Yesterday Vulture explored that famous culinary maxim “If you can’t stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen.” Fair enough, we say, but if you don’t like things hot, you should probably avoid the bar as well — or at least the ones featured in the new Bartenders of New York calendar. “My partner and I realized that we were going to the same place over and over again, and frankly it was because the waiter was so cute,” says literary agent Stephen Fraser, the brain behind the project. Fraser pitched the calendar to a publisher, scouted for prospective models, and recruited Alan Batt of New York City Firefighters calendar fame as his photographer. “He’s straight, unfortunately, so he didn’t appreciate with the same eye that I did,” Fraser says. “I have to say it was not a hard job.”
Most of the models expressed the same sentiment. “I love being photographed,” says Andrew Davis, who works at the W Hotel’s Whiskey Blue. “I’ve never heard of bad publicity.” Matthew Ragas, of Elmo, was slightly more skeptical, though he quickly decided to participate for, among other things, the free professional photos: “I wanted to make sure it wasn’t some scary old man just wanting to take pictures,” he tells us. “Elmo’s known for all the cute boys, all the good-looking staff. They were like, ‘Why did you got chosen?’”
As for cover model Rob Sullivan, don’t expect to stalkorder drinks from him at Barça 18; the Spanish restaurant closed in January (according Rizzoli senior editor Robb Pearlman, it was too late to change the calendar; visit Sullivan at Opus 22 or Hiro instead). Dan Gingert remains at Soho House, but as it’s a members-only spot, perhaps you’ve never seen Mr. February before. Well, at least not his face — the model-actor did have a role in recent Uma Thurman–Luke Wilson flick My Super Ex-Girlfriend. “I was hand-chosen by the director and by Luke as his ass. I was his butt double,” he says. “It’s not something you want to put on the résumé, but it’s a good conversation piece.” —Lori Fradkin
