.

“I live in a three bedroom townhouse and in every room, the closets are full of T-shirts.”

In an unassuming corner of a Tempe strip mall lies every coffee drinker's dream. The Cartel Coffee Lab and its coffee-obsessed owner, Jason Silberschlag, is turning out the best cup of Joe in the city and for less then you pay at Starbucks.

Silberschlag's attention to detail is evident the moment you step into the shop. A red, San Franciscan coffee roaster stands in the corner while high-end coffee machines sit on every counter, ever-ready to make a great cup. Silbershlag sat with us between crafting espressos to explain what it is about coffee that he loves, and how he wants to spread it to the rest of the world.

New Times: You seem very focused on creating the best cup of coffee possible. What brought that desire about?

Jason Silberschlag: I have an over-arching desire to have quality in everything I do, and that just happened pretty naturally with the coffee. But specifically, I was just going to do a coffee shop, but the more I looked into it the more I saw this wave of "boutique coffee houses" popping up, which is a terrible way to describe it but it works the best. But people who are involved in that movement are really staring to understand what it means to have a really high-end quality coffee, and not charge $20 a cup for it.

Which is happening. And even places like Circle K are starting to have their premium roast coffee and McDonald’s has iced coffee, which is lame, but what’s happening is that we’re changing the idea of coffee. Used to be coffee was $1 at a diner with free refills as long as you sat in the booth, to people paying $3.50 for a single cup. And it’s thanks to places like Starbucks that allow me to do what I do, and make great coffee, and it’s not weird to charge $2.50 a cup for it. It’s changed the way consumers think.

By Aja Viafora

Jack and Ginger Ale is the drink of choice for Jon of Bison Witches on Mill Avenue. This 27-year-old bartender got his first bar job in a bar at age 20. While attending school at U of A, Jon encountered a night on the job at O’Malley’s in Tucson that would become his greatest story.

Jon working at Bison Wells

It was Ladies Night at O’Malley’s and the bar was super packed. Jon said the bar was five to six people deep and he was whizzing back and forth helping customers like a typewriter. Jon was helping this “chick” when she told him that the guy next to her was next.

The guy, “had his eyes closed and was playing the air guitar, rocking out,” Jon said.

He wasn’t paying attention so Jon skipped him and went to attend to a “pretty little blonde.”

“I felt someone grab my arm and I flung my arm in the air and his [the air guitar man] hand smacked the shit out of himself,” Jon said.

By Jonathan McNamara

You'll have to excuse the lack of a photograph in this edition of Baristas, Bartenders and Boucners. Mary Cope's not too eager to hand out her image. What she will give you while you're enjoying your drink at Yucca Tap Room is an ear full of stories from her 22 years of experience working at the Tempe-based bar and music venue.

Some of her tales involve the kind of infidelity that permeates the most cliche of country songs. One involved a man cheating on his wife in his car parked behind Yucca. The jig was up when unbeknownst to him, he accidentally knocked the car into neutral and it started gliding across parking lot.

Think that's good? Cope's got got a million more just like it. Head into Yucca, order a Tidal Wave and see what other yarns Cope can spin for you.

Valley Fever: How long have you worked for Yucca Tap Room?

Mary Cope: Twenty-two years.

By Jillian Sloan

The daily grind becomes the nightly run-around for valets like Travis Guinta at Barcelona on Scottsdale Road and the Hayden Greenway Loop. The North Scottsdale hot spot has its occasional celebrity sightings, but most nights it's just a steady stream of expensive cars and girls in short skirts. With a special event at the night club and a good pair of running shoes, Travis can rake in a couple hundred a night (and maybe even a few phone numbers). The 21-year-old is a drummer by day and takes your keys at night with the hope of receiving a fatty tip to help him earn money for Academy, a traveling drum and bugle corps that competes over the summer. And after a late night at Barcelona, he's up just a few short hours later to open at the popular smoothie spot, Jamba Juice. Tough break!

Valley Fever: What's the worst car you've ever driven?

Travis Guinta: I drove one where I had to pound on the steering well to start the car. You had to turn the key left and then right and then hit the steering wheel a few times to get the car to start. And it wreaked of tobacco smell. When you have to roll down the windows because it smells so bad, they call it a Holy Roller.

VF: What are your tips like?

TG: People that drive lambos and ferraris or regular customers that know us pretty well will tip us Benjamins. Some poeple don't tip you at all. One guy gave me a quarter and a nickel.