Ladies, Start Your Engines: Speed Rack Comes to the Roosevelt

Cocktails, Food, Beer, Punch, Charity? Check to all of those at Speed Rack Los Angeles, taking place this Sunday afternoon from 3 - 7 pm at the Blossom Room in the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel.  This benefit pits some of LA's best female bartenders against each other in a competition to see who can make cocktails accurately in the least amount of time.  Dr. Cocktail himself, Mr. Ted Haigh, will be one of the four judges.

Tickets are only $20 in advance ($25 at the door) and all proceeds go to fight Breast Cancer.  Yes, thanks to the generosity of sponsors, 100% of the proceeds go to charity. Competitors include the Spare Room at the Roosevelt's own Naomi Schimek, as well as Danielle Crouch of Cana Rum Bar, Devon Tarby of The Varnish, Kiowa Bryan of the Eveleigh, and Mia Sarazen of Harvard & Stone among others; in total 18 women will compete.  This promises to be quite a party.  Ivy Mix and Lynette Marrero of LUPEC (Ladies United for the Preservation of Endangered Cocktails) in New York are the hosts and organizers of Speed Rack, which is stopping in cities coast to coast to raise funds for charity and showcase the talents of female bartenders.

Tickets: http://speedrackla.eventbrite.com/

The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel: 7000 Hollywood Boulevard, Hollywood.

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.

Reinventing the Margarita: Alex Day & Dave Kaplan Bring Craft Cocktails to an Empire Built on Guacamole

El Mezcalito

Rosa Mexicana, the chain of ten high-end Mexican restaurants which began in New York, has hired Alex Day, Dave Kaplan and Devon Tarby of Proprietors LLC. to revamp their cocktail program nationwide.  Day and Kaplan, who gained prominence in the cocktail world for their achievements at Death & Co in New York City, took on the assignment of updating the cocktail program at restaurants best known for guacamole made table-side.  Tarby is a more recent addition to the Proprietors team, having met the others through her work at The Varnish, the downtown Los Angeles cocktail mecca and worked with them at Bar Kitchen.

Alex Day

Day (above) and Kaplan (below) were excited to take on the challenge of creating a program that could be replicated across the soon to be dozen Rosa Mexicanas across the country, while maintaining the standards upon which they have built their reputations and providing a range of beverages which customers would find accessible.  Mezcal has been introduced into the program, which also now includes sangrita, a new favorite of mine.

Dave Kaplan

I recently had the opportunity to try a variety of the cocktails and beverages from the new list and I left impressed.  I knew Kaplan, Day and Tarby would not attach their names and brand to any program they were not proud of, but the program they developed for Rosa Mexicana exceeded my expectations.  Whether it was El Mezcalito, a cocktail with strawberry, jalapeño infused tequila, mezcal, lemon and agave (top picture) or the La Pera Noble (below) with tequila, vermouth, pear brandy and cinnamon simple syrup, the cocktails were well balanced and refreshing. Tarby described what makes the Mezcalito work as the interplay of the strawberry and mezcal flavors, "Strawberry and smoke like each other, they tame each other. The sweetness of strawberries tames the smoke."

La Pera Noble

Among my favorites are La Mandarina (below) which includes fresh muddled tangerine and basil, tequila, lemon juice and agave and La Antigüa (The Old One) which includes cocoa infused tequila, bitters and an orange twist.  I tend to be skeptical of flavored spirits but the cocoa and jalapeño infused tequilas were both very tasty and had none of the cloying quality that I usually associate with such flavored vodkas or rums.  It is fun to be pleasantly surprised and have your expectations exceeded.  It is great to find wonderful drinks in the unlikeliest  places and to know that there is a spot to get cocktails made with fresh juices and care in LA Live.  Around the corner from the Staples Center and the Nokia Theater, now there is no excuse to drink poorly before a game or concert.

La Mandarina

These drinks are available in all Rosa Mexicana restaurants.  Here in Los Angeles the restaurant is located in LA Live, in downtown LA.  A second location will be opening later this year on Sunset Blvd.

Rosa Mexicana @ LA Live: 800 West Olympic Blvd, Downtown.  Phone: (213) 746-0001.  Website: http://www.rosamexicano.com/Locations/LosAngelesCA/tabid/325/Default.aspx

The full list of new cocktails and beverages at Rosa Mexicana is below:

Agitados/Shaken Cocktails
La Sandía
Fresh muddled watermelon, rosemary simple syrup, El Jimador silver tequila, fresh lemon

La Piñela
Silver tequila, pineapple juice, cinnamon simple syrup, fresh lime

El Mezcalito
Fresh strawberry, Tanteo Jalapeño-infused silver tequila, Del Maguey-Vida mezcal, fresh lemon, organic agave

La Mandarina
Fresh muddled tangerine, fresh basil, El Jimador silver tequila, fresh lemon, organic agave


Flor de Humo
Silver tequila, Del Maguey-Vida mezcal, St. Germain, orange marmalade, fresh lime

Movidos/Stirred Cocktails
La Pera Noble
Casa Noble Organic silver tequila, bianco vermouth, pear brandy, cinnamon simple syrup

La Antigüa
Tanteo Cocoa-infused silver tequila, bitters, orange twist

Águila Real
Hennessy VS, Kahlua, Licor 43, cream, chocolate mole bitters

Micheladas/Beer Cocktails
Chelita
Tecate, fresh lime and spices, served over ice with a salted rim

El Betabel
Pacifico, beet juice, fresh lime and Cholula, served over ice with a salted rim

La Sangrita
Negra Modelo, house sangrita, served over ice with a salted rim