Bartenders Vie to Be the Greatest, All for Charity

Eight bartenders, four women and four men, were the toast of the town in Iselin last week as they juggled bottles of liquor in the air, balanced full martini glasses on their heads, and poured a smooth drink from a green florescent tube wrapped around the body at a divisional bartending contest for the World Bartending Championship. The event was sponsored and held at T.G.I Friday’s.

About 300 people crowded around the large circular bar at the restaurant, dancing, and cheering on their favorite bartender. The bartending division covered the East Coast from Maine to Pennsylvania.

From Brooklyn, NY, came Steven Tenezafa, 20, who was the first one up. “I’m the youngest bartender in the contest,” he proudly noted and also lauded the fact that he had worked as a bartender for only one year at a T.G.I.F restaurant in Sheepshead Bay.

The event was a fundraiser for Feeding America; locally the money will go to the Community Food Bank of New Jersey. A manager at T.G.I.F said a recent contest at the bar to whittle down to the eight contestants who appeared Thursday, raised about $4,000.

Mike Lescord made a three-hour ride from Vespal, NY, as part of a group of supporters.

Lescord, a junior in college, said, “It’s exciting. It reminds me of the bar we go to at college.”

Each contestant must make three drinks, which are auctioned off at prices, in some cases, topping $100 a drink to raise the funds. The money from constant raffles in the bar also goes to Feeding America.

The winner of the competition, which wrapped up on Friday, will go the finals in Dallas next year to vie for the title of “T.G.I. Friday’s Greatest Bartender in the World.” The contest has been going on for 21 years.