Guest mixologist Misty Kalkofen having fun at First & Hope's last Red Rover event
OK, L.A. you’ve shown you love having all your favorite bartenders in one space, as is proven in the popular guest bartender nights at The Edison’s Radio Room and First & Hope’s Red Rover, Red Rover (both by Tello/Demarest cocktail consultants). So tonight in celebration of the success of these events as well as their appearance in the upcoming September issue of Wine Enthusiast magazine (a photo I took is in there!), Tello/Demarest is throwing an all-stars night at First & Hope!
Bartenders Julian Cox (Rivera), Brent Falco (First & Hope), Aidan Demarest (Tello/Demarest), Naomi Shimek (Tar Pit) and Daniel Long (STK/First & Hope) will be behind the stick!
Here are what each all-star is fixing tonight:
Julian Cox:Dealer’s Choice
Aidan Demarest:The Enlightenment — Bourbon, pomegranate, citrus and Edison beer
At the new downtown LA Villains Tavern, which opened just last month, it’s not about the cocktails for me, rather it’s all about that groovy outdoor bar where they only serve beer and mix-and-match beer and shots! Yes, if you don’t feel like waiting in line at the indoor bar for a cocktail, just step outside to the bar on the side patio.
You can flashback to those college years of pounding shots or create your own premium version of a Boilmaker.
For $8 you have your choice of 20 beers and 20 shots. Hmm, PBR with Wild Turkey Rye? Racer 5 IPA with Fernet Branca? Tecate with Camarena Reposado? The possibilities are deliciously endless, unless, of course, you misjudge a match like I did with the Fernet and Woodchuck Apple Cider. Blech! What was I thinking? That herbaliness did not go well with the apple as I had thought it would. Oh well, you live, you learn.
Big spenders may want to opt for the “premium” beer like Maredsous 10, Chimay and Affligem. That’ll set you back $14.
I feel compelled to go back and see if I can come up with. What do you think would be a good mix?
Outdoor bar
Front patio
Villains Tavern
1356 Palmetto
Los Angeles, California 91003 (map)
(213) 613-0766
Blah, unpacking. Lots of booze-focused events for you though.
Thursday, August 26
Cocktail Hour for Taste of Beverly Hills
At this fancy happy hour, score half off wine, beer and cocktails! There will also be free appetizers and a glass of sparkling wine to toast the Taste of Beverly Hills. If you still haven’t bought your ToBH tickets yet, they’re offering a buy one, get one free deal at this event! And all-weekend passes will be discounted $350 (regularly $500).
5-7pm. The Roof Garden at The Peninsula Beverly Hills, 9882 S. Santa Monica Boulevard, Beverly Hills (map).
Friday, August 27
Open House and Happy Hour Live at Central in Santa Monica
Ooh! Happy hour til 9pm on a Friday night with live music, FREE pizza from Joe’s Pizza and special happy hour priced booze — $3 draft, bottles and PBR tall boys as well as $4 micro draft, $5 well. If you stay til 10, you can moonwalk to your heart’s content during the Michael Jackson tribute party. To get on the guest list for Happy Hour Live, email kim [at] spinprgroup.com. Tell ‘er, Caroline on Crack sent you.
5-9:30pm. Central, 1348 14th Street, Santa Monica (map).
Saturday, August 28
$5 Sake Tasting at The Wine House
Sake Sommelier Toshio Ueno and sake specialist Kenji Tateishi will be pouring six sakes for you to taste for only $5! It’s in the middle of the afternoon, just stop by for a tipple and check out the premium white tag sake which will be 10% off. No ressies needed.
1-4pm. $5. The Wine House, 2311 Cotner Avenue, Los Angeles (map).
Sunday, August 29
The Chemical Brothers at the Hollywood Bowl
Man, I am long overdue for the Bowl this summer. And this groovy concert may be enticing enough to get me out from under my moving boxes. Dance in the aisles to The Brothers as well as electro-funk Chromeo and synth-y YACHT. Jason Bentley will be hosting. Amazingly tickets are still available!
