Cocktail Party Secrets

How Don Draper's secret stash can fuel your holiday cocktail party: Hosting a stylish, effortless bash

This month is a particularly special one because it not only marks the holiday season, but it also commemorates the 80th anniversary of the repeal of prohibition. So how might one simultaneously commemorate both the holidays and the repeal, you ask?

By hosting a fabulous cocktail party, of course!

Now I know what you’re probably thinking. With the holiday party season upon us in full, unadulterated swing that there’s no way to successfully pull off an impromptu cocktail party . . . is there?

A strategically stocked bar cart can make hosting become a stylish and relaxed breeze.

I’ve got a two-word solution to this dilemma for you: Bar cart. A strategically stocked bar cart can make hosting become a stylish and relaxed breeze. Just set up a well-styled cart, lay out a few lovely platters of savory and sweet bites and voila, you’ve got an instant, tony cocktail party.

The bar cart has seen a chic and fashionable resurgence ever since Mad Men invaded pop culture a few years ago (who doesn’t envy the fact that Don Draper has one next to his desk?), and it appears that it is a design trend that will be sticking around for quite some time. It’s perfect for entertaining because it fosters a more convivial and interactive experience as guests become their own mixologists for the evening.

An added bonus is that it also frees up the host to mingle and actually enjoy their own party.

But you’re not an ordinary host and you certainly don’t want to host a cookie-cutter cocktail party. You want your shindig to be memorable. That’s where your creativity comes into play.

Your personality can shine through not only with the type of bar cart you select but also how you style it with what you put on it. But exactly how do you go about doing that?

For some expert guidance I decided to reach out to two décor and design mavens, Ronda Rice Carman and Patti Kagan, for tips and advice on styling. Carman is writer, author and editor of greatly adored and popular blog “All the Best,” as well as the author of the brand new book (with a foreword by Martha Stewart) Designers At Home: Personal Reflections on Stylish Living. Kagan is the co-owner of newly bowed Houston mid-century modern furniture and accessories boutique, Mrs. PK & Oz.

CultureMap: How would you describe your personal approach to styling a bar cart?

Ronda Rice Carman: It was [designer] David Hicks who declared, "I like rows and rows of tonic bottles, tomato juice and two or three syphons of spirits lined up behind each other; it gives a generous, welcoming atmosphere, and if a bus-load of friends descend upon you, you are ready for them." I follow a similar approach and I love pretty colored bottles of water and alcohol. Color, pattern and texture all come into play.

Patti Kagan: Methodical . . . paying particular attention to function, however, with high style!

CM: What is your best advice for styling a bar cart?

RRC: A stylish bar cart needs to be functional and beautiful. I love using trays to help divide the bar cart into sections. Not only is it practical, but it also looks pretty.

PK: Make a list of what you will need that evening and then style with what looks beautiful. Always use vintage or at least hints of vintage here and there. Think "Brat Pack."

CM: What three things, besides alcohol and glasses of course, should every bar cart have?

RRC: Cloth cocktail napkins, unique bar tools, cocktail recipe book.

PK: I style a bar cart with vintage bar ware which includes: tumblers for scotch drinkers (with a bottle of 12 year old Macallan); a martini shaker and glasses, Chopin vodka (because I love the bottle), vermouth, shaved lemon rind, and olives stuffed with blue cheese (complete with bamboo picks); champagne saucers (with my favorite rosé Prosecco, Zonin, for color); a fun ice bucket that is always a great conversation piece filled with perfectly shaped ice; and, of course, glamorous cocktail napkins.

Now that you’ve gotten some terrific advice it’s time to put it into action. Here are some of my personal favorite resources for snazzy bar carts and accessories:

BAR CARTS

• Society Social

This talented group has been creating its own original bar cart designs since 2011. With a belief that life is a “grand celebration” at its business core, the bar carts reflect a certain joie de vivre sensibility.

• 1stdibs

If exquisite vintage and antique bar carts are more your style, then 1stdibs will completely seduce you. With a superbly curated collection of antique dealers from across the globe, you’re sure to find just the right cart to indulge your extravagant side.

• One Kings Lane

Started in 2009 by two design enthusiasts, One Kings Lane is known for hosting sales (many lasting as little as 72 hours) that offer “exceptional value on top-brand, vintage, and designer items.” As far as bar carts go, they have a range of price points from $250 to over $2,000. My favorite is the “Timothy Whealon” clear, plexi-craft bar cart that is stunning in its simplicity.

• “Big box” stores

For an economical options that doesn’t sacrifice style, be sure not to overlook the large retailers. My picks include the “Threshold Finish Bar Cart” from Target ($130); and the “Ernest” chrome bar car from CB2 ($179)

ACCESSORIES

• Mrs. PK & Oz

Patti Kagan (“PK”), who provided some of the fabulous bar cart advice above, co-owns the store with Troy Osborne (“Oz”). The store prides itself on “taking fine mid-century modern furniture and adding a distinctive twist,” and the inventory of vintage bar ware is absolutely killer. Roger, Lane and Don would be right at home.

• Anthropologie

This store, known for its “curated mix of clothing, accessories, gifts and home décor,” carries some really charming and irresistible collections for entertaining. Expect to find cute canapé plates; curvy beverage decanters and carafes; etched wine and cocktail glasses; chic coasters; and darling cocktail napkins, like these called “Cocktail Chatter.”

