Chapter & Verse: Office, Test Kitchen, Playground

Dave Kaplan and Alex Day of Proprietors LLC are best known in Los Angeles for creating Bar | Kitchen at the O Hotel, a cocktail forward bar and restaurant that serves quality drinks and food in an unpretentious atmosphere in the lobby of a downtown hotel.  The duo began working together when Day became a bartender at Death & Company, the legendary Manhattan cocktail bar that Kaplan created and owns.  They quickly realized that they share the same perspective on hospitality and a healthy obsession with details and began collaborating on other projects.

As Proprietors LLC, they consulted on every aspect of the Franklin Mortgage and Investment Company, a pre-Prohibition drinking establishment in Philadelphia, including the logo, layout, design, cocktail list and bartender training.  Since moving to LA in 2010, they have created the cocktail program at all Rosa Mexicana restaurants across the country and designed a cocktail list and trained the bartending staff at Santa Monica pizzeria Stella Rossa in addition to Bar | Kitchen.  They are currently working on Demi Monde, a coffee shop, restaurant and bar in lower Manhattan, as well as on a project in Mumbai, India and another in Kaplan's hometown of Jackson, Wyoming.  Additionally they are in the planning process for their own establishment in downtown Los Angeles.

Alex Day cracks ice in preparation for making a cocktail

With so many projects going on, Day & Kaplan had outgrown their small office in the building that houses Bar | Kitchen.  They have also grown their organization, adding several part-time members including Varnish bartender Devon Tarby who helps create cocktail lists and train staff, Alexander Kwong, the noted designer,  and Mijin Son, their finance and office manager.  In looking for a space that fit their needs and sensibilities, they realized that not only did they need a larger office space, but they needed a physical space to experiment with drink ideas and it wasn't convenient to be running up and down stairs from their office to the bar space at Bar | Kitchen.

Hence, Chapter & Verse, the office, test kitchen and playground for Proprietors LLC.  Who else would give their office a name?  The Proprietors team share the space with Handsome Roasters, the coffee start-up founded by Chris Owens, Michael Phillips and Tyler Wells.  Kaplan and Day are coffee lovers and knew Owens from the Varnish, where he bartends.  The two firms realized that they were simpatico in their outlook and that Chapter & Verse could also fulfill a need for Handsome Roasters, by providing them a space to do training, R&D and work quietly away from the hubbub of the roasting facility.  The Handsome team shares the same detail orientation and quality obsession as do the Proprietors, so it has been a natural fit according to Phillips (pictured below).

World Champion Barista Michael Phillips

Chapter & Verse is more than just a place for Kaplan & Day to experiment on drinks and do paperwork. As with their bars, it is a physical calling card and representation of their brand.  As much as I wish it were a bar open to the public, I am glad to see that Proprietors has established a fountainhead from which their creativity can spring forth.  Day said that he hopes the space can become more than just an office but a place to share ideas and as such they have housed a library of cocktail books, representing both of their collections, so other bartenders in the cocktail community can learn more, be inspired and have fun together.  Even though you may not get to try a drink here, having Chapter & Verse opens means that more quality drinks will be coming both to Los Angeles and to cities around the globe.  Cheers to that!

Designer Alexander Kwong 

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