Cocktailing has just gotten even fancier. Yup, dust off your monocle, it’s now right up there with schmancy wine drinking. I kid, but in what appears to be a really slow-growing trend in L.A., Melisse restaurant in Santa Monica can now count itself among the ranks of Michelin two-star restaurants in the city with an…
New Orleans’ annual cocktail festival Tales of the Cocktail announced its Top 10 Finalists for the 2012 Spirited Awards categories! And L.A. is a boozy force to be reckoned with. Compare that to last year when L.A. barely registered as a blip on the list despite our kickass cocktail scene with the likes of Julian…
Beer cocktails are now a thing. Well, they’ve been a thing for awhile now, evolving from shandies and Micheladas of brunch cocktail menus of yore to the Hopping in the Rye with hop-infused gin by Matthew Biancaniello of the Hollywood Roosevelt’s Library Bar. Some skilled bartenders, like Matt, have created concoctions respectful of both beer…
Two things I’ve been waiting to happen with Chef Roy Choi’s newish Venice restaurant Sunny Spot: 1) happy hour and 2) weekend brunch on that patio. Like every new restaurant, it was biding its time, waiting til it got its bearings before it could go ahead with more new menus. And now, six months after…
Ray’s and Stark Bar‘s mixologist/sommelier Paul Sanguinetti had envisioned a different spring cocktail menu than the one that debuted April 23rd at the LACMA bar/restaurant. At least just in the names. In his version, there were odes to debaucherous nights, Celine Dion as lubrication and friends who were banned from the museum. Fortunately for Paul,…
With L.A. being on a big time juicing kick lately thanks to the popularity of juice bars like Pressed Juicery and Liquid Juice Bar, it’s no wonder that the health craze found its way into our local cocktail bars. And as cocktails were originally created to cure what ails ya, the addition of fresh vegetable…
The best thing that’s ever happened to me was being stood up by Aidan Demarest, owner of Neat bar in Glendale and Stoli Elit ambassador. One night we were supposed to meet at Mixology 101 at the Farmers Market but after an hour and a cocktail and still no Aidan, I figured he was either…
Pour Vous, the new Parisian-themed bar by the Houston Brothers (La Descarga, Harvard & Stone) on Melrose, opened its door to the public last night. And I have to admit I was a little intimidated in going there after reading the bar’s tweets about how one must dress sharp and arrive early to better one’s…
Most bloggers are expert drinkers. Hey, we like our booze. If there’s a cocktail tasting, a new bartender and a new bar, you can bet the crowd will be overrun by bloggers armed with cameras and recording devices. Naturally, that means we drink. A lot. And consequently, we know what we like and what we…
Spring is in the air. Huzzah! Sure, we Angelenos have been lucky enough to not have to suffer through any drawn-out winter storms but rather some minor wet inconveniences and that annoying time change. Still, it’s nice to be able to sit at rooftop and poolside bars again, no? To celebrate, bartenders across our city…
