Serving best cocktails in the South Bay area
Like so many of us, I suffer from a terminal case of FOMO — Fear of Missing Out. As a result, when I take a break during the day, it’s to flip on one of the news channels to find out what crises afflicted our long-suffering world while I was away coming up with some fresh metaphors and similes about sushi and hamburgers.
I am rarely disappointed; there’s always a crisis du jour. Which will then occupy much of the rest of my day as I check with increasing obsessiveness on the latest developments. It’s not for nothing that CNN seemingly begins every hour with the words “Breaking News”! Like one of Pavlov’s dogs, I salivate at the thought that “something happened.”
Like many of us, after too much “Breaking News,” the ancient words — or are they are prayer? — rise in my consciousness: “I need a drink!”
I don’t really need a drink; I rarely do. But still, it seems like a rational response to a day of growing headline misery, and gloom and doom everywhere I look. And after the annus horribilis of 2020 — what fun! — that segued into 2021 and now 2022, it’s possible this annum will beat both of them. It’s an election year, after all. So a drink really will be called for.
I’m a simple man, with simple tastes. As a rule, that drink of choice will be a beer, which is really all I want or need. If wine is being served, a glass will do. But if I’m in a situation where a mixed drink is called for, I do have my druthers when it comes to cocktails — I like clean and simple. For me, a classic gin martini, with a couple of olives, is drink enough, the very essence of perfection.
But then I’m also obsessed with the writings of P.G. Wodehouse and, consequently, with the drinking habits of upper-class British twits from a century ago. Back then, the idle rich seemed to spend all their time instructing their version of Jeeves to make a cocktail for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Also, all the hours in between and after.
Had Alcoholics Anonymous existed back then, it would have done land office business among the fox hunting, golfing and private clubbing crowd.
As a food and (occasionally) drink writer, I’m also fascinated with the cocktails that have come and gone, from one decade to another. I remember well the fishpond-sized drinks at Trader Vic’s, served for two or four, with long straws so you didn’t fall in and drown. I remember a joint over on Fairfax called Lola’s, with a bar in the front and another in the back, that made more than 100 margaritas — most of which were silly drinks, flavored like something you’d find at Baskin-Robbins.
These days, it’s with more than a bit of fascination that I study the cocktail lists at our trendier destinations, where the mixed drinks are made with ingredients so obscure that, without a good Google connection, I’d have no idea what I was drinking. Even the beer lists have gone wackadoodle.
So where do I enjoy bending an elbow hereabouts? The options are
many, but these are some of my favorites … and the most cheerfully obscure:
Esperanza Cocina de la Playa
309Manhattan Beach Blvd., Manhattan Beach; 424-422-0057, esperanzamb.com
In a land of downscale taco and tequila joints, Esperanza is upscale … without being overtly upscale. This is Manhattan Beach Boulevard, after all. It’s not the land of fancy dress. (Is there a restaurant in Manhattan Beach that calls for a tie and jacket? Or even socks?) Going into Esperanza definitely has the feeling of a special evening, maybe even a special occasion.
Though the inside isn’t as swirly as the outside, the shelves behind the bar are oddly shaped, and the lamp overhead makes the place look like the Museum of Exotic Lighting. You don’t just drop on by Esperanza; you plan for an evening there. And it’s an evening filled with treats … at prices to match.
I’m a beer drinker, first and foremost, especially with Mexican food. And I’m used to the usual selection of Mexican brews, which are certainly found on the list here: draft Corona Extra, Modelo Especial, Modelo Negro; cans and bottles of Corona Light, Pacifico, XX Amber and Lager. But there are also Mexican craft beers that are uncommon offerings out there, such as Baja Brewing Escorpion Negro Black Ale on draft. And in cans and bottles, Tona Cerveza, North Coast Brew Dark Mexican Lager, Baja Brewing La Surfa Lager, Cerveceria de Colima Colimita Lager and more.
Martin’s Cocina y Cantina
162 N. La Brea Ave., Inglewood; 310-774-4053, martinscantina.com
Martin’s Cocina y Cantina is such a dazzling crosssection of life in Los Angeles that I felt inspired to sit in the bar for hours, drinking micheladas and margaritas, eating guacamole and sushi rolls, and watching the Rams on one set of overhead screens and the Chargers on another. It defines Los Angeles. Or at least it defines a big swathe of the city.
Without intending to be, it is who we are. Consider: What we have here
is a sports bar by day/a nightclub (of sorts) later on, with a largely local following from Inglewood, watching sports, celebrating birthdays in big groups, knocking back exotic cocktails, chewing on food from Mexico and from Japan. And if the bar, even at noon on a Sunday, is busy mixing drinks like mad, fun is definitely part of the formula.
There are five micheladas on the sizable bar list. The house version is pretty much a classic, though you can choose from whichever of the beers on the list — a Negra Modelo is about as different as a michelada gets, a drink usually made with light beers, not dark.
There are also a Michelada de Mango, made with mango purée, and a Michelada de Tamarindo, made with tamarind puree — drinks that taste like nothing I’ve ever had before. But then, with 12 margaritas on the bar list, unexpected twists and turns exist everywhere.
One margarita is made with cucumber, another with watermelon. And the Henny Margarita is built around Hennessy Cognac; you can get a pitcher for $70. The Billionaire Margarita features Don Julio 1942, and Grand Marnier 100th anniversary. The Million Dollar Long Island has Grey Goose vodka, Don Julio, Tanqueray gin, Bacardi rum and Cointreau. And here I am, drinking a beer…
Little Sister at The Point
830 Sepulveda Blvd., El Segundo; 424-835-9878, dinelittlesister.com
Little Sister at The Point is a creation of the brilliantly eclectic Blackhouse Hospitality Group, which has made our culinary lives so much more interesting thnks to a madcap assortment of restaurants — Abigaile in Hermosa Beach for craft beer and burgers, Dia de Campo for cuttingedge Latin cooking, Alta House for quirky cocktails and Steak & Whiskey for … steak and whiskey. Many options.
But for me, the one that resonates the loudest is Little Sister, Chef Tin Vuong’s joyous take on modern Pan-Asian cooking. And “joyous” describes the branch at The Point very well indeed.
Now, I’ve long argued that names matter. Perhaps not as much as the cooking. But they’ve got to be right. And though I don’t know why Little Sister is a great name, it’s decidedly memorable.