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| - I'm sorry, but I beg to differ...I went here with a group of friends, and was able to sample a variety of cleverly-named concoctions, which all unfortunately left me a little underwhelmed (and I like me some old-fashioned big boy cocktails). Admittedly, I'm not a professional bartender, but I do have a biochemistry degree from Harvard (yeah, seriously), and I just can't buy into the "everything measured to the ounce" school of drink-making. This is just hype, especially when you consider how much variation there is in the housemade bitters and such that purportedly make the VTL truly legit. Unless you can standardize those processes to match bottled liquor, I'd much prefer a bartender who has a good palate, one who understands how to balance flavors, rather than weigh out portions on a scale. Actually, all the best drinks I've had in my life were made by people with exceptional palates, not people with exceptional measuring skills.
For what it's worth, exceptional is exactly what you'll get with Chris at Parallax (if you watch him make a drink, he's tasting as he mixes, just like a good cook), and I think he is definitely the best bartender in town. I'd take one of his gin martinis or caipirinhas over anything at the VTR any day. Sorry, but even my left brain knows that bartending is an art. And $18 for a cocktail? Come on, really? Snark, snark, snark. :)
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