Bulgaria's answer to Tom Cruise

Every so often as a journalist, you wind up walking right by a great little story. So it was this afternoon when I was in Oak Bluffs, taking some photos for a restaurant profile. I was on my way to the eatery when I happened to see a young man behind the bar at Sand Bar flipping bottles through the air, a la Tom Cruise in "Cocktail." When that terrible movie came out 20 years ago, my roommate Susan was a bartender and she wanted to kill the people who'd made the film 1) because she was furious that she paid full-price to see such a lousy piece of cheese; and 2) because she was constantly badgered by patrons to "do that stuff they do in 'Cocktail,'" namely juggling bottles and glasses for the customers' entertainment. "Do they know how much alcohol that wastes?" Susan would ask. "And then people complain the drinks are so expensive!"

Nash, the bartender I saw today, says he doesn't generally juggle the bottles in the bar for that very reason. He prefers to use the prop bottles he has on hand. You've got to give the man some credit: His act certainly would get your attention.

Nash -- "That's my American name," he explained to me -- is one of the many foreign students who have come to Martha's Vineyard to work during the summer. You see them everywhere and they literally hail from all over the world. Nash comes form Bulgaria, and it's the 24-year-old's second summer on the island. He explained that he took second place in a drink-mixing contest in Bulgaria last year "and first place in the Absolut competition," he added. He's already a seasoned world traveler, but he seems quite pleased to have found a place at Sand Bar, a funky, very casual restaurant-bar located on the water.

"They hired me here for these special skills," he said. "They want me here all the time. I work 24/7. I work seven days a week. This is my place."

That would seem to put a crimp in the sun-and-fun department, although Nash disagreed. "I don't start until 1 (p.m.), so I can go to the beach in the morning," he told me.

He'll undoubtedly be showing off his skills Thursday night when Sand Bar hosts what he calls "an all-Bulgarian party: Bulgarian servers, Bulgarian bartender, Bulgarian DJ."

I've never been one for party-crashing, but I might make an exception in this case.

After getting Nash's story -- and the photos for my restaurant profile -- I met up with my co-workers Jessica and Scott in Vineyard Haven. Initially, we were all in the mood for something sweet, maybe a dessert of some kind. Our options were severely limited: The cupcake place Jessica wanted to check out had already closed. In this "pre-season" period (the "season," I am told, begins the July 4 weekend) many businesses seem to lock their doors before sundown; some are closed weekdays altogether.

We stopped in an ice cream parlor and looked at several dozen flavors before deciding we weren't in the mood. So we went across the street to Zephrus Seafood and Grill, which is adjacent to Mansion House Inn and Spa. We looked over the Zephrus menu and suddenly decided what we really wanted was dinner. Jessica had a bowl of mussels, Scott had a burger and I tried Zephrus' version of lobster macaroni and cheese. I had not noticed on the menu that it was supposed to be a lunch special, not a dinner entree, but the server said the cook was happy to make it for me. Unlike the dish served at Sidecar Cafe, Zephrus uses penne pasta. At Sidecar, the lobster is blended into the white cheese sauce; at Zephrus, generous chunks of lobster meat are scattered on top of the pasta, so it looks as if the chef prepared the macaroni and cheese, sprinkled the lobster on top of it and then (as they do at Sidecar) covered the combination with toasted bread crumbs. Although I'm sure it would have made a great lunch, the portion I was served was more than enough for a hearty dinner.

Afterward, we decided we did want a little something sweet after all, so we split a cookie plate, which included three offbeat items: an oat cookie with a little dab of blackberry jelly in the center; a soft and rather large sort of gingersnap; and some fat little chocolate cookies that had a hidden surprise inside: a zesty kiss of chili powder that burst through the sweetness in a most tantalizing way.