How to Drink and Dine Out Responsibly During a Federal Occupation

March 8, 2026March 9, 2026 ~ Kate ~ Leave a comment

It was the sound of a whistle in our favorite bar that made me realize nothing felt normal anymore. Going out to eat and drink during unprecedented times is simultaneously important and stressful, but maybe what we’ve learned here in Minnesota can help you should your community face a similar crisis.

On January 24th, 2026, my husband and I went to a Minneapolis bar a few hours after the murder of Alex Pretti by a Customs and Border Protection officer. We wanted to be with our community as everyone moved about the city in a state of shock that this kind of violence could happen, again, and just hours after the massive peaceful march and general strike the day before. I knew that whoever was working would be hanging on by an emotional thread and we wanted to be peaceful, friendly faces on a hard day.

A little while into our drinks, someone from a group seated at the tables behind us got up, looked over the bar’s stash of resistance supplies—cards outlining immigrant rights, lists of rapid response phone lines, pins, etc. He grabbed a couple of the 3D printed whistles and gave them to others at his table. One woman blew the whistle a couple of times, causing several people in the bar to immediately tense up and frantically look around.

When a manager politely explained that this was inappropriate to do inside the bar, the woman and her group got defensive.

“I didn’t know.”
“I’m from the suburbs.”
“She didn’t believe a 3D printed whistle could actually work and was just testing it.”
“We’re on your side, I swear. It’s not a big deal.”

But here’s the thing: When your city is making national and international news, “I’m from the suburbs” is not a good excuse. It might have been an honest mistake, but it was an avoidable one.

3D printed whistles such as these have become a common sight at bars, restaurants, and shops.

When asked, hospitality professionals offered the following suggestions of how to make going out a good experience for everyone. This is far from a comprehensive list of suggestions, but hopefully something here makes these strange situations easier for everyone. If you’re a bar or restaurant patron like me, I hope this encourages you to get out and support your local community. If you’re a hospitality worker, I hope this helps you have an easier time as you navigate your job.

Practical Tips from the Professionals

First and foremost, support your community by being a part of your community.

Get out to your favorite spots and try to find new favorites along the way. Dining in is always the best way to show financial and emotional support, but even ordering takeout can help.
All locally owned bars and restaurants need support, but those owned by immigrants and people of color are hurting most of all. Workers are staying home out of fear causing a lot of spots to reduce their hours, which means fewer sales, shifts, and tips.
If the closure of a bar or restaurant would make you think “I loved that place; I wish I had gone more often,” go there now.

Your community can’t thrive if it can’t afford to survive.

Go to those fundraising pop-ups and spend money, but be sure to order from a venue’s normal menu as well. The amount of mutual aid fundraising that is happening is amazing, but if the proceeds from a special drink, dish, or menu are going to fundraising, that means they aren’t going to the venue. By ordering off the standard menu as well, you help support the space and the people hosting the fundraiser. And it should go without saying: tip generously!
Here’s one I wouldn’t have thought of: Be thoughtful about how you’re paying. When bars and restaurants are struggling, every penny counts. If you close out and have your card run for every order, that costs the venue more credit card processing fees than having a tab open. If you’re out with friends and want to split who pays for each round, consider one tab and then splitting costs on Venmo or PayPal.

Daiquiris as a fundraising tool for Minneapolis mutual aid organizations

Treat everyone with grace.

Bars and restaurants that are actively speaking out and working against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) are being targeted by smear campaigns, harassing phone calls, and sometimes even violence. Even if a venue is vocal on social media, they may be hesitant to have in-person conversations about their thoughts on the situation, especially if you aren’t a known regular.
Support bars and restaurants that share your values. No one has the energy to argue with you, and staff members aren’t there to engage in a political debate with you. Either stick to places that agree with you or keep it to yourself.
It’s okay to acknowledge the strange circumstances, but remember that hospitality workers are having this conversation with dozens of people a day. One bartender I talked to suggested avoiding the basic “How are you?” greeting, because there’s no good answer. Some good alternatives might be “Good to see you,” “Happy [insert day of the week],” or simply “Glad to be here.”
Emotions are running high and most people are functioning in an extended state of fear. Remember that you’re there for an hour or two but the people working have to be worried for the entirety of their shift, and are probably worried about their colleagues even when not working. Imagine having to do your normal every day job while also being on high alert every second for people coming to detain your friends, your neighbors, your colleagues, and possibly even your customers.
It’s not appropriate to ask probing questions, such as if anyone from the restaurant has been detained or if they have a lot of immigrant workers. This isn’t safe or appropriate information to share with customers and may make staff suspicious of your intentions. (ICE agents have been known to dine at a restaurant and then come back later to make “arrests.”)

