Loft @205 a stylish cocktail bar on Lark
Asian fusion menu, plenty of bespoke drink choices make it a must-try
It seems madness for me right now to suggest you venture upstairs into a tiny whiskey-and-bourbon bar in a Lark Street loft, but here we are at The Loft @205, the secondfloor space above the collegepopular LAX bar.
I have no idea what will happen by the time this column appears in the paper. All around us restaurants are voluntarily closing, dining restrictions loom large, and we’re doom-scrolling while Babylon burns. It’s a bitter pill for any establishment in the holiday season — normally a time of merriment, private parties and guaranteed income. It’s particularly harsh for those opening in a pandemic without the loyalty of a regular crowd. So settle in, because half the battle is getting noticed, and The Loft @205 has carved out a quietly elevated cocktail bar with an Asian fusion menu and more than 30 whiskeys. Spot me in the corner with a Johnnie Walker over ice.
No matter how many nights you’ve spent in Center Square, it’s unexpected to find a brightly lit new entrance a little way up State Street from Lark, toward Washington Park. A sidewalk sign bids you enter, and a door opening to a steep flight of stairs spills hallway light, offering a warm welcome in a vaguely Alice in Wonderland-ish way.
The Loft @205 — the number avoids confusion with The Loft
event space on nearby Sherman Street — is the latest project from sibling restaurateurs Will and Mary Phan, owners of Lark Street staples LAX bar and nightclub and Lark Street Poke Bar, with poke outposts in suburban Loudonville and (unexpectedly) Los Angeles. The Phans do two things consistently well: deliver superfresh fish and supercharged flavors. That means The Loft @205 puts out slamming bang-bang shrimp and garlic-soy pork belly steamed bao ( buns) from a fusion menu.
The current 10 p.m. curfew renders the notion of “after-hours bites” almost moot, but when you’re fantasizing about drunk snacks and cocktails, you’ll be on the right track with their pankocrusted avocado fries, which check all the vegan/keto/glutenfree boxes, house-made crispy spring rolls or all-beef meatballs in stewy marinara or vodka sauce. But we’re busy slipping seared tuna tataki into a house garlic ponzu and a decorative edamame smear, and debating how many people know the lengua street tacos, Will’s childhood favorite from California, are carefully cooked and sliced cow’s tongue.
Miraculously, these three businesses share a downstairs kitchen (and no elevator), so The Loft’s intrepid servers get plates up and down stairs all night without discernible impact on speed or heat. Phan runs the four-man kitchen, firing dining orders while counter staff assemble poke bowls to go.
On the cocktails list, only two are bourbon-based — seemingly curious for a self-identified “bourbon bar.” The Loft Old Fashion boasts aromatic burnt rose
Please see
mary and orange peel, and the blackberry bourbon smash is balanced and beautifully light. The rest get their kicks from mezcal or gin but mostly as vodka martinis flavored with matcha, lychee or fig. Purists will come for
Will’s bourbon list — small-batch bottles from Basil Hayden, Four Roses or Elijah Craig — or the single-malt and blended Scotch whiskies, including peaty Ardbeg and Laphroig, all on display in a huge floor-to-ceiling black cage.
The cage is part decor, with black wallpaper, paint and bathroom tiles feeding a black-and-white theme, and white Pottery Barn-style tables next to black booths are as unique a pairing as Martha Stewart and Snoop. We find the overheard lights too bright, detracting from the twinkly string lights slung low over booths. More chic is the bar, where patterned tiles wrapping the white counter flow seamlessly onto the floor — an Instagram thirst trap as effective as the angel wings painted on the poke bar’s walls. The location of seats is important. With reservations required, you choose both your time slot and your seat: at booth, high-top table or bar.
The clientele is no surprise. We aren’t the college demographic putting away cosmopolitans and margaritas on the preCovid LAX DJ nights, but plenty of Pretty Young Things have found their way upstairs to sip elevated cocktails under black attic beams. Seasoned bartenders clip rosemary sprigs to rocks glasses and float orchid blooms in delicate coupes. Guests arriving later sip their dessert: Screwball peanut butter whiskey and banana liqueur in The Nutty Monkey and vanilla vodka and pie spice in a Pumpkin Pie Martini.
Now two cocktails deep, we crush the next course: a towering Loft Burger topped in caramelized onions, crisp bacon, whiskey barbecue sauce and a fried egg that’s drippy, delicious and requires both hands. You might prefer the corned beef and pastrami on marbled rye, or a meatball sandwich where the signature beefand-cheese meatballs are smashed and clamped in a brioche bun. Errors are in the mains: drunken noodles softly overdone and a tamarind glaze too sticky and sweet, though the half duck it coats is tender on the bone.
Post-pandemic, this
Lark Street addition is sure to be popular for early evening cocktails or latenight bites, like the longgone upstairs jazz lounge at Farnham’s Larkin or Mcguire’s front bar. For now, it’s reservations only and remarkably chill thanks to its playlist, small size and 50 percent occupancy. Should curfews and closures usher in a controlled shutdown, The Loft @205 won’t offer drinks or food to go, so keep this in your back pocket for a visit on the flip side — or get busy and give it your attention right now.