You might not expect it, but the feel at Hector's South in Bay View is strangely "up north." Maybe that's because three bartenders hail from Door County, bringing with them a laid back but sarcastic attitude that seems just a little bit "un-Milwaukee."
Since the bar opened about a year ago, one of those three drink slingers went back to the peninsula, but two remain. Kim Kolstad, a veteran in the service industry, has been here since the Mexican restaurant, 3040 S. Delaware Ave., opened its second bar, about a year ago.
OMC: How long have you been a bartender?
Kolstad: Since I was 19. I was a bartender in Door County for most of that time, but I moved down here last October and started at Hector's, and I'm still here.
OMC: What is your signature drink?
KK: The Hector's margarita. We just make the best one in Milwaukee. It's the secret Hector's mix that makes it good.
OMC: What's the most ridiculous thing you've seen a bar patron do?
KK: I saw the Rhythm Chicken set up and play drums in
the lady’s bathroom.
OMC: Have you ever been in or broken up a bar fight?
KK: There was this bar in Door County in Idlewild called The Moorings. It's no longer there, but it was deer hunting season. It was a very rural bar, and there were guys deer hunting from the area, but there was also a group of guys deer hunting from Illinois. They came in, and the guys from Illinois were drinking Bud, and the local guys called them "Flatlanders." It was like a free for all. It started in the bar, I got them outside, and I saw people rolling down the hill. It was pretty cool. I had to pull a lady off a 250 pound guy.
OMC:What's the best / worst part about the job?
KK: The best part of my job is working with a knowledgeable crew and meeting fun-loving customers.
OMC: Best / worst pickup lines in bar?
KK: "Ladies, take a number."
OMC: Did that work?
KK: It did for that guy, yeah.
Andy is the president, publisher and founder of OnMilwaukee. He returned to Milwaukee in 1996 after living on the East Coast for nine years, where he wrote for The Dallas Morning News Washington Bureau and worked in the White House Office of Communications. He was also Associate Editor of The GW Hatchet, his college newspaper at The George Washington University.
Before launching OnMilwaukee.com in 1998 at age 23, he worked in public relations for two Milwaukee firms, most of the time daydreaming about starting his own publication.
Hobbies include running when he finds the time, fixing the rust on his '75 MGB, mowing the lawn at his cottage in the Northwoods, and making an annual pilgrimage to Phoenix for Brewers Spring Training.