Some of you may not be at personal risk of being detained, but you may be worried about the risk of a disruption to your experience. Disruption might look like your reservation getting cancelled because the restaurant is understaffed and shortening their hours, ICE showing up to detain the people who are plating your appetizer, or a protest passing by as you’re having dessert and causing you to wonder if you’ll get stuck in traffic as you leave.

This sign is available as a PDF on the Monarca website.

Some Dos and Don’ts if ICE shows up while you’re at a bar or restaurant

Do follow the staff’s lead if there’s an incident. Most bars and restaurants have a plan.
Do not independently interact with ICE agents. The venue should have someone trained to ask the right questions and assert the business’s rights.
Do take video of the situation. Photos of agents, vehicles, badges, etc., are valuable but only if you can do so safely.
Do NOT post the video without the restaurant’s permission. Video of an incident should be carefully reviewed before posting so that agents can’t use it to find justification for their actions.
If you’re comfortable, and the situation calls for it (take the staff’s lead), you may help form a barrier between agents and private spaces.
Do not get aggressive with ICE agents. It is likely to escalate the situation, putting yourself and others in danger.
If you’re uncomfortable, at risk, or simply unsure what to do, do nothing. It’s better to be a passive observer than to risk making the situation worse.

At the end of the day, the key message is that if it’s safe for you to be out and about (and as long as you’re not one of the minority groups being targeted, you’re probably safe), your community needs you. Your favorite restaurant needs you. Your favorite bar needs you. But they also need you to be kind, patient, and understanding. The only way we all get through this is together.

Going out to eat and drink can feel strange when your city is experiencing ongoing violence and trauma. Humans are complicated creatures and it is possible—perhaps even necessary—to seek normalcy, joy, and connection even while your heart rages. Here in Minnesota, we remain angry at the deaths, angry at the lies, and angry for all of the families being torn apart by the violent actions of ICE, but we resist and we persist.

To resist we must refuel, and for many people, going out to eat and drink refuels the spirit as much as it does the body. This is the power, and necessity, of hospitality.

This whole article, summed up by a sign at Pony Up in Denver, CO.

Ways to Help

Help the House Foundation – Supports industry professionals directly.
The Salt Cure Fund – Supports Minnesota restaurants.
Other Minnesota Mutual Aid Funds

Being “too cool to care” just isn’t cool anymore

April 15, 2025April 15, 2025 ~ Kate ~ Leave a comment

Several years ago, when I first started my spreadsheet to track The World’s 50 Best Bars, I was excitedly telling a friend about it and he said

You know, nobody cares about this stuff as much as you do.

His tone made it clear that this wasn’t meant as a compliment and for a long time, that reaction made me embarrassed to tell people about my work.

If I visited a bar because it was on a list, I was hesitant to admit as much for fear of seeming….what? Pedestrian? Hung up on awards? An outsider? It’s taken several years of travel, many excited responses about what I’m doing, having my data used in a seminar at Tales of the Cocktail, and a good therapist to get me to the point where I will proudly talk about my comprehensive database of bar awards.

At some point there was a generational shift away from caring, or at least admitting to care, and I think we need to swing the pendulum back in the other direction. There’s enough apathy and the negativity in the world already, joy is revolutionary. Yes, admitting you care about being recognized or awarded for your work means openly admitting that you’ll be sad and disappointed if you don’t win or get ranked – but that’s not a weakness – it’s a sign that you want to do your best.

Looking back on the statement “No one cares about this as much as you do,” I see it very differently today. So many amazing things in the world only exist because someone cared more than anyone else. (See: John Fulton’s Orrery)

(Photo courtesy Kelvingrove Instagram)

As I’ve spent more time digging into awards, I’ve seen this attitude of “too cool to care” surface over and over. No one cares about awards (until they win one) and few people will admit that they want to win. I’ve watched bartenders travel the world, spending more days away than at home, building hype for their bar and then going on a podcast to say they don’t care about winning awards. I’ve heard stories about the steps a bar took to get a global audience and then watched their head bartender sit on a panel and say none of it is for the awards.