7pm. Hollywood Bowl, 2301 N. Highland Avenue, Hollywood (map).
Tuesday, August 31
Beer Chicks’ Beer and Bites Pairing 101 Class at Library Alehouse
Those cute beer girls are at it again, educating beer newbies all over. This class which will guide you through different beer styles takes place at one of my fave beer bars, Library Alehouse. Beers include Oskar Blues Mama’s Little Yella Pils, The Bruery Tradewinds Tripel, Chimay Blue and more, while the seven-course event will include the likes of fish tacos with mango salsa and beef carbonade with French fries. Proceeds from the event will go to benefit breast cancer research via the charity What a Pair. RSVP asap as this is a hot ticket.
6:30-8pm. $59 (included processing fee). Library Alehouse, 2911 Main Street, Santa Monica (map). Reservations (310) 314-4855.
You’ve heard of beer-paired dinners and even Kahlua-paired dinners but rarely the dinner with vodka, I bet. I guess it sounds like it would be too easy. I consider vodka the tofu of the spirits, it can mix with pretty much anything. But at theGrey Goose Vodka dinner at Checkers Downtown this Wednesday, the cocktails they’re pairing with the food sound, well, complex and savory. Consider their use of ingredients like cardamom bitters, lemongrass and crème de griotte. Hmmm and mmm.
And the five courses created by their Chef de Cuisine Dave Baker are just as exotic with flavors like chili oil, red curry risotto, ginger bbq glaze. Sounds like they had fun coming up with the dishes and drinks.
So a seat at this special dinner will cost you $80, and the price is not too shabby considering most downtown cocktails nowadays cost about $12. So it’s basically like you’re spending about $72 on cocktails and $8 on five courses!
Check out the menu:
Reception cocktail is Motown Cocktail with Grey Goose Le Citron, peach liqueur, passion fruit syrup and apple juice
Seared Japanese Hamachi with chili oil and mango sashimi paired withYukuzu with Grey Goose Le Citron, Yuzu juice, orange curacao, agave syrup, mango puree
Tempura Caledonian Prawns with grilled tofu and green bean salad, lemongrass vinaigrette paired withIndia Summer with Grey Goose L’Orange, blood orange puree, egg white, cardamom bitters, curry syrup
Crisp Confit Jidori Chicken with red curry risotto paired with Cloud Nine with Grey Goose La Poire, sake, lychee fresh juice, lime juice, lemongrass
Braised Natural Beef Shortribs with Napa cabbage slaw, ginger bbq glaze paired with Green Eye with Grey Goose La Poire, St Germain Elderflower, pear nectar, lime and cucumber juice, mint, basil, oregano, agave syrup
Valhrona Chocolate Panna Cotta with toasted hazelnuts and a cherry-balsamic glaze paired with Le Temps des Cerises with Grey Goose, Morello Cherries, crème de griotte, Licor 43, lemon juice, Frangelico, Dry Sherry, chocolate bitters
I’m not a big vodka drinker but I’m feeling those Yukuzu and India Summer cocktails.
Grey Goose vodka brand ambassador and master mixologist Guillaume Jubien will be on hand to discuss the thinking behind each pairing during the dinner.
EVENT: WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 25 at 6:30pm
Checkers Downtown
535 S. Grand Avenue
Los Angeles, California 90071 (map)
Reservations: email tylerd at hiltoncheckers.com or call (213) 891-0526
Facebook: CheckersDowntown
Twitter: @checkersdt
This Saturday, Bigfoot Lodge West in Culver City/Palms is launching a brand-new cocktail menu and whiskey list. “But didn’t they just open? What’s with a new list already?” you may ask, and yes they opened just over a year ago. But this new whiskey list boasts to have “the biggest small batch bourbon selection and arguably the best whiskey selection on the Westside.” That’s big talk, right?
