La Sala's The Cove

La Valencia’s Whaling Bar as the place to go to sit and sip and sop up La Jolla sunsets has been replaced by the La Sala Lounge.

La Sala bar manager Scotty Moises says the revised lounge set sail under a new cocktail menu that includes a revision of the old whiskey-and-Campari concoction that Moises calls “the Cove.”

“When the Whaling Bar closed down,” he says, explaining the name’s origin, “we had a temporary lobby bar which overlooks the La Jolla Cove.”

While the drink comes dressed for dinner straight up in a martini glass or for cocktail hour on the rocks in a lowball, Moises says he prefers the latter.

“That way, as the drink sits and dilutes,” he says, “it becomes a little more gentle to drink as time goes on.”

“The name for the original cocktail is the Boulevardier,” he adds. “I was messing with flavors and stumbled across it.”

But Moises asserts his own style on the drink by playing around with ingredients and proportions.

With a one-to-one-to-one proportion in the original, Moises says, “the rye is definitely a bigger flavor in the Cove.”

The Boulevardier also calls for either bourbon or rye — but Moises insists that rye brings out the true virtues of the cocktail.

“Compared to straight bourbon, you get a deeper flavor with the rye,” he says. “It’s not quite as sweet; it’s a hardier flavor than bourbon.

“But then the sweet vermouth gives it a hint of sweetness, and the Campari, together with the other ingredients, highlights the flavor of the rye. In the end, you can taste the orange while leaving your palate with a dry feeling, washing to the back of the tongue. It makes your mouth water for another sip.”

How to make it

In a tin shaker filled with ice, pour:

• 1½ oz. Bulleit Rye Whiskey
• ¾ oz. sweet vermouth
• ¾ oz. Campari

Shake, strain, and pour straight-up into a martini glass or on the rocks in a lowball glass, garnish with an orange twist and a maraschino cherry.