jgarbee

Richard Horne Behind The Bar At Fig

​We've already mentioned Richard Horne, the man behind our Best Bloody Mary in L.A. top pick. But what we didn't tell you about the Fig Santa Monica bartender, who has been shaking there from day one, is that he has a thing for straws. Really good straws.

"You'd be surprised how hard it is to find a good straw," Horne says, trying to shove as many Dixie black straws into a display container on the bar as he possibly can. "Especially one that's black like this."

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Flickr user casenar (left) + Guzzle and Nosh (cocktail)

Portrait Of Oldfield's Jared Mort + The Dauntless Cocktail

​When we called Jared Mort, manager at the recently revamped Oldfield's in Culver City, with a question about a cocktail, the conversation suddenly took a mixology versus Scientology turn. We'll let you ruminate on that for a moment. In the meantime, we found the hauntingly fantastic portrait of Mort by artist Jaxon Northon, above. ("Hahahaha, my friend Jaxon painted that years ago!" was the "Sent from my iPhone" message we got back upon announcing our online find).

Back to those mixology and Scientology parallels, and our chat with Mort about Oldfield's complete bartender overhaul earlier this fall (the bar was formerly known as Saints & Sinners). And yeah, that "Dauntless" pear-ginger beer holiday cocktail recipe.

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Caroline on Crack

Proprietors' Alex Day and David Kaplan.

​The new Chapter & Verse in Downtown's Arts District is not a bar. It is created by bar dynamos David Kaplan and Alex Day of Proprietors LLC, a hospitality firm responsible for Death & Company (NYC), Bar & Kitchen and the cocktail programs for Stella Rosa and Rosa Mexicano.

And although it does have a cool "bar" name, C&V is simply, or not so simply, an office/cocktail lab. Bars are created and born there, yes, but you can't just show up at the Traction Avenue office and bend the bartender's ear over a well-made cocktail. Well you could, but you'd have to be invited.

Don't be disappointed that you can't add this to your bar hop route, though, because Proprietors has a downtown nightlife project in the works -- a two-bar venue with live music that's scheduled to open August 2012.

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The Three Clubs

​It's spicy, it's smashing and it very well could get you smashed. The Three Clubs in Hollywood, made famous by the movie Swingers, has rolled out some fancy new cocktails created by mixologist Joel Black. One of his most popular new drinks is the savory Pepper Smash ($12), which contains lemon, honey, basil, red bell pepper and whiskey. (With its whiskey base, it's traditionally more of a dude's drink, unless you have a name like Calamity Jane.)

"The Pepper Smash is a cocktail very near and dear to me," Black tells us. "It's one of the first savory cocktails I created, and the recipe has transitioned over the years as I have grown as a mixologist."

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flickr user vintage roadtrip

Welcome To California

​When we interviewed Gabriella Mlynarczyk at Eva, she was sharing her first impressions on the L.A. mixology scene after nearly 15 years in New York. ("But remember I haven't been here long," she reminds us, laughing).

One of the differences is her checkbook power, so she now makes more of her own ingredients, including liqueurs. Turn the page for her easy lapsang souchong liqueur recipe (holiday gift, anyone?), plus two cocktails inspired by the tea liqueur: one with Scotch and mole-flavored bitters and another with rye whiskey, allspice dram and a Mezcal-washed glass. Ah, the California cocktail dreaming life.

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GMlynarczyk

Gabriella Flaming An Orange Peel

​What does a former New York City mixologist think of life on the L.A. cocktail circuit? Gabriella Mlynarczyk, now at Eva after nearly 15 years on the New York scene (most recently, she was behind the now-closed Manhattan speakeasy Woodson and Ford), shared her thoughts on the coastal cocktail variances.

Turn the page for the interview, and check back for several of her latest cocktail recipes.

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Caroline on Crack

Julian Cox at Playa

​We recently caught up with Julian Cox, the award-winning bartender at Playa, the Latin-inspired restaurant on Beverly, and Picca, the Peruvian-inspired restaurant on Pico -- two of the hottest new restaurants of 2011.

What's your favorite part about being a bartender?
Probably taking care of people, having conversations with people. The whole interpersonal interaction is pretty awesome. That's what I enjoy.

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Caroline on Crack

Bartender Naomi Schimek during her days at the Tar Pit with Saunders.

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Modern mixology's pioneer Audrey Saunders has returned to Los Angeles. And after leaving La Brea's The Tar Pit after a short two months early last year, getting married, teaching seminars at prestigious cocktail events like the Manhattan Cocktail Classic and winning the 2011 Tales of the Cocktail award for Best Bar Mentor, she's back in L.A. doing an event tonight at the Hollywood Roosevelt's Spare Room.

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Picca, Ricardo Zarate's west LA version of a Latin American cantina, opens June 25th. Where Mo-Chica is classic Peruvian food, Picca is decidedly modern, driven by small plates with a heavy Japanese influence. The menu is split into five sections, weighted toward causas shaped like sushi nigiri and ceviches presented as sashimi, along with a robust selection of innovative robata: grilled scallops topped with an aji amarillo aïoli so light it's almost foam and chewy chicken gizzards squirted with bright green jalapeno aïoli.

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Guzzle & Nosh

Three drinks from Thirsty Crow: Ruby Slippers (left), Strawberry Fields Forever(top), Afternoon Delight (right).

​The new spring cocktail menus are dropping at bars all around town. Playa, Rivera, Cana, Villains, to name just few. Coming up on its one-year anniversary, Silver Lake's Thirsty Crow hasn't overhauled its menu in the name of seasonality, but bar manager Cooper Gillespie has committed what amounts to heresy in a whiskey bar: adding non-whiskey cocktails to the roster. Specifically, she's created a trio of gin and tequila-based cocktails that run the spectrum from fruity and floral to surprisingly spicy.

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