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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…
Izzy Tulloch
Taking a cue from her bartender brother, Izzy Tulloch started bartending in New Jersey when a cocktail competition led her to Clover Club where, impressed by her style, award-winning bartender Julie Reiner gave her her business card and said, “Call me if you ever move to New York.”
Tulloch did later move to New York and took a job at The HiHi Room, where she’s Creative Director, but eventually found her way back to Clover Club, just a few blocks down Smith Street. And soon after she became the Head Bartender at Milady’s, the decades-old Soho dive bar that closed in 2014 and was brought back to life as a neighborhood cocktail bar in October 2022 by Julie Reiner and her business partners Christine Williams, Susan Fedroff, and chef Sam Sherman. Just last week Milady’s debuted at No. 50 among North America’s 50 Best Bars.
“We, as bartenders, have the potential to totally make someone's day and I think that's a pretty cool thing to be able to do for a living,” said Tulloch in an interview with Madre Mezcal. She also shared that she likes to kick off closing time with Pulp’s “Common People,” which also lands on her Dive Bar Jukebox playlist, along with Britney Spears, Bruce Springsteen, and a whole lot more. Read on for more music picks plus Tulloch’s go-to dive bar drink and her philosophy on what makes a dive bar a dive bar.