Three Outstanding LA Bars Offering Superior (and Well-Priced) Whisky Tastings This Week

Posted on June 17, 2022 by Karin E. Baker

Aberfeldy 12 at Mister O’s. Photos by Karin E. Baker for The LA Beat.

In honor of Father’s Day, but extending though Sunday, June 26, you can enjoy an Aberfeldy whisky tasting for just $25 at three of LA’s best bars.

The Varnish (Downtown), Mister O’s (Studio City) and Birdie G’s (Santa Monica) are all offering this special “Golden Hour” tasting. You and your dad, or perhaps another father figure in your life, can savor two whiskey-forward cocktails and a shot of Aberfeldy, or two shots of Aberfeldy and a cocktail, during this one-hour experience.

I previewed the Golden Hour tasting at Mister O’s, where I got to savor their fabulous take on the Penicillin (Aberfeldy, Amaro, lemon juice, ginger syrup, and salted honey syrup). Then, we enjoyed the Juniper Rose (Aberfeldy 12, Applejack, Junipero, rosewater, grenadine, and lime). Our tasting finished with a shot of Aberfeldy 12. You’ll find notes of vanilla and peat, along with subtle oakiness, in this single-malt scotch.

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Music! Lights! Acrobats! Amazing Food! “Revive” at Vibiana

Posted on June 17, 2022 by Elise Thompson


Vibiana is perhaps the most beautiful event space in Los Angeles. The former church was revamped by husband-and-wife team Chef Neal Fraser and restaurateur Amy Knoll Fraser, as an adjunct to their downtown restaurant, Redbird. We have been to numerous benefits there, and last October they got creative with an immersive Halloween experience.

The Frasers are taking it a step or ten further this summer with a new multisensory show, “Revive.” Collaborating with the acrobats and dancers of San Francisco’s Vau de Vire Society, cutting-edge visual effects magicians Sigma-1, and Fishbone-alum Angelo Moore and his band the Missing Links, the space will present a 1920s-inspired circus-themed dinner show starting this weekend.

The LA Beat was invited to a press preview this week where we enjoyed a run-through of the performance, with fantastic Prohibition-style music, acrobats spinning on aerial hoops, and dancers performing 20s-style choreography worthy of a Broadway production of “Cabaret” while we savored delicious hors d’oeuvres and themed cocktails. Vau de Vire co-founder and creative director Mike Gaines hopes that “Revive” will do exactly that, bringing people back to life after lockdown: “It really is a revival, and Angelo is the perfect person to lead that revival. This show is about joy and celebration.”

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10 Last-Minute Father’s Day Food & Drink Experiences Around LA

Posted on June 16, 2022 by Karin E. Baker

Image courtesy of ABERFELDY.

Father’s Day is back. Why not show Dad how much you appreciate him this Sunday with a special meal by the water, a whisky tasting, or a burger special, vegan or otherwise? See below for a few of our favorite options..

Share a Whisky Tasting Experience at a Top LA Bar
Three of LA’s best bars – The Varnish, Studio City’s Mister O’s, and Birdie G’s in Santa Monica – are hosting special Father’s Day whiskey tastings from June 16-26. For just $25 per person, you and Dad can savor two cocktails (Mister O’s Penicillin is an excellent choice) and a shot of Aberfeldy, or two shots of Aberfeldy and a cocktail. You can find more info here. Make your reservation for these “Golden Hours’ via TOCK. 

Blooms, Brats & Beer in a Botanical Garden
You and Dad can enjoy blooms, brats, and beer at Palos Verdes Peninsula’s stunning South Coast Botanic Garden all weekend long. The 87-acre garden’s Father’s Day celebration features a Pop-up Refreshment Station in the Dorothy and Allen Lay Staghorn Fern Collection area from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. A variety of food and drink choices will be available in addition to bratwursts and beer. The day will also include yard games, including a bean bag toss.

Celebrate Tam O’Shanter’s 100th Birthday with a 100-Day Dry-Aged Rib Eye
A favorite of Walt Disney’s, this century-old Scottish restaurant is famous for its charming Storybook architecture, steaks, and Yorkshire pudding. On Father’s Day (and thru June 23, or until they run out), Atwater Village’s Tam O’Shanter is offering a special dry-aged rib eye, aged for 100 days, along with a twice-baked potato and salad, for $100.

Savor Vegan Burgers & Fries at nomoo
Located on Melrose (in a classic  location once home to Johnny Rockets), nomoo new american burgers is offering a great Father’s Day special. For $20, get a BBQ “Facon” burger, house fries and dip, and an Oreo Shake for $20. Continue reading →

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LA Through a Cracked Lens: Pride 2022

Posted on June 16, 2022 by Brian Donnelly

LA Pride 2022. Photo by Brian Donnelly.

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A 2022 James Beard Award Nominee Just Opened His First LA Restaurant

Posted on June 15, 2022 by Karin E. Baker

Photo courtesy of Avant Garden Bistro.

Plant-based eatery Avant Garden Bistro was a huge success when it opened in New York City in 2015. Earlier this month, its LA counterpart opened in West Hollywood. 

Avant Garden Bistro is led by Ravi DeRossi. A 2022 James Beard Award Nominee for Outstanding Restaurateur, DeRossi is a co-founder of the influential Death & Co bars in New York City, DTLA’s Arts District, and Denver. Overthrow Hospitality, his restaurant group, is also behind nine much-loved NYC vegan restaurants and bars.

Veganism is a subject close to DeRossi’s heart. “When I was 12, I stopped eating meat,” he told me when I visited his new restaurant. “I wasn’t even sure why.” Years later, DeRossi took an extended leave of absence from his restaurants when his beloved cat Simon became terminally ill. 

