End of quaintness for San Elijo beach
How California Parks Co. ruined Idyllwild's Garner Valley
Ken Harrison 4:30 p.m., Dec. 13
Drink Recipes
A Mai Tai that courts the palate with a flourish of flavors
Find the enlightened purity of the Buddha himself at the Monkey King
The Monkey King (aka Sun Wukong), a Buddhist superhero of Chinese legend, carries a 17-ton staff and can travel 13,500 miles in one somersault. He can also effortlessly transform into any inanimate object or living ...
Hybrid Mule in Pacific Beach
Good for breakfast, brunch, lunch and/or dinner
Hybrid Mule in Pacific Beach
Waterbar’s Merlion
Put the smack-down on Mother Nature’s angry winds
Sing, o goddess, of the rage of Singapore’s Merlion!... Well, okay, Homer never got around to singing about Singapore, but the old Greek scribbler also never had Waterbar’s Merlion to get his inspirational juices flowing… ...
Voodoo culture
Flaming Tiki drinks emerge like disembodied spirits from the Club’s purple-tinted semidarkness
The Cat Eye Club is a weird hybrid— a Tiki bar with a speakeasy vibe. It might be too dear to refer to it as a “Tik-easy,” but stranger things have come out of the ...
A strong stirred direct cocktail
“But the lavender softens it around the edges.”
If your tongue is quiet enough, it can taste the whisper of Japanese whisky folded gently into the other spirits that Herb & Wood’s cocktail curator Meghan Balser puts into her Vodka & Lavender. “I ...
Nighttime spreads its cloak
Shibuya Nights is a virtuoso of distilled contradictions
The Cloak & Petal’s bar manager Faisal Asseri explains that the name for Little Italy’s Japanese-inspired restaurant blends opposites to form a new whole. “Cloak” communicates mystery and intrigue, and “Petal” is a rough English ...
A warm greeting in a glass
Bartender Wetherbee "wanted to encapsulate the freshness of Thailand"
Say “Sawatdi!” to the Sawadee! “Sawatdi” is a common Thai greeting (like Hawaii’s “Aloha!”) and the Sawadee (same word respelled for the American palate) is one of the newest inspirations from Prohibition mix-master Heath Wetherbee. ...
A progressive agenda of flavors
Driftwood's Vanilla Old Fashioned
The bartender for Driftwood Craft Cocktails at Open House, Scarlett Hannon is an Old Fashioned kind of gal—but just because it’s her favorite drink doesn’t mean she has to play by all the rules to ...
Not Yo' Mama's gin and tonic
Ryan Jones makes lemon work with cucumber
Co-owner of Pillbox Tavern, Ryan Jones has something preposterous. He’s messed with that bit of perfection known as the gin and tonic. And what he’s come up with — well, it’s not your dad’s gin ...
A mojito with grassy flavor
Havana Club’s aged rum part of the secret
The Gaslamp’s newest Cuban eatery, Havana 1920, seeks to capture the heyday of America’s Playground and its pre-communist jazz-and-limelight nightlife. The restaurant’s beverage director Ryan Andrews says that its owners were inspired to open the ...
The ice melts slowly and the flavors peel off
Striders calls it the New Fashioned
As January draws near, Striders general manager Tony Martineau found a way to raise a glass for the old year rounding the last bend even as the new year comes galloping out of the gate. ...
