Black Market - Cocktails & A Top Chef in Studio City

Black Market Liquor Bar is a welcome addition to the San Fernando Valley dining scene.  The new venture, with a cocktail program curated by Steve Livigni and Pablo Moix of La Descarga and Harvard & Stone, is a comfortable local bar that happens to serve destination worthy drinks.

The star of the cocktail menu is the Smokin' Monk.  No two ways about it, this is a gorgeous drink.  It is made with mezcal, yellow chartreuse, lemon and orange juices and served with some large ice cubes with a lemon wedge for garnish.  The mix of the mezcal and citrus is magical and the mezcal provides just the right amount of smokiness to keep it intriguing sip after sip.  This might be my favorite new drink of 2011.

The Amber and Embers is made with Laphroig Scotch, Clement Canne Syrup Rum, Angostura and Orange Bitters.  Note, only a dash of each type of bitters is used.  The version I had used Ardberg in place of Laphroig.  I sampled versions with 2 dashes of bitters and one dash, and the one dash was superior.  Counterintuitively,  the version with two dashes was smokier and tasted more of the Scotch.

Red Hot and Bothered: Jalapeno-infused vodka, strawberry, blood orange, agave syrup and ginger beer.  There is nothing shy and retiring about this damsel.

The Boulevard Sour, a dangerous concoction of rye whiskey, cynar, lemon juice and egg white, is pleasingly frothy.

Punch is all the rage this days, but Black Market takes this trend one step further with its Punch for One, a pisco based cocktail with pineapple juice, agave syrup, angostura bitters and lime juice.  This is a mellow cocktail that is easy to sip on.  This has been a pisco week, after some pisco sours earlier at the new Picca.

Black Market has an all-star bartending staff, including Zach Patterson (below) of STK, Mia Sarazen of Harvard & Stone, and Tricia Alley, formerly of B-Side Lounge.  If any of these assassins offers to make you a drink, accept.  You are in good hands.

Zach Patterson

In addition to bringing in a stellar team of barkeeps, Livigni and Moix brought chef Antonia Lofaso of Top Chef fame to the equation.  The menu includes some Italian influences, not surprisingly.

A highlight of what I tried was the Ricotta Gnudi, served in a brown butter sauce.  The gnudi were soft and had a light consistency.  The only off note for me was the crunch of pistachio nuts, which were unnecessary.

Gnudi

The Duck Rillettes with bourbon raisins were served in a jar with ample toasts alongside.  The rilletes required some mixing to get the sweet and salty components into proper proportion.

My other favorite of the night was Oxtail Ragu with perciatelli pasta and perorino cheese.  The dish is rich and savory.  The noodles were perfectly cooked and were heavy enough to sustain the meat.  It was attractively plated as well.

I only managed a bite of my dining companion's Crispy Poussin with french fries, which was unremarkable.

For me Antonia's pastas were the highlight of the food menu.  With the cocktails, I enjoyed all that I drank, although the drink that is going to lure me back to Studio City is the Smokin' Monk.  Absolutely delicious.

Black Market Liquor Bar proclaims itself "purveyors of cocktails, bites and candy." I can vouch for the first two; the third you will have to explore for yourself.

Black Market Liquor Bar: 11915 Ventura Blvd, Studio City, CA.  Phone: (818) 446-2533.  Website: http://blackmarketliquorbar.com/

Zahra Bates at B-Side

On Wednesday B-Side Lounge at Rolling Stone continued its weekly guest bartender series with Zahra Bates of Providence behind the stick.  The proceeds of the evening went to benefit Japanese relief efforts towards the recent earthquake and tsunami tragedies.  Tricia Alley has been curating the series and on Wednesday Bates was not only making her own cocktail recipes but those of several other local bartenders such as Jason Bran, Brent Falco and Alley.

A highlight of the menu was Bates's Bamboo Gen made with Bols Genever, tokjai, manzanilla sherry, shiso bitters and a shiso leaf.  Genever can be hard to work with but when it works it really works and it did in the Bamboo Gen.  The shiso flavor acted as a unifying influence, bringing together the spirit and the two wines.  The Bamboo Gen is also a salute to two Los Angeles bartenders, Marcos Tello who has evangelized about Genever and Alex Day who has advocated for sherry in cocktails.

Go and see Bates at the bar at Providence to explore her other creations and be sure to stop by B-Side on Wednesday to see what Alley and her rotating guest bartender have up their sleeves this week.

Providence: 5955 Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles. Phone: (323) 460-4170. Website: providencela.com

B-Side: 6801 Hollywood Blvd (entrance on Highland), Hollywood. Phone: (323) 464-4000

Who Says You Can't Get Blood from a Stone?: Cocktail of the Week

Tricia Alley, the head bartender at the new B-Side Lounge at Rolling Stone, originally created her Blood from a Stone cocktail at home for her boyfriend as a sort of joke.  She wanted to shock him and another friend, but instead they loved it and asked for refills.  Alley's boyfriend enjoyed it so much he encouraged me to try it on a recent visit to B-Side.  The cocktail is named Blood from a Stone because "it is what one is never meant to do, that is, Cask Strength Scotch in a cocktail", Alley said. This is a boozy drink with a citrus kick from the blood orange jucie and the orange bitters.  It is tasty and packs a wallop and is distinctive and delicious enough to deserve the title of Cocktail of the Week.

The recipe is below if you'd like to make one at home.  Cheers!

Blood from a Stone by Tricia Alley

Ingredients:
1 Dash Bitter Truth Orange Bitters
.75 oz Cara Cara Orange Juice
.75 oz Cherry Kijafa
.75 oz Carpanao Antica
.75 oz Lagavulin 12 Natural Cask Strength

Shake over ice and strain into a glass.
And then, if your socks are still intact:
Flamed Orange Peel Garnish

Bonus Tracks: B-Side at Rolling Stone Lounge

As you walk North on Highland Avenue by the Hollywood and Highland complex you may notice an unmarked door on the left side of the street.   What is behind this door you may wonder?  B-Side, a tiny bar serving bespoke and classic cocktails in a chill rock and roll environment.  Who could have conceived of such a dastardly scheme?  Only Tricia Alley (below), of Providence and Eva restaurants, working with the owners of the new Rolling Stone Lounge.

Alley has created a short menu of cocktails; there is also a brief food menu, which is available due to B Side's status as both its own entity and part of the Rolling Stone Lounge.  The capacity of B-Side is small so plan ahead.  A highlight of the menu is the Highlander, made with Famous Grouse blended scotch whiskey, freshly squeezed grapefruit juice, house made clover honey syrup and Regan’s No.6 orange bitters.

Each Wednesday night, Alley has invited a top bartender to show off their skills.  Last week Naomi Schimek of the Spare Room was the guest and tonight Marcos Tello of 1886 and The Varnish will be mixing cocktails during an evening sponsored by Cointreau.  The bouncer sometimes asks who you are there to see, so tonight the answer is Marcos Tello and any night the answer is Tricia Alley.  Just be prepared to drink something delicious.

B-Side: 6801 Hollywood Blvd (entrance on Highland), Hollywood.  Phone: (323) 464-4000