Bartender Chat: Mike Sims of Rudyard's

For the last ten years, Mike Sims has been working at Rudyard's British Pub (2010 Waugh Dr.). But he hasn't always been the bartender. He started out helping a friend bar-back, and then he moved to working the door. Eight years ago, he started working as a bartender.

How did he end up becoming a bartender? "I'm not sure," Sims says. "I used to work at Star Pizza, and I just ended up here." Plenty of regulars came in to see Sims the day we visited. He even knew what some were going to order before they did.

When he's not bartending, you'll find him at Lola's Depot or Poison Girl sipping on a Lone Star and Jim Beam. As far as a signature drink he makes, Sims doesn't have one. "I pretty much make everything," he explains. "If it's busy, I don't like to make the hard drinks like a Bloody Mary. Otherwise, I don't mind."

Sims's real passion is traveling. "If I wasn't bartending, I would be a merchant marine, because you get to travel a lot," he says. "My favorite place to travel is Northern Europe." He just got back from Barcelona, where his mom used to live. (Nothing like a free place to stay.) If he could travel anywhere, though, it would be Oslo, Norway. "I like Norwegian music like Turbonegro," he explains. "I also want to travel to Prague because I hear it's awesome."