Nautilus cocktail: rum, cognac, Rabarbaro Zucca, heavy cream (Photo by acuna-hansen)

Sadie, the new Hollywood gastropub which opens its doors January 24, is taking over the spot previously known as Les Deux (or Les Douche in snarky circles). And, no, it’s not your imagination, just in 2010 Les Deux did go through a remodel, mellowing out from celebutard nightclub to a low-key neighborhoodie spot called Les Deux Estate. But apparently that didn’t work out because here it is again, refreshed with LD’s same chef David Schmit and beverage director Giovanni Martinez, both previously from Buffalo Club.

Hopefully the name change to Sadie (after the owner’s grandmother) will be the move away from Les Douche that it needs to open people’s eyes to this new bar/restaurant. I got a quick glimpse of Sadie during a Bols Genever Hollywood Cocktail Punch Crawl and it definitely was working the chill vibe; its glowy green bar chairs were gone. It was an easy transition for our crawl to hop from Sadie to our next stop on the crawl, Wood & Vine, which shares a similar grownup pub atmosphere.

Perfect stop during a Hollywood cocktail bar crawl.

Thanks to Giovanni’s cocktail menu, Sadie will slot in nicely with the growing population of handcrafted cocktail bars lining Hollywood Boulevard, from Spare Room and Library Bar at the Hollywood Roosevelt to Hemingway’s Lounge, The Writers Room and Wood & Vine. Here you’ll find unusual infusions like lychee black tea-infused tequila and a white pepper and cardamom-infused Dolin Blanc Vermouth, as well as lots of housemade syrups.

Giovanni said that when creating the bar program for Sadie, he wanted to keep the food center stage. “As with the food, most items on our drink menu hope to reflect the bounty as well as diversity of America through each ingredient.  It is with this in mind that we structured our menu, full of rich complex flavors and ordered in such a way as to create an entire culinary experience from the very start,” he said.

Some of the more eye-catching concoctions? A couple of beer cocktails like the Gran Prix which is made with a chrysanthemum-infused Beefeater gin, honey syrup, lemon juice and topped with Racer 5 IPA. And the Double Black Diamond by The Varnish mixologist Daniel Eun with Green Flash Double Stout, Blackwell Jamaican Rum, cream, sugar, whole egg and fresh grated nutmeg.

Here’s a sneak peek of the opening cocktail menu for your consideration. Prices are the standard Hollywood tier of $12 to $14.

But I’ve got my eye on that Velvet winter cocktail with aged Guatemalan rum, raisin-infused balsamic and housemade lemon clove syrup. Intriguing.

For beer lovers there’s a small selection of bottle and tap ($8-$10) featuring the likes of Stone Levitation and Alesmith Nautical Nut.

Doors open next Tuesday, but I plan to get my lips on these cocktails at the preview party tonight. Stay tune!

Sadie
1638 N Las Palmas Avenue
Los Angeles, California 90028 (map)
(323) 467-0200
Facebook: Sadie

Save Blue Palms and especially its $4 Pint Tuesdays!

Update 1/11/12: Blue Palms got a 2-3-week reprieve! Discussing long-term solution with landlord right now.

L.A. beer lovers, Blue Palms Brewhouse in Hollywood needs your help. With the closing of Music Box and the venue’s landlord losing their lease, everyone’s favorite beer bar is in danger.

On Blue Palms Brewhouse Facebook page:

To all our Fans, In light of our landlord losing their lease, we are in middle of the fallout. WE are working very hard to work directly with the owner to resolve. The Blue Palms is a small company and in the world of sterile business, we are pawns. Please stay tuned, we love you guys and we are doing our best to convince the owners of our worth. Please help us in posting your support and we hope to keep you posted. from BP

According to L.A. Beer Week, one way you can start right now is to call the landlord’s attorney, Chris Leonard, at (310) 312-2000 and tell him how important it is that the bar and its awesome taps be saved.

But also keep an eye on the bar’s FB page for other ways to help. Help save Tuesdays $4 Pint Night, Lobster Mac & Cheese, those 24 glorious constantly rotating taps, all those awesome beer nights!

This wonderful beer bar that has played a major part in spreading the joy of beer and cultivating the L.A. beer culture must be saved.

