Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/118688
PARK Place is the AND CHRIS BALCHUM IS THE MAN BEHIND ITS BAR by Bridget Albert / photos by Michael Quiet Chris Balchum is a hospitable bartender at PARK Restaurant & Bar, located in the heart of Cambridge, Massachusetts and mere steps from Harvard University. Chris takes his guests away from their hectic lives, full of academic pressure, and transports them to an instantly relaxed experience. Should he sit down and read the news, some fool with half a jag pulls up a chair beside him and begins to chew the rag. Tough job, they say, had patience; a more patient man by far than a job could ever hope to be, is 'the man behind the bar.' —poet Billy Kelly from his poem "Tribute to the Man behind the Bar" 134 / the tasting panel / april 2013