Dive Bar Jukebox with Frank Caiafa
"What tender days, we had no secrets hid away. Now it seems about a hundred years ago."
Dive Bar Jukebox is a LAST CALL Paid Subscriber Exclusive. Please consider upgrading to a Paid Subscription to keep the tunes spinning on this reader-supported newsletter. Paid Subscribers receive all dispatches, exclusive posts, access to archived content, and my sincere gratitude.
Welcome back to Dive Bar Jukebox, where every Friday bartenders, writers, chefs, musicians, and a host of dynamic people answer the question: If we were hanging out together at a bar and I put ten credits on the jukebox, what songs would you punch in and why? The answers reveal thoughts on their favorite dive bars along with a hand-picked, annotated playlist for your weekend listening pleasure.
Please welcome today’s special guest…
Frank Caiafa
Born and raised in Brooklyn, longtime New York City bartender Frank Caiafa’s career has run the spectrum from saloons to landmark hotels. Frank is one of the kindest and most generous guys I know, not to mention one of the best storytellers, especially when you’re hanging out with him at a bar with a cocktail in hand—and he’s got a lot of stories to share. I always feel like a real New Yorker (or at least a much cooler New Yorker) when I’m lucky enough to spend time with Frank.
He recently joined the team of Banville Wine Merchants as their Spirits Portfolio Director, but he’s held notable positions in his wide-ranging beverage and hospitality livelihood, including the role of Consulting Beverage Director at M Social Times Square Hotel; Director of Food and Beverage at the Lexington Hotel and Opening Beverage Director of The Stayton Room; and the Beverage Director of the celebrated Peacock Alley and La Chine restaurants at New York’s The Waldforf Astoria from 2005 until its closure for renovations in 2017.
Through his beverage and hospitality consulting enterprise, Handle Bars NYC / Global Inc., Caiafa has been called upon for his expertise on a wide array of concepts strategizing on all aspects of operations, including on-site management, brand representation, recipe and menu development and design, education and training, bar layout and design, and more.
Caiafa is also a writer, and the author of The Waldorf Astoria Bar Book, a complete update inspired by the classic bar books Old Waldorf Bar Days (1931) and The Old Waldorft Astoria Bar Book. The late Gary Regan heralded it as, "Frank has done the un-doable. He has taken The Old Waldorf Astoria Bar Book and brought it completely up to date with this brand new tome that will, I predict, be hailed as a true classic in its own right, standing tall next to books such as Jim Meehan’s PDT Cocktail Book, another volume that will be used as a reference for the next 100 years and more." The book was also a 2017 James Beard Award finalist and nominated for a 2017 Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Award for Best New Cocktail and Bartending Book.
For his Dive Bar Jukebox debut, Frank shares his love of the venerable Times Square boxing bar, Jimmy’s Corner, and as the former frontman for the band The Problems, he has a rocking, and often contemplative, playlist with cameos from ZZ Top, The Rolling Stones, Morphine, and Courtney Barnett. See you at the bar, Frank!