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10 of LA’s Best Bars Are Offering $1 Martinis This Friday

Posted on June 14, 2022 by Karin E. Baker

Photo credit: Brian Donnelly for The Los Angeles Beat

Ten of Los Angeles’s best hotspots are offering $1 martinis this Friday, June 17!

Why, you may wonder? It’s the 50th anniversary of Watergate, and STARZ is focusing a new lens on the cataclysmic political event with “Gaslit,” a limited series starring Julia Roberts, Sean Penn, and Betty Gilpin.

A classic martini was the favorite cocktail of socialite Martha Mitchell, the first person to blow the whistle on the corrupt goings-on during the Nixon administration.

STARZ will celebrate this Washington whistleblower during the STARZ Gaslit Martini Hour. The event will take place at some of LA’s most enduring venues (poolside at the Beverly Hilton, Dan Tana’s, Hollywood Post 43), along with Downtown’s beloved The Varnish and newer hotspots like Grandmaster Recorders and 1 Hotel in West Hollywood.

$1 martinis will be served on Friday, June 17, from 7 to 9 p.m. See below for the complete list. Cheers!

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Free “Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” Experience Coming to LA Next Week

Posted on June 11, 2022 by Karin E. Baker

Image credit: Christopher Saunders/Amazon Studios.

If you’re a “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” fan, you’ve likely admired the show’s vintage style. The Prime Video series transports audiences to the vibrant New York City of the late ‘50s and early ‘60s.

Step into the mid-century milieu of “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” – for free – at the “Making LA Marvelous” pop-up on Saturday, June 18, and Sunday, June 19 in West Hollywood. 

See recreations of sets from season 4. Russ & Daughters, the legendary Lower East Side deli famed for its lox and bagels, is represented with a “Maisel”-themed deli featuring classic Jewish noshes.

Don’t miss live, ‘60s-inspired jazz performances on the hour at the Blue Note Jazz Club. 

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Movies Till Dawn: The Saturday Morning Strange vs. Strangler

Posted on June 11, 2022 by Paul Gaita

“Stunt Rock” (1978, Kino Lorber) Australian stuntman Grant Page (playing himself) lands a TV gig in Los Angeles, where he parties with cousin Curtis Hyde and his bandmates in Sorcery while courting starry-eyed reporter Margaret Gerard. Brian Trenchard-Smith‘s oddball actioner has a devoted cult following thanks to dizzying footage of Page’s extremely dangerous and haphazardly coordinated stunts (a fire trick that goes awry is particularly alarming) and Sorcery’s act, which combines Dio-style fantasy trappings and arena-sized pyrotechnics in small venues. Both are astonishing enough to disguise the fact that “Stunt Rock” is plotless – there’s intonations of romance with Gerber and actress Monique van de Ven, and a scurrilous manager (played by “Eating Raoul” and LA Weekly scribe Richard Blackburn), but “Stunt Rock” exists to showcase its adrenaline-junkie leads; in that capacity, it’s a monumental success. Kino’s Blu-ray includes bemused commentary by and interviews with Page, Gerard, and Trenchard-Smith (the latter two are now a married couple), as well as convos with producer Marty Fink and Sorcery guitarist Smokey Huff.

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LA Beat Interview: The Residents

Posted on June 9, 2022 by Bob Lee

Video artist John Sanborn (left) and The Residents ex-vocalist Randy, seen in the God In 3 Persons Promo Film, produced for the MOMA premiere in 2020.

Following acclaimed performances at New York’s MOMA and in their hometown of San Francisco, The Residents are bringing the fully-realized production of their 1988 opera God In Three Persons to the Alex Theater in Glendale. While live appearances from the group have become more common in recent years, this particular ball of wormy wax is an elaborately staged narrative work, produced through a collaboration with video artist John Sanborn and stage director Travis Chamberlain. Through live action and prepared visuals, the story of a travelling salesman/ con artist who becomes entangled with a pair of conjoined twins of indeterminate gender, who may or may not possess magical healing powers, unfolds.

“I feel the Residents have had an interest in story-telling from their very earliest work,” says Homer Flynn, officially a representative from the Cryptic Corporation who acts as a spokesperson for the Residents, being that the band members themselves have been anonymous ever since their first release in 1972. Continue reading →

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Treasures from Siegfried & Roy’s Estate to be Auctioned This Week

Posted on June 7, 2022 by Karin E. Baker

Siegfried & Roy’s Jungle Palace. Photo credit: Colton Soref for Bonhams.

Though Siegfried & Roy began performing in Las Vegas in 1967, the pair became household names in the ‘90s thanks to their hugely popular 13-year run at The Mirage in Vegas. Their astounding shows, featuring rare white tigers and other members of their beloved animal family, made the duo of entertainers and illusionists iconic.

This week, over 500 items from Siegfried & Roy’s estate will be auctioned on Wednesday, June 8, and Thursday, June 9 at Bonhams.

While attending the press preview for the “Siegfried and Roy: Masters of the Impossible” auction at Bonhams’ showrooms in West Hollywood, Helen Hall, Bonhams’ Director of Pop Culture, told me “The sumptuous, exquisite lives they lived are reflected in these pieces.”

Siegfried & Roy owned two Las Vegas homes full of treasures. One, the Jungle Palace, was Southeast Asia themed. The second, Little Bavaria, was an extravagant 80-acre hideaway created to remind Siegfried of his German upbringing.

As befits Las Vegas legends known for their flamboyant style, their costumes and possessions were often over the top. Those lavish sensibilities are on full view at Bonhams. You’ll find dinnerware, much of it printed with tigers and other big cats, from the likes of Christian Dior and Versace. An assortment of delightfully campy stage costumes. Gorgeous, vibrant posters promoting magic acts from the 1930s. Photos of the duo with Hillary Clinton and several US Presidents.

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