Turns out that the former spirits director of bourbon bar Thirsty Crow (1933 Group’s bar in Silver Lake) and “Bourbon Baron,” Brandon Ristaino, relocated to the West for the Lodge’s liquid makeover. He handpicked 80 whiskies, so now instead of just a couple of ryes to choose from for a Manhattan, there are 10 – Papy Van Winkle 13-Year, Rittenhouse 25-Year and Sazerac to name a few. Yesh! To show how serious they are about the brown spirit, they even brought over the ice ball-pressing machine like the one they’ve been using at Thirsty Crow to cool your whiskey without watering it down too much.
And now their Whiskey Lovers Night every Monday will be even more of a draw for whiskey lovers as well as whisky lovers. That’s $4 Buffalo Trace Bourbon, $5 rye specials and a rotating whisk(e)y flight list.
Thankfully, the Bourbon Baron also redid the cocktail menu. Sure, the Toasted Marshmallow cocktail is still there if you want it but now to match this more grown-up Bigfoot Lodge, there are about 19 cocktails ($10-$12), including five “for whiskey lovers” and some champagne cocktails. The Thirsty Crow’s house cocktail even makes an appearance. For a recipe of one of their signature cocktails, hit the jump.
I’m just happy that they have classics, too, like The Aviation, Side Car, Old Fashioned and Sazerac!
So when does this new-fangled menu launch? This Saturday at 9pm. Since this is going to be a big move day for me and my new place is within stumbling distance, you bet your sweet fanny that I’m going to be there. Hope to see you!
EVENT: SATURDAY, AUGUST 21 at 9pm
Bigfoot West
10939 Venice Boulevard
Los Angeles, California 90034 (map)
(310) 287-2200
Twitter: @bigfootwest
As I am a boozer on a budget, I tend to avoid hotel bars because they normally charge $15 and up for their cocktails. But I wasn’t about to turn down an invite to check out the new cocktail menu at schmancy L’Ermitage Beverly Hills. It was hosted anyway, heh. Before I go on, yes, the cocktails here range from $14 to $16 so if that’s way beyond what you’d comfortably spend on a cocktail, believe me, I understand if you don’t want to read more. To all others who are looking for a fancy but chill place to tipple, stay with me.
At the Lobby Lounge for the cocktail tasting.
Now L’Ermitage is undergoing some changes where it will become the Viceroy L’Ermitage next year. Even though the walls of the lobby bar still display famous screenplays like Jaws and Good Will Hunting as art, the bar’s name has been changed from The Writers’ Lounge to just The Lounge.
And the brand-new 10-cocktail menu is a reflection of the new and the old, classic and modern concoctions. The night I went they were doing a tasting of just four of them — two Classicals and two Contemporaries — with a brief intro of each one by Josh Golden, L’Ermitage bartender who was trained by renowned barman Sasha Petraske of Milk and Honey in New York.
Here are the four with some of my notes.
Bertha:Hacienda Mexicana Blanco, agave, lemon, egg white, club soda. This vintage cocktail was actually my favorite out of the four. The tequila here is not harsh or overpowering.
India Fizz:Broker’s Gin, Zirbenz Stone Pine Liquor, lime, blackberry, mint, club soda. Although the most photogenic of the four cocktails we had, it was a bit too light for my taste. But remember that I’m a Manhattan drinker so the hint of mint and the bit of fizz just doesn’t do it for me. No strong flavors and was just so light. Others may find it refreshing on a hot day, though.
Moscow Mule:Russian Standard Vodka, lime, cane sugar, Reed’s ginger beer. This was everyone else’s favorite but I thought there was way more ginger beer than vodka. The way I could tell? That sugary, acidic coating it left on my tongue, like when you drink soda. But props to them serving it in its proper copper mug. The gin Moscow Mule I had the following night at 8 oz Burger Bar on Melrose Avenue was actually more to my liking, plus it was on the $4 happy hour menu!
