Better Know A Bartender: Sydney Sciarrino of Video Vortex at the Alamo Drafthouse

"I want people to come to the bar and hang out, even if they’re not going to see a movie."

Los Angeles’ cinephile community rejoiced when the Alamo Drafthouse finally opened its doors in Downtown L.A. in 2019 after years of delays. Despite being shutdown for over a year due to COVID, the Drafthouse has become one of L.A. moviegoer’s favorite theaters, not just for for its quality programing and in-theater dining, but also for its lobby bar Video Vortex. We sat down with Sydney Sciarrino, Video Vortex’s Event and Bar Programming Manager to discuss how she wants to build a communty at Video Vortex, movie cocktails, and of course, her favorite cocktail.

Where are you from?

Rochester, New York

That’s a long ways from here; what brought you out to L.A.?

That’s a whole interesting story in itself, kind of. In 2009, I moved from Rochester to Austin, Texas, which is how I got familiar with Alamo Drafthouse. After Austin, I tried to move to L.A. with my best friend. It didn’t work out, there wasn’t an Alamo here for us to transfer to. That turned into a failed road trip where we ended up back in Rochester. But then I won the lottery; on a $1 ticket, I scratched off $2500. Instead of going to L.A. we went to Denver because that’s where there was another Drafthouse. We sat pretty in Denver for a few years, I went to Portland for a little bit, then came back. When the pandemic hit, everyone was furloughed and nobody was working anyway, so we thought “Why don’t we try moving to L.A.?” We knew there was an Alamo here now, this had been open for like a year.

Yeah, I remember there had been years of planning and then it finally opened in 2019. 

Yup, years of planning, finally opened and then boom, the pandemic shut everything down.

One of my last pre-COVID movie experiences was a rowdy screening of Cats at the Drafthouse.

Oh my gosh, we just did a rowdy Cats screening two months ago. We’re going to be bringing it back because it’s so popular. Did you get the cat bowl cocktail?

No, I just got the little “I saw Cats at Alamo Drafthouse” collar tag.

Oh, fun! We had cocktails that were served in cat bowls that were like White Russians or milk themed. It’s so funny. So, yeah, once the pandemic happened we decided to move to L.A., the rent was crazy low, so it was easy and affordable. Then this location opened back up. The whole time I’ve been with Alamo, I’ve been bartending or serving; I started in the service bar. We have a second bar that’s in the kitchen that’s not guest facing at all. I came from Starbucks and went right into that bar, knew nothing about bartending and learned everything I know in that bar.

Normally I ask how you got into bartending and how long you’ve been doing it.

I’ve been with the company for eight years and bartending for all of that until April when I got promoted into this new role. How I got into that was just filling in the application and having a friend who worked for Alamo. Coming from Starbucks my resume was a good fit, it’s very easy to go from coffee to alcohol. It’s all the same thing, just a change of product you’re using. If you can build a drink at Starbucks, you can make a Margarita. So I just fell into it. Within a month of being a new bartender, I was already a shift lead and a trainer. 

I  stayed in that role where I could live my life without too much responsibility until I got to around like, I’m 33 now and this position and opportunity opened up, I decided I’d kind of slide into another role, which doesn’t often happen for bartenders, but if you’re in the right space you can move up while still being at the bar, just in a management or more creative area. So I put the time in and got the job.

That’s fantastic. What do you do on the event side?

I handle all the events and talent that want to perform in the bar. That’s something we just started doing again, it’s a slow process. They just promoted me into the role and now i have some weekly and monthly events.

So, stand-up, trivia and the like? 

For sure. Every Wednesday we have Geeks Who Drink trivia and every Wednesday night we have karaoke with our awesome KJ, Fabio Quintal. We have a projector for everyone that shows the lyrics. We have a monthly comedy show called Protected Under Parody, it’s movie themed and they take two movies and do parodies of them separately, then they mash them up at the end. They always have a special guest, two months ago our guest was Jonathan Lipnicki, the little kid from Jerry McGuire. We have a Jerry McGuire VHS that we had him autograph. That show is really awesome. We’re also starting up a monthly late night talk show style show called “Who’s The Ross?” hosted by Aaron Ross.

So there’s a front-facing bar, Video Vortex in the lobby, but there’s also the bar in the kitchen that serves the theater. You’ve worked at both?

I’ve work both. I was working upstairs in the service bar mostly. Here in the lobby, I was the main bartender and just did that from when we opened back up. 

Which do you prefer?

Downstairs, guest-facing. Sometimes you just don’t want to be guest-facing. Sometimes you have days where you don’t want to deal with anybody, but you still want to get the work done, so being upstairs and having the option was nice. Overall though, I prefer being guest-facing. I love getting to talk to people about the beers we have. I still do all the beer ordering, I’m super passionate about the styles we have; I want us to have super funky styles. I want the not as popular breweries, I’m sick of carrying Stone or all these top people. I’d rather get the local breweries and try their stuff. We have 48 taps down here and 48 taps upstairs at the service bar. 

