Big Bar is where bartenders come to play. Each month, the cocktail spot attached to Alcove Café and Bakery in Los Feliz features a new drink made by a member of their tight-knit community; more often than not, it's one of LA's bartenders that hang out at Big Bar before their own shift begins elsewhere. After work-shopping the drink for a few weeks, the libation is offered up to thirsty bargoers as the featured drink of the month. But Mixed Blessings, featured in March and created by Paul Sanguinetti of The Normandie Club, was such a hit that it made its way onto the more permanent spring/summer cocktail menu, which kicked off last week.
I have a massive crush on this drink, which is a little surprising because tequila is not my go-to liquor. But whaddaya know, there's tequila in here, along with Encanto pisco, lime and a sizeable wedge of grapefruit. The whole drink threatens to be overwhelmingly sour, but the addition of raw white honey from the Hollywood Farmers' Market (which retails for almost as much as the cocktail itself), combats the tartness with a smooth, sweet note. Bar manager Aaron Alvarez credits another ingredient: salt. "The secret is the pinch of flor de sal," he says, and while it's easy to go overboard when adding salt, he's right—there's just the right amount here, enough to enhance each individual ingredient without making the drink itself too salty.
Big Bar opens at 10am every day, so you can have the Mixed Blessings ($12) whenever you damn well please. It's a "drink me at any time" kind of cocktail, and I plan to do exactly that.