• Taigan

This purveyor caters to those with a whimsical sensibility, which I really love, but what I love even more is that not only do they stock chic bar ware but this online store is also essentially bar cart one-stop shopping. The site carries bar carts (the two currently on the site are a lacquered, bright blue bamboo cart and a lacquered red-orange one with modern lines); wine and spirits including pear cognac, scotch, and, wait for it . . . moonshine, small batch tonic, crystal wine glasses, ice buckets and embroidered cocktail napkins.

• eBay

If you have a bit of patience and are open to culling through a ton of awesome (and some not so awesome) options, then go to eBay and type in “vintage bar ware.” Prepare to have your wallet emptied.

Now that you’re now fully equipped with all of the tips, ideas, inspiration and resources to entertain fabulously without the fuss, what time is the party? Being the gracious guest that I am, I’ll bring a bottle of bubbly with me to add to your gorgeously styled cart.

Designers at Home by Ronda Rice Carman

Davon bar cart ideas December 2013 Designers At Home

Photo courtesy of © Rizzoli New York

Designers at Home by Ronda Rice Carman

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Here's why a top Texas pizza team makes a yearly pilgrimage to New York

Photo courtesy of Missy Davis

In late April, some of the Home Slice team took a field trip to New York to bring authentic NYC flavors and service back to Houston.

There's a saying in the pizza world: "smooth is fast." No yelling, no chaos, no sprinting across a kitchen. Just calm, practiced movement, one pie at a time. It's a philosophy Home Slice Pizza has tried to bottle since its very beginnings. Every year, to make sure this message lands, the team flies to the Big Apple to watch it in action.

In late April this year, 17 Home Slice employees including kitchen managers, front-of-house staff, server trainers, and lead servers boarded flights from Texas to New York for four days of eating, walking, subway rides, and the kind of bonding that only happens when you're crammed around a table at a legendary Brooklyn pizzeria at 9 pm on a Monday. The trip includes employees from the store's Houston location in Midtown, and Home Slice is busily working on its new location in the Heights that will open this fall.

"You can serve New York-style pizza," says Sara Ronder, who has made the trip more than a dozen times. She works as an executive assistant to founding owners Terri Hannifin, Jen Scoville Strickland, and Joseph Strickland. "But there's a whole other level you just soak in when you go."

The tradition dates back to 2006, a year after Home Slice first opened its doors. The restaurant's founders, Hannifin and Strickland, met as roommates at NYU. New York pizza was a way of life for them. They had no idea at the time they'd open a New York-style pizzeria in Austin one day. But after they did it, they knew bringing the team back to where it all began would be important. The team has made the trip every year since — minus a few during the Pandemic.

The itinerary this year was a masterclass in eating: Rubirosa for lunch on arrival day, a sunset Staten Island Ferry ride, then dinner at Lucali in Brooklyn to kick things off. Day two brought a full pizza and sub crawl — Prince Street Pizza, Faicco's, Joe's Pizza, Lucia Pizza of SoHo, L'industrie Pizzeria, Upside Pizza, and Regina's Grocery — before a sit-down dinner at Roscioli.

Wednesday opened with breakfast at the classic Ukrainian diner Veselka, then split the group into teams fanning out across the boroughs: Brooklyn Bridge walks, a Roosevelt Island Tramway ride, Patsy's in Harlem, the Museum of the City of New York, and stops at Juliana's and Angelo's Coal Oven Pizzeria. The trip closed things out with lunch at John's of Bleecker Street, then led back to Austin and Houston.

Dividing up a slice in front of Joe's Pizza. Photo courtesy of Missy Davis

Lucali kept coming up as the runaway favorite. Karen Flores, assistant kitchen manager at the North Loop location, was transfixed watching the pizza maker work the room, stretching dough, stacking pies, drawing little heart shapes in the air for appreciative guests, and never breaking a sweat.

"It didn't matter how busy it was," Flores says. "There was no hecticness. Everybody was just kind of doing their things nice and calmly."

For first-timer Matthew Stoughton, a front-of-house employee at the South Congress location, a highlight came from Lucia Pizza of SoHo, where a server named Maria remembered the group from a visit eight months prior: what they ordered, where they were coming from, how the night went.

"She was amazing," Stoughton says. "There's a group of 17 people in this tiny little bar, and she was just totally crushing it." Or as the Home Slice Ethos puts it, "smooth is fast."

Kelly Ball, a front-of-house server trainer and lead server at the original South Congress location, says the trip recalibrated her relationship to high-volume service.

"It's the comfortability that people have being in close spaces together; the way that they move around each other, and you even find yourself kind of hustling at first, just to match the vibe," she says. "And then you realize that you're the one hustling, because everything is actually just kind of going. So I really enjoyed that part."

Between meals, the group played scavenger hunt bingo around the city, snapping photos of classically New York sights for prizes. They sought out things like rats in the subway, pigeons wrestling with too-large food items, campaign sticker art, and sidewalk cellar doors.

Johns of Bleecker Street The whole group at Johns of Bleecker on their last day in New York.Photo courtesy of Missy Davis

And of course, aside from coming back with inspiration on how to prep and serve the best New York slice in Austin, the team has also come back a whole lot closer.

"That whole saying, a 'New York minute' — I'm so confused about what that actually means now," laughs Ball. "Because in New York there's so much happening in a minute, but also it just flies by. So it's just that general sense that we're all doing this together, we will get there, we're gonna do it as a team, and it's gonna be awesome."

Plus, now that they're back and have tasted the pizza that inspired it all, when a New Yorker comes into Home Slice and gives praise, it means all that much more.

"When somebody says, 'I'm from New York and this pizza is legit,'" Flores says, "we made that happen. I made that dough. And at the end of the day, I think that that is a beautiful thing."

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