#theATOD5 Five Bars We Must Check Out
Los Angeles Edition
cover photo by Tram Tran + Arthur Yang
[dropcap letter=”O”]h Los Angeles, you appeal to our deepest desires and our demands for cool bars and clever cocktails. When we ask? You answer back, and while sometimes the “mixology” scene can lose the essence of just being happy to find a cool watering hole with tasty cocktails, we began a search.We found 5 bars that we have decided, we simply MUST – and we mean it – check out.. Like STAT.
As in our wells will runneth dry if we don’t explore the factor of coolness you are oozing from your moist, condensation-lingering glass. We simply … well, ok, we’re getting a bit dramatic but allow us to applaud you for appealing to our savvier side and not taking our thirst for granted.
We aren’t fans of being entitled drinkers and we genuinely value the blood, sweat and tears, late nights, and the often heroic-like patience with sloppy drunks all while preparing that well-made libation you put before us. Even if it’s wine or beer because let’s be honest, you kind of rock at handing those across the bar top too.
So … this time we honor YOU – and the people who actually conceptualized the bars you work at. Thus begins our quest to travel through the city in search of tried and true bars and ones just beginning their journey. This is where we’ll start …
Bar Jackalope
515 W 7th St. | Los Angeles, California 90017
Debuting in early 2014, Bar Jackalope is an intimate Whiskey Tasting Library modeled after the Whiskey Lounges of Japan. With seating for 12 inside and 12 on its outdoor Cigar Patio, it offers a relaxing respite for those looking for a place to unwind with friends, both old and new, while a Coltrane record spins Americana and candle lights color the night.
To preserve the soothing ambiance, Bar Jackalope only hosts groups of four or fewer. Reservations are available for its Whiskey Locker Members, and all other seating is done on a first-come basis. Bar Jackalope is located in the back of Seven Grand DTLA.
Here’s Looking at You
3901 W 6th St, LA, CA 90020
While we’re getting to know each other, allow us tell you where this little gem came from. And to keep it interesting, let’s do that over 13 drinks.
Once a generation the summer solstice sports a strawberry moon. We took that as a literal sign from the universe that we should kick things o with a fty- fty martini appropriately infused to commemorate the occasion. Having enjoyed hundreds of these, Lien’s liquid comfort food is a Margarita. Chef’s a nice rummy. A Tommy’s Margarita and a daiquiri balanced with agave are our 2 favorites are equally crave-worthy. There’s no lesser choice.
Drinking your way through New Orleans is not a bender so much as it’s a pilgrimage.This isn’t NOLA iced co ee so much as it is the very ca einated love child of a Brandy Alexander and
a Negroni.
And that’s just a sampling …
PALEY
6115 Sunset Blvd #100 | Los Angeles, CA 90028
Paley. is located in Columbia Square, the birthplace of the Golden Age of Hollywood. During its heyday, the restaurant at Columbia Square was home to the celebrities, executives and others working in the area. Paley. reimagines that creative culture for the modern age.
Owned and operated by worldwide hospitality group Plan Do See, Paley. is named in celebration of the artistic and innovative era shaped by CBS CEO and visionary William S. Paley and his wife, Babe.
Chef Greg Bernhardt, at the forefront of the California farm to table movement, serves a dynamic menu of seasonal and local ingredients in classic dishes with a modern twist – a nod to the inspiration behind the restaurant itself.
With Paley., Plan Do See brings their signature Japanese principle of Omotenashi – selfless service with a spirit of warmth and respect – to California.
Paley. is open for brunch, lunch and dinner with breakfast to come soon.
Gracias Madre
8905 Melrose Avenue | West Hollywood, CA 90069
“We first conceived the idea of Gracias Madre while visiting the families of our employees in Mexico. We wanted to both; offer organic Mexican food to the communities we serve as well as honor the mothers who work tirelessly in the kitchens of Mexico and often live without their husbands and children while they work side by side with us in California.
Inspired by some of the recipes of these families and the love of their mothers, Gracias Madre serves organic, farm fresh, locally sourced food, full of flavor and love.”
The Cannibal
8850 Washington Blvd. | Culver City, CA 90232
At its most primal sense The Cannibal is a butcher’s restaurant. The menu has the sense that your neighborhood butcher, who happens to be obsessed with beer, has decided to make dinner. Rite with every conceivable animal part, the menu will drive a fine line between meat centric and meat crazy. Large primal cuts like whole roasted lamb shoulders, braised pigs heads, and whole racks of prime dry aged beef are the way it will utilize all of the whole animals received daily. Seasonality is how the vegetables find their way onto the menu, we prefer to wait for mother nature to deliver the goods…
While the Cannibal puts meat on the front line, even Cannibals need to eat their veggies. Creative and seasonal vegetable preparations are at the core of what we do, we value a properly prepared head of cauliflower as much as we do a delicious roasted pig’s head or a vintage Lambic from a cult Belgian producer…
So in short, The Cannibal is meat and beer with a smattering of cycling, it’s your local, ride up, sit-in beer and butcher shop and is brought to you through the inspiration and by the good work of Messrs.’ Christian Pappanicholas and Cory Lane, and ably abetted by one Chef Francis Derby.
