Southside Sips: Marlena’s Pack Out Mudslide

There’s a tune called “Mudslide” by the musician Craig Ross about halfway through the soundtrack for the 1996 indie movie Trees Lounge. An ode to lethargic Long Island suburban bar culture, it’s written, directed and starred in by the wonderful Steve Buscemi, and that song in particular is the kind of delicious, slide-onto-a-barstool ditty that you don’t need or want to think super hard about; it just washes over you like a good buzz on a hot day from a frosty cocktail. And at Marlena’s Pack Out, it’s the baller cocktail you want at this tiny year-round watering hole perched on Lake Montauk. 

“We’re known for it. In summer, I average out about 125 a shift,” says bartender Jen McCarthy, who’s worked behind the stick here and at Marlena’s prior incarnation, Liar’s Saloon, for 18 years.

How many does she make a summer? “I couldn’t even give you a ballpark,” she deadpans. “It’s thousands.” 

McCarthy manages the bar’s dueling blenders with the prowess of a pro, each machine making about four drinks at a time for the clamoring crews of locals and visitors. As to how she makes it, well, that’s proprietary. (“It’s our secret,” she says. “We can’t really reveal that.”)

Pour, squirt, blend, fill. Repeat. Bartender Jen McCarthy makes about 125 Mudslides a shift at Marlena’s Pack Out. (Photo credit: Doug Young)

But she will cop to some equal-parts basics — and, of course, the requisite squirt of chocolate syrup around the inside of your 16-ounce cup. Each bartender at Marlena’s has their own swirly style. Practice your own with our recipe here or, better yet, go visit McCarthy and have her make one for you. Cheers, friends!