Tropical Elder:Pineapple-infused vodka, St. Germain Elderflower Liquor, Crème de Banana, grapefruit, grapefruit bitters. This crazy, weird, exotic cocktail was aromatically intriguing and surprisingly tasty. Although, I don’t think I could drink a whole cocktail glass of this stuff. It’s syrupy sweet with a sharp finish.
After the event, our hosts asked me if I wanted to have a full cocktail. Since I wasn’t particularly enamored by any of the four we tasted, I opted for the Tumbleweed with Sazerac 6-Year Rye, Laird’s Applejack, Amaro Ciociaro, Taylor Fladgate 10 Year Tawny Port, Xocolatl Bitters. So warm, complex, rich and aromatic. Definitely my favorite of the bunch with its chocolate finish. Even though it’s $15 I’d choose it as the drink to sip on while hanging out in the lobby lounge.
Bartender Josh pouring the tastings.
By the way, if for some reason you don’t see anything you like on the menu now, give it a month when the bar will reveal another cocktail menu, except with more of a focus on signature cocktails to supplement this one.
During my visit to this Beverly Hills hotel, I was amazed to find, not old, moneyed types or slick agent types or even recovering plastic surgery patients but rather youngish, hip, good-looking folks lounging about. And they weren’t all dressed up but casual, making it feel actually comfortable to be here. Sure, one look at the menu will probably make you feel otherwise. But if you do want to just split a plate of apps with a couple of friends and splurge on a cocktail whilst sitting on the patio near the fireplace or the waterfall, you could actually do that with nary a condescending glance your way. However they will still tell you “No pictures allowed” should you decide to whip out your camera. You know, to “protect the privacy of their guests.”
For fellow cheapskates: If you don’t want to spend any more money than you have to, the hotel offers Lobby Lounge guests free valet parking for 2 1/2 hours or there’s plenty of free parking on the street after 6!
L’Ermitage Beverly Hills
9291 Burton Way
Los Angeles, California 90210 (map)
(310) 278-3344
Beth, Lara, me, Aidan and Marcos at First & Hope for my 5th blogiversary.
If you were a reader of my blog two years ago, no doubt you attended my 3rd blogiversary party at Bar Lubitsch. That was a big ‘un with liquor sponsors and a raffle-like giveaway. Since this year was my 5th, my friends and crackheads were asking if I had planned to do anything that big or bigger. But since I’m focusing my resources and time on blogger prom (which is September 22), no such luck for a huge shindig of my own. Perhaps next year, though.
Fortunately,First & Hope and my ol’ friend Aidan Demarest were kind enough to offer up the supper club’s swank and intimate Fedora Lounge as the venue for my 5th blogiversary party. Very nice considering it was pretty last minute; on Friday, I put on my Facebook that I wondered if I should celebrate my blog’s anniversary and later that afternoon Aidan offered up First & Hope. He promised punch, Edison beer and appetizers. OK!
But when I arrived at the downtown supper club that Tuesday night, I saw that the folks there went above and beyond. We had our own bartender, the whole room to ourselves, wonderful apps, a delicious punch created by bartender Brent Falco (for the recipe, hit the jump) and even a “5 Years! Caroline on Crack” slide on the big screen over the stage.
Marcos Tello and Aidan (the mixologist duo behind First & Hope’s bar program) joked that they did a collection to finally get me a crack rock and then proceeded to give a very sweet speech that brought a tear to my eye. Can’t believe I’ve known those guys since that downtown whiskey bar that shall be unnamed first opened! For sweets, old friends Beth of Busy Beth’s Blog and her sister Lara brought me a tasty strawberry cake from Phoenix Bakery in Chinatown.
We all ate, drank, laughed and drank some more. I couldn’t ask for a better celebration. Thanks, First & Hope and all my friends. And if you weren’t there due to whatever illness, you were missed!
