Justin Pike is LA's Best Bartender

In the second annual Table 20 LA's Best Bartender competition, The Tasting Kitchen head bartender Justin Pike was named the champion.  The finals were held at Elevate Lounge in Downtown LA and a panel of notable judges including King Cocktail Dale DeGroff, last year's winner Matt Biancaniello of Library Bar, pastry chef and Top Chef Just Desserts judge Johnny Iuzinni, Bricia Lopez of Guelaguetza, Marcos Tello of the Varnish and president of the LA chapter of the USBG, and Jessica Gelt of the LA Times decided the winner.

LA's Best Bartender winner Justin Pike (left) with Devon Tarby

The results were:

1st Place: Justin Pike, The Tasting Kitchen
2nd Place: Joe Brooke, Next Door Lounge
3rd Place: Devon Tarby, The Varnish
4th Place: Brian Summers, Harvard & Stone
5th Place: Daniel Zacharczuk, Bar Kitchen

In addition to the ceremonial crown, which was passed from Biancaniello, Pike won a trip to Tales of the Cocktail and a billboard with his picture announcing his championship will go up on Monday October 24th at the intersection of Wilshire & Sweetzer.

The Judges Panel, from left: DeGroff, Tello, Iuzinni, Gelt, Lopez

The competition, now in its second year, was organized by Table 20 and sponsored by Karlsson's Gold Vodka.  Each finalist had to prepare six cocktails for the judges in only twenty minutes.  Three of the cocktails had to be classics, two were up to the bartender and one had to incorporate Karlsson's.  Attendance was high and several hundred spectators crowded Elevate Lounge to watch the competition and try the cocktails.  The attendees voted on their favorite cocktail and the winner was Brian Summers's Blues in Orbit, with Karlsson's Gold Vodka, fresh lemon juice, mango juice, chipotle syrup, and a celery salt rim.

Judges Lopez & Biancaniello

The only drawback to the event was the long lines for the drinks from the public bar (the competitors were making drinks for the judges only, not attendees) and the rapidly diminishing quality of those cocktails at the public bar.  Master of Ceremonies Dan Dunn kept the event moving smoothly and once the winner was announced, the attendees decamped to the Varnish for an unofficial after party.  If you didn't come to this year, plan on it for next year.

Mitla News: Bricia Lopez to create menu with her mother; Josh Gil out

Bricia Lopez

Josh Gil is no longer the associated with Mitla, the new restaurant that will be launching shortly in the former Gueleguetza location in Palms.  Gil, who had cooked with the Supper Liberation Front and did two Mitla dinners at Test Kitchen, las left the project and owner Bricia Lopez and her mother are currently developing the menu.  Mitla will still be serving Oaxacan food with a "Bricia" twist, so expect moles to be part of the plan.

In other Mitla news, Lopez announced last night that Ricki Kline, best known for designing Cedd Moses's bars such as Seven Grand and The Varnish, has come aboard and will be consulting on the design of the new restaurant. She was tight-lipped about the specific design elements, but said that Kline has a great eye and she is very excited to be working with him.

The opening date has been pushed back. As soon as I have a new date, I will share it.

Mitla: 11127 Palms Blvd., (just East of Sepulveda).

Now Open: Pal Cabron, the Koreatown Edition

Pal Cabron, the Cemitas and Clayudas specialist in Huntington Park owned by Bricia (pictured below) and Fernando Lopez of the Guelaguetza empire, has moved to Koreatown on the site of the original Guelaguetza.  Pal Cabron Koreatown opened last Friday night with a party to celebrate Bricia's birthday and friends and supporters turned out in full force to toast their success and celebrate the festivities.

The cemitas (pictured below) are just as large as at the original location.  The sandwiches are overflowing with meat, cheese and toppings.  No customer will go hungry at Pal Cabron.  In addition the menu includes tamales, memelas, clayudas and other Oaxacan offerings.  This branch is connected to their recently opened Natura Juice Bar, so customers can satisfy their juice and sandwich cravings in one spot.  Ingredients include poek, chicken, beef and quesillo (Oaxacan cheese) as well as mole sauce.

