It’s hard not to be dazzled by Anita Mansfield at Malt. A shock of red hair, creamy, alabaster skin, and a warm smile are her magnetic calling cards. Add in the all-pro bartending skills, lilty Irish brogue, contrasting hearty laugh, and cool, edgy style (think black lace and denim tucked into combat boots), and I dare you not to fall in love. Did I mention she’s also a musician?
Mansfield hails from County Waterford, just north of County Cork in Ireland. She relocated to the U.S. 25 years ago, living for a short time in Boston followed by many happy years in Los Angeles, where she worked in the bar business and performed with her Celtic rock band.
“I moved to L.A. in 2002 and bartended, bar managed, and played music for 14 years. It was my happy place for a long time,” she said.
It was in California that she would meet her future husband, Lew Abramson, a born-and-raised Newporter and Rogers grad who recently launched Goodrun Productions, a live streaming and video production company. The pair returned to Newport around 2016.
After stints at a few local watering holes, where she found the take subpar compared to her gigs out west, the intrepid Irish lass decided to take a job with Southwest Airlines on the ground at TF Green Airport. The job involved long hours and a marked lack of opportunity for advancement or personal time. Still, the reservation desk would prove fateful via a fortuitous encounter along the way with Malt owners Tom and Chelynn Sheehan. In 2021, when she’d had enough of the airline grind, Mansfield came home and headed straight to Malt to seek a bartending gig.
“Chelynn remembered me. She right away said, ‘You’re hired. We just hired someone else, but we’ll find a place for you.’ Within a week, I started at Malt. I’m very lucky. Tom and Chelynn are fantastic to work for and I love my customers. It feels like family.”
The extended bar family at Malt is locals- and regulars-heavy, with a year-round, consistent flow throughout the evening. An older crowd descends early, some racing to claim their favorite bar seats before they get scooped up, throwing the side-eye to interlopers, but quickly becoming chatty and friendly with the newbies. Younger, adult professionals flock in on city time, arriving at 7:30 and beyond. The bar area is narrow, and though tight, “We’re good at squeezing people in,” said Mansfield. “We have a good vibe and we welcome everybody.”
Mansfield says that the switch from the airline industry to the Newport bar biz has provided a stark contrast in community. Since working for Malt, she says laughingly, she’s “met Newport! I worked for five years in the airline industry and knew nobody, but everybody’s connected to everybody here.” Her goal for them all is the same. “They’ll be leaving here smiling, feeling better than when they came in, and that’s what makes the job worth it for me—making people happier.”
As to her music, she said she was a late bloomer on guitar, her instrument of choice as a songwriter and performer of originals and Irish covers. But once in L.A., she pushed through uncertainty and anxiety to launch a personal musical journey that includes band and solo work and a slew of collaborations with musicians she respects and admires. Locally, she’s jumped in for the Sunday Irish jam sessions at Fastnet upon occasion and has played Buskers and Malt, which is set as the venue for her next show in Newport, with Brendan McCarthy working percussion on the box drum, on March 9 at 6:30.
If you don’t find Anita Mansfield pouring classic and creative cocktails at Malt (which, by the way, serves an excellent burger, a Smithwick’s fish and chips straight outta the Emerald Isle, and an excellent braised short rib, among other quality dishes), in summer you’ll find her out sailing with Abramson, competing in weekly races. “We pretty much sail every chance we get,” she said.
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