I'll be the judge of that!

Had a great time on January 17th out at Villains Tavern in downtown LA, where I was honored to be a judge at a raucous cocktail competition sponsored by Becherovka and organized by our good friend Marcos Tello. Joining me at the judges table were the prodigiously talented mixologist Zahra Bates, who runs the bar at the Michelin-rated eatery Providence, and Shauna Der of the wildly popular foodie blog, TheMinty.com.

An all-star lineup of cocktail-crafters turned out for the event, and then churned out an amazing array of drinks made with Becherovka... which is some seriously tasty herbal bitters. Among those competing (just to name a few) were Eric Alpern, Chris Bostick and Devon Tarby of The Varnish, Vincenzo Marianella of Copa d'Oro, the Tasting Kitchen's Justin Pike, Dave Kupchinsky of Eveleigh and Dan Long of Big Bar.

Not gonna tell you who won the thing. You gotta listen to the podcast to find out. You can stream or download using the links below. Enjoy!

As emcee of the 2011 LA’s Best Bartender Competition, which took place on 10/9/11 at the Elevate Lounge in downtown Los Angeles, it was my job to try and keep the 250 or so attendees engaged throughout an event that ran nearly four hours long and consisted of five nervous bartenders stirring and shaking liquids, while a panel of stone-faced judges stared at them and intermittently passed notes to one another scribbled on napkins. Woohoo!!!

Emceeing was no easy task, particularly because I myself was having a hell of a hard time focusing on the competition knowing that on the street below right outside the building, director Christopher Nolan was shooting a major scene from the upcoming blockbuster film, The Dark Knight Rises.

For a comic book geek such as myself, the choice between Batman or barmen was a no-brainer. Alas, the sponsors who’d hired me to host the event – Table20.com and Karlsson’s Gold Vodka – didn’t quite see it that way. Neither did my Imbiber Show co-host Stretch Roberts, who was on hand to record another installment of our booze-soaked podcast.

“Hey, look who’s here – it’s Dale DeGroff!” I heard someone say when my old friend, and the world’s most famous bartender, arrived to judge the competition.

“Dale. Right. Great,” I mumbled, peering over the edge of the building at all the cool-looking “Gotham Police” cars crammed onto 6th Street several stories down. I suddenly had the strong urge – a cacoethes, if you will – to jump, just to see if Batman would come swooping in to save me. (He would. I was sure of it.)

CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE POST AT FOODREPUBLIC.COM

Dan and Stretch welcome drink maker extraordinaire Steve Calabro from RED O, the Hottest New Spot in L.A. Steve explains how to integrate gardening and cocktailing,.. and yes, that's as cool as it sounds.

RED O Restaurant with Mexican cuisine by Rick Bayless features menus designed by the renowned chef, best known for his highly rated PBS series “Mexico—One Plate at a Time,” and from his six cookbooks. In August 2009, he was also crowned the winner of Bravo’s “Top Chef Masters,” beating out 23 other culinary luminaries. Executing the menus at Red O is Executive Chef Michael Brown, whose extensive résumé includes working at Pinot Bistro in Los Angeles, opening 5 Dudley in Venice, as well as working as chef de cuisine at Opaline under the direction of David Lentz and Suzanne Goin. In addition, Brown worked at Wolfgang Puck Catering, was executive chef at Vert Brasserie, and helped open Wilson, in Culver City.