30 Before 30

PARIS Chapter 13 - Puttin' on the Ritz

DESTINATION Hemingway Bar at the Ritz Carlton, Paris

INSPIRATION Will Kopelman suggests that I order a drink from the world’s greatest bartender. 

The Ritz Carlton in Paris is dauntingly grand and historic, but the Hemingway Bar in the back is a living room. It’s small enough to feel intimate but large enough to be able to have a private moment at your own table. I knew from the little I’d read that the bar is patronized by an international smattering of diplomats, bankers, fashion models, play- boys, and tycoons. Kevin Nealon had written me that it was the place where Diana had been last before the crash that took her life.

Paris was Hemingway’s inspiration—Paris with its food and drink. Mostly drink. Seems that every two pages Hemingway was downing a brandy, a beer, or a whiskey. In any case, this bar got its name because the writer famously ordered a drink here during the liberation of Paris while gunfire from retreating Nazi soldiers could still be heard outside. Apparently, not even war or the threat of speeding bullets could distract Hemingway from his pursuit of booze.

As I settled in, I opened my pink journal and flipped to Will Kopelman’s email, recommending that I visit the Hemmingway haunt to find a bartender named Colin.

Looking up at the bar, I knew the man behind it had to be Colin. He upheld the grandeur of the Ritz, standing elegantly behind the bar with his wire rim glasses and white blazer, and a Mona Lisa smile. I felt the familiar excited anticipation that comes with meeting someone new, and knowing I would hear a new success story to remind me what we can do with drive and motivation. 

FROM Will Kopelman

TO Angie Banicki

subject 30 before 30

Thanks for this!

I found the part about Rao’s funny because though I totally agree (Frankie’s been like a second uncle to me growing up, and one of my dad’s fondest friends), as we both know, not anybody can just walk into Rao’s because they heard it was a great place to visit! That aside, here’s my two cents: 

Paris: go to the Hemingway bar in the back of the Ritz hotel. It’s a tiny bar on the Rue Cambon side of the hotel where Ernest Heming- way used to hang out when he lived in Paris. The bartender, Colin should still be there.  He’s a fixture of the joint. Tell him you’re friends with the Kopelmans, and have him surprise you with his best seasonal drink. He’s a master. One of the best small little bars in France; and when I say small I mean tiny. 

To be honest, I was nervous. Yes, I was meeting a bartender—but in the bar of the Paris Ritz. One who I had read about in Forbes, celebrated as the world’s greatest bartender. 

I leaned in, trying to be coy, but then burst out with a rush of words. “Colin—are you the Colin of the Hemingway Bar? My friend Will Kopelman has sent me to meet you!”

Colin laughed, “Ah yes! The Kopelmans! Such a lovely family and Will has spent quite a few fun nights here at the Hemingway Bar.” Colin quickly got down to the business of taking my order. I asked him to surprise me, as Will had suggested. Then I watched him go to work, disappearing to the back to gather supplies. He returned carrying a martini glass of yellow dandelion-colored drink, with half of a passion fruit floating in its center. Colin explained that I was to use the straw to suck out the strawberry-infused vodka and then remove the half passion fruit and drink up.

It was sweet and strong—and unbelievably delicious. 

I asked Colin about his work at the Ritz and he described his entrepreneurial vision for bartenders and mixologists. He had taught courses and created training programs for bartenders around the world.