Now don’t get me wrong – winning awards should not be the primary focus of a bar. We don’t want bars that only care whether or not the next person through the door is a voter, but neither are we served well by people refusing to admit they care about something. I recently had a lovely chat with a bar owner about how soulless some top bars can feel when they become the sort of place you go once, but they don’t have the space or ability to create a culture of regulars. As a random middle aged white woman from the Midwest, I’ve experienced what it feels like to walk into a bar and be sized up as a nobody. Sometimes that tune changes when a bartender realizes I know a thing or two about bars, cocktails, and hospitality – but sometimes it doesn’t.

Banana Daiquiri made with local bananas at The Hitching Post in Rio Grande, Puerto Rico – a hidden gem of a bar/restaurant.

External validation shouldn’t be *the* driving force behind a bar program, but it’s okay for it to be *a* driving force. Deep down, I believe it’s human nature to care about recognition. There’s nothing wrong with just keeping your head down and getting on with it but there’s also nothing wrong with wanting to hear your community say “hey, great work.” And if, at the end of the day, you really don’t give a shit? That’s fine – but maybe try to find a talking point that doesn’t make someone else feel embarrassed when they do care.

Cool shit happens because someone cares enough to make it happen. So be cool, care deeply, and make shit happen.

How to play “Bar Tag”

August 30, 2023 ~ Kate ~ Leave a comment

Facebook memories popped up yesterday with a reminder our most extreme day of “bar tag” ever – nine London bars in one day. While it’s not a record I care to beat (the very thought exhausts me), it was a good reminded that I promised to make a post about our idea of Bar Tag and how to “play” it well.

As I mentioned in my post about why we started paying attention to, and eventually tracking, The World’s 50 Best Bars and other lists, I pointed out that we often use them to find a bar tag home base. Usually our decision of where to start is a combination of the list and personal recommendations, which is it’s own form of long distance bar tag.

Bar tag is pretty self-explanatory – you find a bar you like and you ask for recommendations of where to go next. You follow the recommendation and TAG, the next bar is it. Rinse, and repeat. While there aren’t really any rules to bar tag, there are some things you can do to make it a better experience for everyone involved.

If you want good recommendations, be a good customer.
- There are posts coming that go into this idea in detail but for now let’s just focus on “don’t be a dick” – if the bartender thinks you’re a dick, they aren’t going to send you to a place they like or care about.
Give credit where it’s due.
- You were a good customer and the bartender gave you a recommendation for another cool bar. You go there and have a great time. Tell them who sent you! In most cities, the hospitality industry is fairly tight knit and a)it’s a big compliment to know a friend is sending you customers and b)it’s a sign that the previous bar is sort of vouching for you. (See rule #1.)
Take/keep notes.
- At some point you will probably have more recommendations than you have time (or liver). You may not get to every place that was recommended to you so save those for next time! If a bartender hand writes a list for you, guard it with your life. Some of our favorite souvenirs are those scraps of paper. Some bars are even pre-printing lists and maps – it’s so cool!
- (The business card sized map from Cantina OK! in Sydney.)
Pace yourself.
- This is true of any outing involving alcohol but especially if you are hitting a few bars in a row (as is often the case when you’re trying to explore a new place in a short amount of time). Make sure your visits are spread out, find some food, take a walk, and remember to check out the ever growing quality N/A cocktail lists. (Or, if you’re me, find the lower ABV sherry cocktails!) Remember, you’re trying to be a good customer and part of that involves keeping your wits about you. Also, you want to remember the journey!
Know when to say when.
- Really, this is part of pacing yourself – but it’s important enough to be it’s own rule. Bar tag can be a multi-day (week/month/year) game so don’t feel like you have to go everywhere all at once. It’s way better to have a little FOMO than to not remember your grand adventure.

Okay, so that’s how we play “Bar Tag.” Now let’s breakdown the aforementioned epic day of bar tag on August 29, 2018. We didn’t set out to do this, and it was five years ago so I may not have every photo correct – but I’ll do my best!

Our plan for the day was pretty low key – a solid breakfast, a nice walk through St. James Park, a 2pm reservation for Afternoon Tea at Fortnum & Mason (yeah, it’s silly but it was vacation – deal with it!) and plans to check out Swift Soho afterwards.

We haven’t even left Fortnum & Mason before we get distracted. While I was busy ogling expensive stationary, Chris found the 3’6 Bar. We popped in for a post tea cocktail, mostly for the novelty of drinking in a department store. Also, I had recently fallen in love with Kir Royales and I’m pretty sure that’s what I had here – Chris, predictably, had a Martini.

