Dive Bar Jukebox with Tony Milici
"If I wrote you a love letter, would you write back?"
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 eternal gratitude.
Monthly: $5.00
Annual: $50.00
Founding Member: $150.00 (Annual subscription plus a signed copy of my book, Last Call)
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 10-song playlist for your weekend listening pleasure.
Please welcome today’s special guest…
Tony Milici
Bartender Tony Milici was the first front-of-house hire when Rolo’s opened their doors on Onderdonk Avenue in Ridgewood, Queens, in January 2021, and he’s now the restaurant’s Bar Director, where he and his team shake and stir up some of my favorite drinks in NYC, including the Martini Italian (Malfy con Limone Gin, Bordiga Extra Dry and Blanc Vermouth di Torino, Aperol, Castelvetrano olive). If they’re serving anything with their Strawberry Campari (Fizz, Americano, & soda), order it. And when dessert comes around don’t leave without one of their inventive Espresso Martinis (I’m partial to the Black Rum Espresso Martini made with Gosling’s, a banana cordial, gula jawa, and Stumptown espresso).
I try to get to Rolo’s at least once a month for dinner at the bar (it’s a bit of a trek from my neighborhood but always worth it). I typically order the Calabrian Chili Butter Polenta Bread with a side of housemade mortadella to start. Then it’s a pasta, like their signature crispy Two-Sheet Lasagna Verde Bolognese, or the off-menu Wagyu skirt steak with green-garlic butter. And the Cheesy Potato Croquettes or Grilled Greens with garlic and lemon might drop by to ride shotgun.
And if Tony is behind the bar he always has something up his sleeve and my move is to go omakase-style when it comes to drinks. Milici likes to lean in on seasonal flavors, like the current Rhubarb Rum Collins made with their house rum blend, fresh rhubarb, rhubarb liqueur, lemon, and ginger beer or The Carrot Drink, composed of chili-infused mezcal, Forthave Red, carrot and lemon juice, burnt cinnamon, and salt. Next time you’re at Rolo’s follow my lead and let Tony choose your adventure.
Milici got his start in the restaurant industry during his high-school and college years, working as a cook in kitchens in New York and eventually running an oyster program at a Mount Kisco restaurant. But he found his true passion when he made a move to the beverage world while earning a degree in hospitality at the College of Charleston in South Carolina. It was in Charleston where he started tending bar and running bars, helping craft cocktails for the programs at Brooks Reitz’s popular restaurants Little Jack’s Tavern and Melfi’s. He was also hosting a series of pop-ups at local cocktail bars and even developed an app called BarFrog, which let you pay your bar tab from your phone.
But Milici longed to move back to New York and when he did he connected with Ben Howell, a Gramercy Tavern alum who is a partner and General Manager at Rolo’s who brought him on to open the bar.
“I’m a NYC-born bar and restaurant rat with a passion for tasty drinks and a good vibe,” says Milici. “I am a total sucker for a dimly lit bar and an ice-cold Martini. I don't think life gets any better than that. If I could have that with someone I care about, then life does in fact get a little better.”
I’ve been lucky to sit on the same side of bar with Tony and can attest that he knows how to hang and the dive bar stories that he shares below are worth the price of admission (one involves a flying squirrel; as in an actual flying squirrel, not a Pink Squirrel variation) and his playlist goes heavy on New York City rap with detour or two for a little Johnny Cash and Rick James.
