by Steven Doyle
Since we just cannot get enough of our local celebrity bartenders, we bring you good tidings of great joy that surrounds one of our favorite barmen, Eddie “Lucky” Campbell who recently started his corporate gig as beverage director at Bailey’s Prime Plus.
We caught wind of some of his activities this weekend that included an appearance on a reality show pilot that was filmed at the Candle Room called Cocktail Confidential. Consider this television’s answer to Top Chef but with a pearl onion garnish.
The trial run went well with barmen Lucky, Abe Bedell from Victor Tango, Sonny from Cedars Social, and David Mayer “Tiki Dave” of the Usual Bar in Fort Worth who all competed in what Nico Martini, the producer and creator of the program, hopes will be picked up by one of the networks they are shopping.
“We came up with this idea and thought it was insane no one had come up with this before. We will have this all edited and ready to take to L.A. in the next month or so,” said Martini.
Martini is the owner of a media consultant group in Dallas called Hypeworthy and is no stranger to television. He also has a fantastic name for a cocktail program.
At the shoot that was held this past Sunday from 10:30am to about 10:30pm Martini filled the Candle Room with about 100 Dallas beauties for a perfect backdrop on the new program.
The competition was pretty fierce. The first round each bartender was asked to make something out of their normal cocktail repertoire, the next round mystery ingredients were introduced (think Republic Tequila, spicy peppers and tamarindo) with the instructions to make two drinks using all the ingredients combined in either.
The final round had the remaining bartenders creating a cocktail menu and service for 75 people. As many who follow craft cocktails, this can be a daunting feat as each drink takes considerable time. We won’t spoil the program and announce the winners, but the victor was making most of his cocktails ten at a time, defeating the runner-up who had great drinks but ran out of time using a single drink method.
Keeping up with Lucky, we also wanted to see exactly what being a Beverage Director involved, and the fedora wearing barman was happy to share some of the new specials he is creating at Bailey’s.
Lucky announced today some new additions to the libations menu that will include monthly rotating $5 craft cocktail infusions such as Honeydew-Lemon Verbena Gin, Bing-Cherry Almond Vodka, Pineapple-Bell Pepper Tequila and Nectarine Rose-Petal Vodka. You may also use the infusions with any drink mixer to create your own flavors for the same $5.
In a salute to the popular “Mad Men” television show, Bailey’s will host Mad Mondays serving $5 vintage cocktails including the Side Car, Debonaire, French 75 and Tom Collins from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. every Monday.
The new bar specials are currently only available at the Dallas – The Shops at Park Lane location. Bailey’s Prime Plus, The Shops at Park Lane, 8160 Park Lane.
