Category Archives: Los Angeles

2012 New Year’s Eve Parties With Open Bars

Harvard & Stone

Don’t want to worry about keeping track of your bar tab for New Year’s Eve? NYE celebrations featuring open bars is definitely the way to go. And then you won’t have to remember to close out your check at the end of the night! Fortunately there’s a nice selection of parties going off this Saturday,…

Blog Bite: Jacques Torres Wicked Hot Chocolate Mix at Madame Chocolat Beverly Hills

Madame Chocolat by Caroline on Crack

Renowned chocolatier Jacques Torres, aka Mr. Chocolate, makes one of the most amazing hot chocolate mixes I’ve ever had: Wicked Chocolate. The spiciness of ancho chili, allspice, cinnamon and chipotle chili peppers with that rich chocolate. The perfect mid-afternoon pick-me-up when mixed with steamed vanilla soy. Um. Yum! When I was visiting New York years…

Last Night at Spare Room’s Boxing Day Social: Bar Tab Winners, Photobooth Shenanigans, Punch Recipe

Silamith shaking her stuff by Caroline on Crack

Last night’s boozy Boxing Day Social charity affair at the Hollywood Roosevelt’s Spare Room raised about $2,000 in addition to collecting blankets and clothes for downtown’s Hospitality Kitchen. For the $10 donation at the door, guests were treated to turkey-on-rye sandwiches, Wild Geese Irish whiskey tastings and a Jenga tournament as well as three free-flowing…

Cold Comfort Cocktails: Roundup of Winter Cocktails in L.A.

Nothing says cozy winter nights like a hot toddy or Irish coffee. But in L.A. thanks to our industrious and highly skilled bartenders, we’ve got so many new favorite winter cocktails to choose from. Will it be 1886’s spicy hot chocolate, Playa’s mescal nog, the Roof on Wilshire’s Earl Grey hot toddy? Here’s the roundup…

The Gifts That Keep on Giving: Los Angeles Wine, Beer, Cupcake and Coffee Clubs

By Caroline on Crack

Still don’t know what to get that special foodist in your life? How about the gift that keeps on giving, like entree into one of the best beer clubs ever or a delicious cupcake a month, all delivered to their door? Wine Clubs Colorado Wine Company’s Wine Club — $50 – $80/month This is the…

Win a Bar Tab: Spare Room's Inaugural Bartenders With Bar Tabs Auction and Boxing Day Social

Next Monday win a dream drink date with the L.A. brand ambassador/bartender (and their bar tab) of your choosing at Spare Room’s Boxing Day Social, a cocktail event whose proceeds will go to the Hospitality Kitchen, a Skid Row soup kitchen. About eight L.A.’s barsmiths will hit the auction block and Dan “The Imbiber” Dunn…

Spare Room Hollywood’s $75 Tequila Cocktail Debuts Tonight

Coctel Unico by Spare Room Hollywood

Spare Room at the Hollywood Roosevelt is launching a $75 cocktail, Coctel Unico, tonight. Yup, a muy caro tequila drink. This baby is made with Milagro Unico, a new “micro-distilled tequila with Milagro’s rarest and barrel-aged reserves” (from the press release) that isn’t available in stores or for distribution anywhere yet and once it is, the bottles, of…

The Ultimate Coffee Geek’s Travel Kit Guide: Taking Your Coffee Snobbery on the Road

Scoops Westside pourover by Caroline on Crack

With the explosion of high-quality coffee places and roasters all over Los Angeles — Intelligentsia, Handsome Coffee Roasters, LAMILL, Dripp and Brew Coffee Bar — there’s bound to be a growing dependence and, let’s face it, addiction to that fine cup of Joe. For super picky coffee drinkers, workplace K-Cups and the regular drip just won’t do…

Blog Bite: Blue Corn Muffins With Almond Butter at Playa

Blue Corn Muffins With Almond Butter at Playa

“You want to go to the kitchen with me, Caroline?” Nastassia Johnson (@LetMeEatCake) of Sauce LA asked me with a mischievous glint in her eye. We were standing around waiting for more passed plates at last night’s Esquire Magazine party at Playa. The schmancy party was to celebrate Chef John Sedlar being lauded by the publication as Chef…

To Love and Drink in L.A.: Downtown Romantic Getaways With Cocktail Options

Cocktails Downtown by Caroline on Crack

My bf and I will be celebrating a big anniversary this month (woo!) and I figured that instead of just doing a fancy dinner and drinks somewhere booking a romantic getaway in the city we love would be the way to go. So I’ve been looking for romantic hotel packages downtown. Why downtown? Because we…