We were in Los Angeles all of last week, and I had gone armed with a short list of bars I compiled the week before. My list focused on creative, well-made cocktails, not necessarily popularity, but the two often go together. The Edison, by nearly all reports, had both, plus an amazing ambiance, so it [...]
This is the first drink I made with my recent batch of homemade cucumber-infused gin. Cucumber has a subtle flavor, so it's best used in drinks like this that don't contain other overpowering ingredients.
Our final stop on our recent trip to Los Angeles was Boardner’s in Hollywood. Boardner’s was one of my favorite bars when I lived in LA. I didn’t come here all that often, but it was usually the one I first thought of when going to bars in Hollywood.
We stopped in here for a drink [...]
The Dresden Room, located in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles, has been operating since the 1940s but became famous after its prominent appearance in Swingers in 1996.
We stopped in here around 8:00 on a Saturday evening, after a first round of cocktails at Yamashiro. The Dresden gets crowded on weekends, so your [...]
Sarai and recently I spent a week in Los Angeles and made a point of hitting a few old familiar spots. Saturday evening we went bar hopping with Nathan, starting off with drinks at Yamashiro, overlooking Hollywood and downtown LA.
Last night was was the kick-off party for
International Flight Lounge, a new monthly event at
Forbidden Island in Alameda. International Flight Lounge is described as
"A hi-flying mix of the best uptempo '60s French pop, Euro beat and film soundtracks, exotica, British invasion, and much more".
The closest bar to our new apartment in Oakland is a punk rock dive bar. Ah, nostalgia.
Someone recently told us about Bourbon and Branch, a speakeasy-themed bar in the Tenderloin. We heard tales of required reservations, passwords at the door, 1920s-style music and decor, and great cocktails, so we had to check it out.
We made a reservation for Wednesday night, figuring it wouldn’t be too crowded, which it wasn’t. Crowding won’t [...]
After nearly two years, I finally made it out to Forbidden Island, the new (well, newish) tiki bar in Alameda. Residents of Alameda refer to themselves as “island people”, so a place like this fits in well. (For those unfamiliar with the area, Alameda really is an island in the San Francisco bay.)
Forbidden Island’s reputation [...]
It took nearly two and a half years, but Sarai and I finally checked out Vino Venue, the high-tech wine tasting bar just down the street from my office in SOMA.
The idea is pretty neat: You buy a pre-paid card that you use at any of the self-serve tasting stations set up around the bar. [...]