Same beers?

No, there are some differences. I don’t have control over what’s upstairs as that’s corporate’s decision on the menu, but I have full control over what’s served in Video Vortex. 

What’s it like working in the upstairs bar in the kitchen?

It’s awesome, you don’t have to dress up or look nice. Downstairs we just do cocktails and beer. Upstairs it’s everything and it’s like a circus, the music’s bumping, the camaraderie’s great. You’re coming in to bartend, but it’s a little more relaxed because you’re not in front of the guests. If you’ve never bartended before, I highly suggest working in a service bar because it’s a place where you can learn to bartend without the pressure of customers watching you. Down here can be a little nerve racking if you’ve never made a Margarita and ten people are watching you.

What’s it like bartending at a movie theater? What’s the crowd and vibe like?

We’ve got a really eclectic crowd here, it’s all over the place. I don’t know if that has to do with being downtown specifically. We get cinephiles and people who love film and people who are just looking for a ton of beer choices. We are the Drafthouse after all, and we have more beer choices than a lot of bars downtown. 

I want people to come to the bar and hang out, even if they’re not going to see a movie. That’s why I’m trying to get the programming to be monthly and weekly. One thing that will be awesome if I can get it approved by corporate is The Empire Strips Back, it’s a Star Wars burlesque parody. That’s the kind of thing I’m trying to bring in.

You have several movie themed cocktails, what is your inspiration? Some of these are obvious like the White Russian inspired by The Big Lebowski.

So, the interesting thing about the menu is that it’s two sided and [and displayed on a fake VHS rental box. -MD], they start off as traditional cocktails, White Russian, Manhattan, French 75, and that’s on the Rewind side. Then if you go to the other side it’s Fast Forward and it’s our take on them. So the True Grit is very similar to a White Russian. A couple things that if you look at it, it’s just a little bit different. These are going to change, but we’re going to keep them movie themed. Right now the movies aren’t cohesive, like we’ve got Bridesmaids, which came out in 2009. What I want to do is have more of the titles be ‘80s/’90s themed.

Yeah, like the Cosmo being listed here as inspired by the 2008 Sex In The City movie.

Exactly, I’m like “Okay, that’s great, but…” I love that we have Ghostbusters on there, and I want more like that. Eventually we’ll have a whole new cocktail program. 

I love that not only are the Rewind/Fast Forward cocktails complimentary, the movies are too, like Big Lebowski and True Grit are both Coen Brothers movies starring Jeff Bridges. 

Yeah, it’s so cool. 

What’s one of the funniest, weirdest, or most interesting things you’ve seen on the job.

I can’t think of a specific thing, but any given day it’s going to be different. We have a bar buyout coming up for He-Man’s birthday. This whole place is going to be decked out for He-Man. We had a Bob’s Burgers pop-up where there was a screen that would make you look like you were in Bob’s Burgers. It was so technical and I don’t know how they did it. There was a guy who was dressed up like Tina and he was doing the dance, it was so funny. I can’t think of a specific thing, but any day you come in there’s going to be something happening, movie themed or otherwise. At this location we have more studios who want to d things than anywhere else, because we’re in L.A.

Yeah, like I’m sure the Austin Alamo Drafthouse gets that during South By Southwest, but otherwise.

Or Fantastic Fest, which is happening right now and all of corporate is there. I’m so jealous, it looks so cool! That’s just my favorite thing I like about working for this company in general, all the things that are movie related or like you’ll walk in to bartend and Quentin Tarantino is sitting at the bar. Charlie Day’s been in here, we’ve had so many people. That’s the cool thing, nobody’s going to bug them in the theater because they’re not allowed to talk or take out your phone. It’s a great spot for if you want to get away from everybody, but still be in public. 

What is one of your favorite drinks, what do you like about it, and how do we make it?

Traditionally, I just drink Margaritas with mescal and salt, and it’s crazy how many establishments mess up a Margarita. We do it with just lime juice, simple syrup, Naranja, tequila, that’s it. No sour, no weird concoctions or soda water sprayed on top. That’s my favorite, but the other week I got introduced to a new cocktail by one of the bartenders here called a Gordon’s Cup. It’s usually made with gin, but I hate gin, so I make it with tequila. If you like Margaritas, you’re going to like this. What’s cool about it is it uses black pepper as a finish and I never thought I would like black pepper in a cocktail. When I started drinking Margaritas, I did it with regular tequila and no salt. Now I’m all about mescal and salt, I guess my palate is changing. 

Gordon’s Cup

2 oz Gin (or Tequila)

¾ oz Simple Syrup

5 fresh lime chunks

6 cucumber slices, saving 3 for garnish

Muddle simple syrup, lime chunks and cucumber slices in the bottom of a cocktail shaker. Add gin and cracked ice, and shake. Strain into a chilled double rocks glass and garnish with cucumber slices, and a dash of salt and pepper.