WHY For the inventive (if pricey) cocktails, the suave Staples-convenient setting and some pretty wonderful flavors. WHAT We’re mixed about this swank South Park spot, where ’80s wünderchef John Sedlar has resurfaced—on the one hand, it’s a sophisticated space with a good bar and some very good cooking. On the other hand, the portions are [...]
October 28, 2011 | Posted in
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WHY For cocktails you won’t find at the corner bar—really good ones. WHAT Cocktail guru Vincenzo Marianella’s Promenade-adjacent lounge feels like a cozy Manhattan bar, thanks to its weathered brick walls, French-mod leather wingbacks, well-coiffed bartenders and big-city prices. If you want to spend $12 for a gin and tonic here, that’s your business, but [...]
October 28, 2011 | Posted in
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WHY At least two cask-conditioned ‘real’ ale firkins always on tap and what has to be the largest Scotch collection in California. WHAT This dark, tattered bar hardly looks like much—until you open the menu and discover hundreds of interesting beers and whiskeys. The cask ales, typically from San Diego breweries, vary weekly, and the [...]
October 28, 2011 | Posted in
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WHY To take a glamorous step back in time—and for the double-take you’ll experience the first time you spot the Absinthe Fairy. WHAT This nostalgic cocktail bar reignites 1920s elegance and romance in an unbelievable multi-level space that was L.A.’s first private power plant. Each night brings new revelries, from live music to burlesque, but [...]
October 28, 2011 | Posted in
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WHY Crisp, puffy-edged pizzas, delicious salads and seemingly hundreds of fun small plates. WHAT In a vast, open space with white marble floors, white walls and a white ceiling way up high, an army of well-trained staff serve solidly satisfying trattoria fare to a constant crowd. At this writing this is one of Downtown’s hottest [...]
October 28, 2011 | Posted in
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WHY For a Vegas-style experience, complete with over-the-top food by celebrity chef José Andrés and a jaw-dropping décor by Philippe Starck. WHAT In two adjoining über-chic tapas bars, famed Spanish chef Andrés serves small dishes unlike anyone else’s: cotton candy foie gras lollipops (amazing, trust us), Philly cheese steaks with ‘air bread’ (really mini bread-like [...]
October 28, 2011 | Posted in
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WHY Because mall shopping requires constant refueling with mocha-espresso martinis and chile-lime crab cakes. WHAT Cocktails with cheesy names like the astrology-inspired Leo and Scorpio (which arrive tableside in the appropriate birthstone color) are actually pretty good, if overpriced and on the sweet side. Garlic fries with chipotle aioli will come to the rescue to [...]
October 28, 2011 | Posted in
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WHY NYC chef Laurent Tourondel understands the true meaning of the Holy Trinity: meat, potatoes and pastry. WHAT There are a lot of things to like about BLT: sauces that are actually worthy of the top-quality steaks (three-mustard, chimichurri); non-beef mains that are often even better than the excellent steaks; potatoes nine ways (the gratin [...]
October 28, 2011 | Posted in
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WHY This New York import is known for its fusion sushi, like hamachi with jalapeño, and you can get it at slightly lower prices than in the main dining room below. WHAT This elegant mezzanine cocktail lounge with a handful of small tables becomes a standing-room only hot spot on the weekends. WHO Scene hoppers [...]
October 28, 2011 | Posted in
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WHY A plate of retro charm and a side of rock ‘n roll. WHAT A key in the rise of Retro Row—the vintage-loving stretch of 4th Street famous for its pin-up poses and deadstock designs—the Pike is owned by former Social Distortion drummer Chris Reece. The bar is themed around the icons of lost Long [...]
October 28, 2011 | Posted in
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