For those of you who were curious about Pal Cabron but found the location to be "geographically undesirable", you now have no excuse.  The 8th Street location is in between downtown and the Westside and a short drive from Hollywood.  The prices are reasonable (less than $10) and the service is quick and friendly and if you are in luck you may actually get to meet the legendary proprietress herself.

Pal Cabron #2: 3337 1/2 W. 8th Street (just West of Irolo) in Koreatown. Phone: (213) 427-0601. Website: palcabron.com

320 Main: Destination Drinks in a Comfortable Spot

320 Main is as unpretentious as they come, a welcoming comfortable environment on Main Street in sleepy Seal Beach. But looks can be deceiving and when it comes to drinks, 320 Main is a supermodel in sweatpants, rocking the casual lived in look but still hot as hell. They know what they are doing when it comes to cocktails, thanks to owner Jason Schiffer, the barman who co-owns the restaurant and bar with his wife Rebecca.

320 Main just celebrated its one year anniversary this month and if recent visits are any indication is just hitting its stride. A signature drink is the Sweet Bricia, named for legendary mezcal and Oaxacan food advocate Bricia Lopez.

The Sweet Bricia (below) is one of the many mezcal based drinks in Southern California named after Lopez.  The Sweet Bricia includes both mezcal and tequila for a double dose of Mexican spirits but is light, due to the cassis and freshly squeezed citrus juice which make it refreshing.

Not only does 320 Main serve quality drinks but they have a well executed menu of American classics, including the French Dip sandwich (below), which was excellent with the au jus, although the fries were just OK.  However on a visit this week, several compatriots (including Ron of LushAngeles) and I sampled the macaroni and cheese, the duck fries and could not resist ordering the special of Beef Stroganoff made with short ribs.  The duck fries are cooked in duck fat and have little bits of shredded duck on them, and were a vast improvement over the fries I had eaten with the french dip on a prior visit.  The Stroganoff was rich and the use of short ribs elevated what could have been a tired dish into a modern reinvention of a classic.

320 Main does a great job with classic cocktails such as the Old Fashioned and Mint Julep but the bartending team seems to enjoy creating their own take on modern cocktails as well.The Brass Chassis was a favorite on a recent visit.  Jason and his colleague's enthusiasm is evident and it is great to see them elevate what could have easily been a neighborhood spot into a destination.  If you haven't been down there, it is worth the detour, as the environment is comfortable and welcoming, the drinks well made and the food tasty.

320 Main: 320 Main Street, Seal Beach (just off of PCH). Phone: 562-799-6246. Website: www.320mainsealbeach.com

Ilegal Mezcal Los Angeles Launch

Ilegal Mezcal recently became available in California and to celebrate and spread the word, the brand which launched in 2007 sent Stephen Myers, their Global Brand Ambassador, on tour to talk about mezcal and about the Ilegal brand in particular.

Last week a crowd of mezcal lovers filled Las Perlas, the mezcal focused bar on East 6th Street in downtown LA, to hear a presentation by Myers (pictured at left). The attendees included Bricia Lopez, the legendary mezcal enthusiast who has cocktails named after her at three different bars, as well as local bloggers such as ThirstyinLA, MicroLiquor, StreetGourmetLA, FoodGPS, and Glutster among others. Myers, a charming Australian bartender, gave a talk about how he and John Rexer founded Ilegal Mezcal when they were operating a bar in Guatemela and their customers were enthusiastic about the mezcal that they were smuggling across the border from Mexico. You may be wondering why an Aussie was lecturing a bunch of Americans about mezcal. Myers was traveling across Latin America and took a bartending job at Cafe No Se in Antigua, Guatamela working for Rexer, to make money. After several years in Guatemala serving a growing demand for mezcal among the international visitors to their bar, Myers and Rexer decided to create their own brand of mezcal.

