Drago Centro Serves Up Amazing Cocktail Menu (and Bar Food Too)

The revival of Downtown Los Angeles continues, particularly as it pertains to great bars and mixology. Making a mark of its own is Drago Centro, which unveiled its Spring cocktail menu a few weeks ago with a media-comped tasting session at its bar. When I received the invite for this event, my eyes nearly fell …

Make Your Own Shamrock Shake!

Crazy as it might sound, I’d never tasted one of McDonald’s Shamrock Shakes prior to last year. I can’t say that I was totally won over by it, but I know many people have been, and now comes this glorious and probably obvious news: you can make a Shamrock Shake at home! According to Kelsey …

Mixology 101 Serves Sweet Cocktails At The Los Angeles Farmer’s Market

Los Angeles’s Farmer’s Market at Fairfax and Third just received a healthy dose of booze. Mixology, to be specific. The airy new bar Mixology 101 opened up this week, ready to serve a lengthy list of cocktails (over forty at last count) as well as beer, wine, spirits, and various bites. Steered by acclaimed bartender …

Tequila Adventures at Soho House

It’s been a hot minute since I’ve blogged about cocktails (and it’s been an even hotter minute since I stated a blog by saying “It’s been a hot minute…”). Nevertheless, I’m here to buck the trend. Last night, my friend IndianJones and I attended a “tasting bout” sponsored by Tequila Herrandura and UrbanDaddy at Los …

VIDEO: Bartender Does The Coolest Thing These Old People Have Ever Seen

There are many things I can’t do. There are far more that I can’t. The above video ranks in the latter category. Watch as a bartender manages to pour an handful of drinks all at once, much to the amazement of his blue-haired crowd. Very cool stuff (except for the annoying bell that sounds during …

THE QUAFF: Ginger Cilantro Mule Edition

Last week, my dearest friend Meeshie visited me here in Los Angeles, and she absolutely insisted that we make a cocktail (I was not very hard to persuade). I handed her my favorite cocktail book, Organic, Shaken and Stirred by Paul Abercrombie and told her to pick out a recipe. After some casual browsing, Meeshie …

A Look Inside Bourbon & Branch

Behind the Drink: The $13 Cocktail from Liquor.com on Vimeo. Liquor.com recently posed an intriguing question that I’m sure many of us have pondered at one point or another: why must a cocktail cost $13? (heck, come to LA and prepare yourself for the $16 libation) Drinks aren’t always cheap, but the above video (shot …

How To Pub Crawl for 12 Hours in Downtown LA

Your guide to some of Downtown LA’s best bars: divey hole-in-the-walls, swanky rooftop escapes, artsy biergartens, and much more…

THE QUAFF: Ginger Cocktail Showdown

Recently, I purchased the book Left Coast Libations, which proudly culls cocktail recipes from a wide swath of mixologists in Los Angeles (way too under-represented), San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, and Vancouver. I absolutely loved the concept of the book — finally, I could emulate cocktails from The Roger Room here in LA or Bourbon and …

Sneak Peek of Mohawk Bend in Echo Park

Last night I was lucky enough to attend a sneak peek of the new vegan-friendly gastropub Mohawk Bend in Echo Park. The spot comes to us courtesy of the people behind Tony’s Darts Away in Burbank and occupies a space that once housed the Ramona Theater on Sunset Blvd. That famous Vaudeville space is now …