Glad to be in Margaritaville

Suzie Harrison

HE IS

Serving up drinks Downtown.

FINDING YOUR NICHE

Joe Liberatto is a bartender at Avila’s El Ranchito in Downtown

Huntington Beach. He started the job about 10 months ago and has

never been happier. After serving in the restaurant business for 17

years, 10 as a bartender, Liberatto really feels he has found his

home in Huntington Beach.

His job entails being in charge of receiving orders, stocking the

bar, making the two margarita tanks, making sure the order comes in

first thing in the morning, fashioning the chips and salsa, to-go

orders and making sure everything runs smoothly.

At El Ranchito, he said, margaritas are by far the beverage of

choice, with a myriad of flavors.

“Margarita’s are the big thing here,” Liberatto said. “We have

peach, strawberry, mango, raspberry, melon, coconut and Cadillac

margaritas. We probably sell Cadillac margaritas and strawberry the

most.”

He claims they are the best in town.

PERKS OF THE TRADE

What makes his job great, Liberatto said, is the laid-back surf

community environment and the people that live in it.

“I love the people, just talking to people,” he said. “It’s very

interesting the stories I hear about surfing and life itself.”

Liberatto has met a lot of people in the past 10 months and has

regulars that come in a couple times a week. Although he has worked

in Laguna Beach and other parts of Orange County he favors the

laid-back style of Huntington.

“I like the people here much more than Newport, Laguna Beach and

even Dana Point,” Liberatto said. “It’s more about everyday people,

not about the money you make, what you drive and how you dress.”

THE DRAWBACKS

His least favorite part of being a bartender is when people get

out of hand and he has to cut them off so they don’t get in trouble

or an accident.

One time, he recalled, two girls starting drinking at the bar and

continued to hit every bar Downtown, ending their swill-fest back at

El Ranchito.

“They were mad when I wouldn’t serve them,” Liberatto said. “They

were so drunk they couldn’t walk. So I called them a cab and offered

to pay for it. They kept refusing. But the next day they came back

and apologized and thanked me.”

He said he wants everyone to have a good time but there’s a limit.