Ilegal Mezcal is an artisinal mezcal, made in small quantities, in the village of Tlacolula, outside of Oaxaca. Myers said that almost all mezcals are single village and small production products, in contrast to the mass produced tequila which dominates the export market for agave liquor. Mezcal like tequila is made from the agave plant (although unlike tequila is not necessarily from the blue agave). The heart of the plant is baked in earthen pit ovens and then distilled and mezcals are 100% agave and fermented in oak vats. As a small batch product, there is significantly greater variation in the end product than in the more mass produced tequilas.

Ilegal Mezcal is distilled twice and filtered once. The line includes 3 variations that I got to sample: Joven (unaged), Reposado (aged five months), and Anejo (aged for three years). The Joven has chocolate and grapefruit notes in the flavor. The Reposado was smokier and had more heft than the Joven with a medium smoke and pear flavor. The Anejo is aged three years in American and French oak. It is smooth but smoky with some caramel. My preference, and that of several other attendees was for the Reposado, which had a great balance without being overwhelmed by smokiness.

Due to its name, Ilegal Mezcal went through a struggle with the US government in order to use the Ilegal brand name and its preferred packaging. Despite the fact that the government of Mexico had already approved it for export, the TTB, the US government agency which must approve liquor labels in the US refused to allow them to use their name because it might confuse consumers who would think the product was illegal. After much research the partners were able to show that other brands with similar names were permitted and the agency relented. Fortunately for US mezcal aficionados, Ilegal Mezcal is now legal and available on the West Coast as well as its initial launch market of New York.

Here in Los Angeles, Las Perlas and the Tar Pit Bar both carry the range of Ilegal products. Although Las Perlas has a variety of mezcal cocktails, I recommend drinking the Ilegal Mezcal neat, particularly the Reposado. The only thing criminal about this product is that we had to wait so long to get it.

Pal Cabron: Cemitas are big time sandwiches

Pal Cabron, a Mexican restaurant in Huntington Park, specializes in Cemitas & Clayudas. For the uninitiated, Cemitas are large Mexican sandwiches on a roll that include avocado, meat, cheese and salsa. Clayudas are flat (like a pizza) and are made with a crispy tortilla with a layer of beans and pork fat on top, with meat and/or cheese added to taste.

Pal Cabron is the creation of Bricia & Fernando Lopez, part of the local restaurant dynasty that owns the Guelaguetza chain of Oaxacan restaurants in Los Angeles. (This location was formerly a Guelaguetza.)

Last week, I drove out to Huntington Park to try a cemita and see what all the fuss was about. I had met Bricia at La Descarga at a party to celebrate the drink which is named after her. Coverage here. I had the "La de Barbacha" with quesillo ($7.25), which is a lamb barbacoa cemita with quesillo (Mexican string cheese) and chipotle sauce. The sandwich was large, and quite good. The different flavors all came together to create a unified whole. There was nothing dainty about this sandwich and those with small appetites need not apply. I had originally planned on making the most of my trip to Huntington Park by pairing my visit to Pal Cabron with another meal at a nearby restaurant but a friend told me that wasn't possible, "You can't pair Pal Cabron with anyplace else. It simply isn't possible to eat another meal after eating at Pal Cabron," he said. Boy was he right.

What better to wash down the sandwich which ate Huntington Park than a horchata, the traditional Mexican beverage made with rice and cinammon and no shortage of hearty ingredients. There would be no sense to serve a wimpy horchata with the Hercules of sandwiches, and Pal Cabron's is up to the challenge.

The restaurant is covered with murals, including pictures of LA Weekly critic Jonathan Gold and local blogger Javier Cabral, Teenage Glutster, above. There are also murals of Steve Livigni and Pablo Moix from La Descarga

There is ample street parking at meters and the prices are very reasonable for the cemitas & clayudas. The only drawback about Pal Cabron for me is that it is over 16 miles from my house, so it is just far away and a long drive to get there.

Pal Cabron is located at 2560 E Gage Ave (just west of Pacific) in Huntington Park. Phone: (323) 277-9899 Website: www.lascabronas.com
Huntington Park is 5 miles South of downtown Los Angeles.