10 Los Angeles Bars in Food & Wine's Top 100

Food & Wine has just published Cocktails 2009, a handy little book featuring 130+ cocktails, 25 party food recipes, must-haves for the home bar, and more. One of the book’s key sections is its list of Top 100 Bars, a guide to the country’s top bars, lounges, and restaurants. Los Angeles has 10 bars listed,…

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Whiskey & Ping Pong at Tony's

“This is the kind of day when you want to be belly-to-belly with a good woman, in a warm bed under a tin roof with the rain beating down and a bottle of good whiskey right next to the bed.” ~ Hunter S. Thompson, The Great Shark Hunt Friday night saw the soft opening of…

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Living La Dolce Vita at Drago Centro

Critics have sung the praises of Drago Centro since its opening: Jonathan Gold says it’s a “Perino’s for 2010 and beyond,” with the “most glamorous urban view in the city;” the L.A. Times says the Italian menu is “inspired” and the restaurant is downtown’s “best kept secret.” Last Friday I had the pleasure of dining…

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TGIF: Pagoda Bar and Tony's Open Tonight

It really is TGIF for LA cocktail enthusiasts, with two bars opening in Hollywood and downtown. First up, Daily Candy notes that the Pagoda Bar is reopening tonight. Nestled just below Hollywood’s venerable Yamashiro restaurant, the outdoor Pagoda Bar overlooks the pool, the 600 year old pagoda (California’s oldest structure, according to Yamashiro), and the…

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Esquire's Best Bars in America

The June 2009 issue of Esquire (which hit the stands on May 10) features another round of the annual Best Bars in America list. The list is part of a nifty ten page section titled “The Esquire Bible of Drinking,” or “The Collected Wisdom of Esquire as it Relates to Drinking.” (The issue also features…

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World Cocktail Day

Today is World Cocktail Day, the culmination of World Cocktail Week and its celebration of the American Cocktail. The date coincides with the earliest uses of the term “Cocktail” in the May 1806 editions of “The Balance and Columbian Repository.” Imbibe recently uploaded a scan of these historic documents, which you can read on the…

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