The Liquid Muse

The Bartender Diaries

Beth Scherr: Bartender at Katana, and Funny Mother Fucker

“Yes, I’m the cliché!” says Beth Scherr who moved to Los Angeles from the Midwest to pursue a career in Entertainment. Eight years ago, she left St. Louis to seek fame and fortune. After considering the Windy City, she settled in Los Angeles, enticed by the great weather.

Scherr, who has been behind Katana’s bar for two years, likes the fast pace of her job. “I couldn’t imagine going to a cubicle,” she explains, “and just thinking…’now its Monday, now its Tuesday, now Wednesday...’” Beth says she also prefers slinging drinks to sushi because, “There’s a lighter dialogue between a bartender and a customer than with a server.”

Despite working at a Hollywood hotspot, right down stairs from a major movie studio, Beth doesn't actually see many of the celebrities who dine at the restaurant because they usually sneak by the crowds, and go right to their table. As she puts it, “They’d get swamped at the bar!”

When not mixing up good times on Sunset Boulevard, Scherr devotes time to her sketch comedy troupe of four years, FMF (otherwise known as – you guessed it – Funny Mother Fuckers). The group writes and performs everything themselves, and squeeze in short runs of shows in between their hectic schedules filled with side jobs and auditions.

Katana’s fruit-and-vodka fusions are popular, as are their fancy mixed drinks. However, Beth is proud of her skill with the tried and true classic cocktails. “I’ve had older people give me that (doubtful) look and ask if I can make a real Manhattan. I like to prove them wrong,” she quips, with a smile.

She also likes to create her own special recipes, which sometimes end up on the drink menu. Here is one of her latest (and tastiest) inventions:

Pomegranate Saketini
1 ounce Pama
Extra dry sake
Splash sweet & sour
Splash triple sec

Shake with ice and strain into a chilled martini glass. Garnish with a lemon twist.

Join The Liquid Muse Cocktail Club, and Katana's Liquid Muse Cocktail of the Week will be sent to you, later this month!

*Photo credit: Claire Barrett