The culinary and imbibing maestros at LA Weekly’s Squid Ink blog have rounded up a list of ten drinks competing to (finally) define Los Angeles in but a single cocktail. As the article so articulately mentions, New York has the Manhattan and Moscow has its Mule, but Los Angeles has yet to be described by a mix of spirits, juices, bitters, or other ingredients mashed into a glass (rocks optional). So here’s LA Weekly’s list of ten with room for you, dear readers, to create your own and let us know so we can finally know what LA tastes like – besides smog.
From Little Dom’s in Los Feliz, find the Alvarado Street, a mix of tequila, cinnamon-infused agave, lemon juice, lime, and tangelo. From Beverly Hills’ newest addition to nightlife, Bar210, we’re presented with the Roh-Dee-Oh, a drink with gin, mint, lime juice, simple syrup, and ginger ale – tastes luxurious. Over in Hollywood at the new W Hotel’s Delphine, bottom’s up with their Off Vine cocktail with vodka, agave, basil, and green grapes. Also in the hotel, over at their bar Station, you’ll find the ultimate – Mulholland Drive. This drink has got all of the following in one lucky glass: Vanilla-bean infused Resposado, ginger syrup, lime, and soda.
If Roger Room is your stomping ground, you’ll be happy to know they offer a drink called South or No North which is a mix of gin, Hennessy V.S., all spice dram, and lemon juice. Over at the brand new First & Hope Supper Club in downtown LA (which, it seems, finally received its liquor license), suck down a classic Tequila Sunrise with tequila, cassis, grenadine, lime juice, and soda water – so sweet, we can already taste it. From BLVD 16 in Westwood, give the Wilshire Sazerac a try and walk out a little looser – it’s got Jack Daniels, chartreuse, and bitters.
When drinking near the ocean, you may want to try The Beachcomber’s Surfrider Cocktail with (predictably) rum, blue curacao, sweet and sour, and pineapple juice. Traveling just slightly east, stop in to Copa d’Oro for a Santa Monica Gimlet, which has got gin, celery, cucumber, and lime juice – its healthy, like a salad. Last, but certainly not least, if you prefer drinking in the “city,” head downtown to The Edison for a glass filled with bourbon, clover honey, and grapefruit, called a Brown Derby.
However you define this crazy town or whatever nickname’s you’ve given it, these cocktails really run the gamut and cover quite a bit of ground. Anything missing from this list? It’s the kind of research you’re more than happy to do – get your shakers out.