Blue Palms Brewhouse
6124 Hollywood Boulevard
Hollywood, California 90028 (map)
(323) 464-BEER
Facebook: Blue Palms Brewhouse
Twitter: @BluePalms_Brew

Cocktail punch with Solerno blood orange liqueur

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 cocktail punches created by hostess and SR beverage director Naomi Schimek. (Hit the jump for the Boxing Day Punch recipe — and for more pictures.)

Naomi also came up with the idea of auctioning off L.A. bartenders and their respective bar tabs. Since it’s usually against policy for bartenders to drink at the bar where they work, the bar tabs were thrown in a hat and then each bartender had to draw one out. Luckily no one pulled out their own tab.

The mixmasters who drew the highest bids were Spare Room’s Lauran September who raised $200 for a date with her at Harvard & Stone and Naomi who was snapped up by both Aidan Demarest (Neat) and the event’s emcee Dan “The Imbiber” Dunn for $200. The trio will be enjoying beers and shots at La Cita. Someone should make a reality show about THAT date!

The significant others of some of the bartenders took the auction as an opportunity to score a budget-friendly date night. Hilary Straus, wife of Alex Straus of Hemingway’s Lounge, won her husband and a $175 bar tab at Baby Blues BBQ for a cool $100. While La Descarga’s Kenny Danger and the Hemingway’s bar tab was won by Kenny’s girlfriend.

The cocktail community turned out in full force to support the charity. It was fun hanging out with fellow cocktail enthusiasts like LA/OC Foodventures and Faux LA Hipster as well as mingling with Georgia of Alie & Georgia and The Savory Hunter. My fave moments of the night had to be tippling that intense cocktail punch made with Salerno blood orange liqueur and getting Dan Dunn, Aidan Demarest and Spare Room co-owner Marc Rose to jump in the photo booth for me. That photo strip is going up on my refrigerator.

If you missed out last night, not to fret. Naomi said that this will be a yearly event so start saving up your cash now. Who knows who will be up for bid next year?

Boxing Day Punch

by Naomi Schimek

Win a date with this guy!

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 will auction them off and emcee what’s sure to be a hilarious and fun Inaugural Bartenders With Bar Tabs Auction.

Who’s up for grabs.

• Kenny Danger of La Descarga
• Aidan Demarest of Neat
• Bayardo De Murguia of Wood & Vine
• Kate Grutman of Sotto
• Dave Kupchinsky of The Eveleigh
• Lacey Murillo of 1886
• Lauran September of Spare Room
• Alex Straus of Hemingway’s Lounge
• AND if you win Marcos Tello, he’ll take you on a personal Bols Genever pub crawl! Ding! Ding! Ding!

By the way, event hostess and Spare Room Director of Beverages Naomi Schimek hints that she might spontaneously get up on the auction block so keep your fingers crossed!

So, who are you going to bid on? I know, I know. With this list of awesome bars, it’s difficult to pick just one! Add to that these bartenders are a hoot, especially that mischievous Aidan (who must have TWO hollow legs) and it might just make sense to try and win them all, no?

The party is a mere $10 at the door and you get access to three bottomless cocktail punches, bar bites, a Jenga tournament, live music and a dj! Pfew! It’ll be the best 10 spot you’ve ever donated.

EVENT: MONDAY, DECEMBER 26 from 7 to 11pm

Spare Room at Hollywood Roosevelt
7000 Hollywood Boulevard
Los Angeles, California 90028 (map)
(323) 769-7296
Facebook: Spare Room
Twitter: @SpareRoomHwood

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 which there are only 1,000, are projected to retail for $300 each. But Spare Room was lucky enough to score two bottles. 

The bowling alley/cocktail lounge’s Director of Beverages Naomi Schimek said that in creating this special drink, she wanted to make sure the delicate spirit was showcased so she didn’t add too many mixers. And when she did it was only eyedropper-size amounts. “Unico is earthy agave with grapefruit and black pepper, opening up top vanilla and caramel notes. Very delicate on the palate,” says Naomi. You can still appreciate the rare tequila in this cocktail but enhanced with dry vermouth, Pernod and Aperol essences to bring out its flavor notes.

Or if you’d rather taste the spirit unenhanced, you can order it neat for the same price.

Would be the perfect gift for your favorite cocktail geek (ahem), or yourself!

Spare Room at Hollywood Roosevelt
7000 Hollywood Boulevard
Los Angeles, California 90028 (map)
(323) 769-7296
Facebook: Spare Room
Twitter: @SpareRoomHwood