When I say that a round of Bar Tag can go on for years, this is kind of what I mean. Swift was recommended to us several times on our July 2017 Honeymoon to London, but it took until August 2018 for us to make it there. I adore the soda fountain like decor and we’ve yet to have a bad drink there. Their drinks trend lighter and more aperitif focused, which I adore.

From here, the bar tag starts in earnest. We get two recommendations here – Bar Termini, the Italian Amaro bar and coffee shop across the street, and Bar Hercules, a pub turned cocktail bar around the corner.

Bar Termini is a tiny slip of a space that is famous for their Negronis. In 2018, I still hated Campari, and yet…this was the moment that started to change. Also, they had mini cocktails so you could do a tasting! As someone who is chronically indecisive, I love this concept. I also just love tiny cocktails in general.

Unfortunately, this was our first and only visit to Bar Hercules. Though the “Pillars of Hercules” pub space has had many lives, this was a short one and it’s too bad – we enjoyed some of the coolest and wackiest drinks there, and some of the friendliest service too. They had a focus on clarified, tap, and batched cocktails that didn’t sacrifice any quality. The time they saved on not making drinks to order was spent chatting with customers and giving them a great experience. One of the cocktails we tried had Frazzle infused bourbon and when we asked what Frazzles were, they ran downstairs and brought back a couple of bags for us. Those bacon flavored crisps are an atrocity, but I love them.

They get extra photos because we miss them.

While snacking on Frazzles at Bar Hercules, the team there recommended we head up the street a little further to check out Milroy’s Vault. Milroy’s is a small liquor store with an impressive selection, especially of whiskey. Hidden underneath the shop, in a cellar once used to mature sherry, is The Vault. The space has a lot of exposed brick and they’ve furnished it to feel cozy and unpretentious. We chatted with them a bit about our favorite basement bar back home and they suggested we check out a spot we’d literally been on top of earlier in the day – Swift Downstairs.

Back to Swift we went, waving at the bartenders we saw earlier before descending. Yes, technically Swift Downstairs is the same bar as Swift Upstairs – but with a different menu, different focus, and totally different vibe, we’ve always counted it as a separate bar. Downstairs eschews the light bright soda fountain feel in favor of dark wood and rich whiskey. These days, it’s reservation only but it’s a seat worth grabbing. It had been a MUCH longer afternoon in Soho than we intended so we were starting to fade, and it was time for a bit of a walk.

Spotted on our walk – lighted letters along a rooftop that say “Take your pleasure seriously.” I’m still not sure what this sign was for, but I loved it and it felt like the right sentiment for our crazy day.

After a lovely summer evening stroll, and some food, our next stop wasn’t really part of Bar Tag but was evidence of how easy it is to appeal to my ego. The Bloomsbury Club is a bar that lured me in purely by liking and commenting on some of my early Instagram posts. Whomever was doing their social media in 2018 knew the way to my heart was flattery (and I still harbored fantasies of being a travel blogger) so we made a detour in to check it out. I recall it being a lovely space with good drinks and worth the detour.

I’m not sure who gave us the recommendation for TT Liquor, it may have been Happiness Forgets, but it’s another cool liquor store with a bar in the basement. I don’t seem to have any photos of the bar but you’ll have to forgive me after eight bars in nine hours. I remember there being a guy at the bar who was obviously a regular and was a friendly drunk and who insisted on buying our drinks. I wish I remembered more of the conversation but it’s been five years so I’ll city the rule about taking notes. If not in the moment, then the next morning.

It’s finally time for the last bar of this epic saga, Nightjar. Just down the street from our hotel, Nightjar had been high on several best of lists in the years leading up to this trip. We never made it there on our honeymoon and this was our last night in London before taking the train to Paris so it felt like now or never. I remember we were the last two people let in and were told it was approaching last call, so it would have to be a one and done (not a problem for us, on bar nine and hour ten). Nightjar was exactly what we expected and I ended our bonkers day on a bonkers note with the Beyond the Sea, served in a conch shell.

This drink is the main reason this all popped up in our social media memories because I posted the story of getting the drink and proudly telling Chris “I’m the Lord of the Rings!” Chris: “You mean Flies.” Me: “Screw you, we’ve been to nine bars!” And then, mercifully, we went to bed.

And let me be clear – I don’t recommend this insanity and the very idea exhausts me these days. This was nine bars spread out over ten hours with a lot of of walking, a decent breakfast, and a hearty afternoon tea. It wasn’t our plan to visit nine bars but it was our last day and we kept getting recommendations. Please, PLEASE drink and travel responsibly.

Tag, you’re it!